There were two mains thoughts going through my mind while watching "Be Right Back," a) I'm absolutely repulsed/freaked out, there's no going back, and b) why am I freaked out so badly if there are technically robots all around us already? Maybe one really does has to take the 'Uncanny Valley' into consideration when watching the film, because after the film I realized that while I was scared by Ash 2, a robot, I stand on completely different opinions when it comes to my favorite character, Baymax (also a robot), from the movie Big Hero 6. Baymax is animation sure, but the idea is he is a robot like Ash 2 nonetheless--maybe the big distinction that sets them apart as to how they make me feel, is as the uncanny valley says, what is more closer to human scares us, while what is obvious to us as not being human has the opposite effect?
I was freaked out by Ash 2 because he looked human but was not, because I saw him go from what looked like a pile of faceless meat in a box to a 'human' replica; however, one of the other questions I can not stop asking myself is this: would I still have been as freaked out by Ash 2 if he had been sent to her house fully 'created,' would I have felt differently if I had not seen or been told of the basics of how the activation process works? Although Baymax is not made to look like a human, and has this simple 'non-threatening' design, he is an intelligent robot like Ash 2. Like Ash 2 Baymax learns from observing as he goes, he scans people, analyzes their behavior, their responses and adjusts his programming to include what he has learned; yet, I respond differently to both. If someone were to ask me if I were capable of unplugging Ash 2 with no regret, I would say yes with no hesitation, but if someone were to ask if I could do the same to Baymax, I would say no.If they are both robots, have similar programming for certain things,why are my responses different? Should my standing not be the same instead of contradicting when it comes to both?
When Baymax was about to sacrifice himself/die in the movie for his owner, I cried and actually cared for what happened to him; yet, when Ash 2 was standing on the cliff, faced with a slightly similar situation, I was 'numb' and felt nothing towards its facing of 'death'. Even now I notice that I still can not bring myself to even feel sympathy or any emotion for Ash 2 facing 'death,' and even now I still refer to Ash 2 as 'it,' while I refer to Baymax as 'him'. Maybe it's more than just humanity's fear of the unknown and the uncanny valley tied together, but why do we prefer the appearance of something that appears as obviously not human, when we live in a world were day by day robots become more and more apparent and 'necessary'? I say I would not have made the same choices as Martha and others may think the same, and I can't speak for everyone when I say I would not be comfortable living in world were Ash 2 became the norm--yet, maybe it is as Dr J said in class, we see it as weird and unhealthy because it is not something we see as common right now? This question in turn leads to my own, is there any correct way to mourn, would we see things differently if robots like Ash 2 were to one day be used as a form of controlled therapy for patients?
3 comments:
I'm so glad you brought up Baymax because I absolutely loved Big Hero 6! But I think the question you're asking is truly one we never really seem to think about: Why did Ash 2 freak us out so badly when we are living in a world where robots are all around us and getting more common by the day? Of course, you referenced the uncanny valley as we have been talking about in class, which I believe is the main reason we tend to shy away from more human-like androids. I think we all have this innate fear of 1. being very easily replaced, 2. obviously, evil robots, and 3. getting to a point where we truly can't determine if something genuinely IS what it seems to be. Great post! (It's also funny to me that to make this comment I have to check an "I'm not a robot" box)
You brought up how you actually cared for Baymax the robot, which makes me wonder if we should actually feel sympathy towards robots. After all, they can't feel emotions for us, so should we for them? Then that brings me to the question of should we treat them like real humans? They obviously aren't, they're just another piece of technology made to mimic what a human is "supposed" to be.
To answer your question, my post describes how everyone mourns in the same pattern, which is called the five stages of grief. There isn't, in my opinion, a correct way to mourn, but everyone still goes through the same process and hopefully feels acceptance of the issue in the end.
I like the fact that you brought up Baymax because he is technically the same as Ash 2 except Baymax looks nothing like us, so we aren't really creeped out by him. Also, I like where you said: "why am I freaked out so badly if there are technically robots all around us already," because that is so true. We aren't freaked out by our phones and that's basically what Ash 2 was made up of, all of Ash 1 data.
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