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Sunday, November 12, 2017

Could the Older Generations Benefit from this system?

"Be Right Back", (Black Mirror's S2:E1), was truly a bizarre film for me to interpret. As I was watching the film, I predicted several different things. such as; Ash #2 (the Robot) becoming evil, Martha developing an unhealthy romantics relationship with Ash #2 and completely forgetting the outside world, etc. I began to wonder how things would have worked out if Martha did not know that Ash had died, but if Ash #2 came home instead of the human Ash. I feel that Martha would have eventually noticed a difference in the way that "Ash" was acting, as well as how he appears. In the film, she says to Ash #2, "You look like him on a good day". Since Ash #2 got all of his information about Ash #1 from his social media posts, he looks like him "on a good day" because as humans, we tend to only post the best pictures of ourselves. Also, Ash #2 does not eat, sleep, or breathe most of the time. This eventually freaks Martha out during the film and she begins to become somewhat scared of Ash #2. Then again, the fact of him being so lifelike scared her as well.

One event that stuck out to me in the film was when Ash #2 refuses to hit Martha, even though Martha was ordering him to. If Ash #2 was to have hit Martha, it would have gone against one the 3 Laws of Robotics. These laws state that a robot must follow the orders of a human and give restrictions to a robot causing harm to a human, even if a human ordered it to harm another human. In the confrontation between Martha and Ash #2, Ash #2 follows these laws, but also seems to make decisions for himself. He asks Martha if the real Ash or "I" has ever hit her, which he knows he never did.

One another note, I could not help but discover a few flaws within the system. I, also, began to think about what I would in this instance. My mother passed when I was four years old, therefore, I do not remember much about her. I constantly asked myself throughout the film, "If we had this type of technology, would I do it?" I eventually decided that I would not. Just as Martha had to do with Ash #2, I would have to confirm with my mother if she sounded the same or things in life that I do not remember. This point made me wonder how the robot would effectively work if the person it is portraying did not have social media. Lets say my grandmother wanted to bring back her husband who passed in 1995. How would the robot portray my grandfather when there were no traces of how he acted besides knowledge from my grandmother? Does this mean that we should start teaching the older generations about social media, for the sake of possibly being able to bring them back?

With this being said, I feel as though this type of system could possibly be created, it would not assist the older generations who want to bring someone back that did not have social media and would have to teach that robot everything about the person it is portraying. Just like the 3 laws of robots, would this system have regulations such as, you can only bring back someone who died less than 5 years ago or you would have to submit "qualifications" for the robot to be made.

3 comments:

Allison Sorette said...

I liked your thought about an alternate episode in which Ash #2 would automatically replace Ash without Martha's knowing. I agree that she definitely would have noticed the change pretty quickly. Facebook certainly does paint a pretty picture that real life cannot replicate all the time.

On your thoughts that humanoid robots of the deceased would not be of use to the general public (especially the elderly), I politely disagree. I think a good number of people would like a chance to meet their relative or to have a conversation with someone they never met. I believe they would just have to recognize the robot as what it is (a robot) and "use" it appropriately. As long as you recognize that this robot is like or a representation of a person (ie the robot is its own being), it could be a huge benefit to society.

Unknown said...

My opinion falls somewhere between. I agree with @Alison that there are benefits to the program, but I do not think that it should be used for people who do not know the "original" person the robot is based on. In the episode, Sarah encourages Martha to use the program as a short-term coping mechanism with Ash's abrupt death. In regards to being a useful tool for society, this grief program makes sense as a way to share last thoughts or confessions with a loved one who has passed on. It allows a "realistic" last conversation with a dead person, and it probably would have been best for Martha if she only used it to tell Ash 2.0 that she was pregnant. The problem was that she became dependent on Ash 2.0 to be the original Ash, which was not it's/his function.

So as a short-term grief counseling aid, I think the program has some merit and would work for people both young or old. However, I do not think it should allow for users to talk to robot where they did not know the original person (like Martha allows her daughter to do) because that is beyond the program's scope. Though I agree with @Alison that people would definitely want to talk to people they had never met, I think that would inherently be an inappropriate use of the robot. As a user you are expecting it to "be" a human for a longer period than the program can handle existing - as shown in the episode where the longer Ash 2.0 is around, the more obvious it is he is not Ash.

Unknown said...

I agree that Martha did not use Ash 2 in a healthy manner. She retreated from society and abandoned her other friends and family. However, I do believe that this technology could be used for good. It could be used for grief counseling by allowing the families of the deceased to say what they were never able to and get their feelings off their chest.

It is also important that people realize that Ash 2 is not the same as Ash 1. They are 2 separate people with their own identities and memories. They have different personalities and experiences. For this reason, the users of this technology must fully understand that this does not bring someone back from the dead but rather creates a new person who would act in a similar way to the original person.

I agree with Brigid that Martha was too dependent on Ash 2 which caused her unhealthy actions. However, after the 10 years had passed and Martha and her daughter kept Ash 2 in the attic, they limited their interactions with Ash2 to the weekend or special occasions which was far healthier for everyone involved. Martha was able to move on with her life and her daughter got to know her father.