Martha's Psychological Warfare

I am a huge fan of the Netflix series "Black Mirror;" it gives a unique take on alternate events that would occur if technology continued to evolve over time. The "Be Right Back" episode was an episode that caught my attention: I was intrigued at how Martha, Ash's widow, handled his death. It was a three-step process in being able to communicate with "Ash" even though the real Ash was killed: first, through a messaging app in which a simulation of Ash (based on a collection of memories he shared with Martha) was able to message Martha, emulating his personality. Then, Martha was able to talk to him over the phone with the simulation (Ash 2.0) sounding exactly like Ash 1.0. Finally, the coping process evolved into Martha getting an android replica of Ash 1.0 which looked strangely like him (exact biological characteristics). This version of Ash was able to move around and speak as if he were human but was not able to show emotion unless Martha (his administrator) told him if it was something that the real Ash would do. For example, when Martha told him to jump into the water, thus killing himself, he was willing to do so, but she also let him know that the real Ash would question Martha upon demanding that he jumps in the water. Suddenly, Ash 2.0 started to show emotions toward her. 

Martha using Ash 2.0 as a coping mechanism for Ash 1.0's death is an example of having too much of a good thing. Over time, Martha starts to enjoy the company of Ash 2.0 less, even though she was excited to be able to communicate with Ash 2.0 at first. This is because Ash 2.0 has a major flaw: he looks freakishly like Ash 1.0 and sounds like him, but he is not able to show any emotion unless told to do so, which drives Martha crazy. I think this flaw is a good thing because if he were to have looked, sounded, AND had an actual personality like Ash 1.0, it would've been too much for Martha to handle (the "uncanny valley"). Martha was not dealing with Ash 1.0's death in a healthy manner, in my opinion. Some people in life are just irreplaceable, no matter how striking the resemblance from their android doppelgangers to themselves may be. Even though it is normal for a person mourning the death of a loved one to have a strong desire for that person to come back, it is best to reminisce of the memories that the person shared with their loved one and move forward in life. If a similar situation like Martha's happened in real life, then it would potentially give humans an excuse to replace deceased loved ones with android clones, which would then be difficult for humans because they would be forced to create new memories with the android.