Scattering the Ash(es)

            Episode 2 of Black Mirror Season 2, “Be Right Back”, was a complete emotional disaster. Well, at least for Martha, whose lover, Ash Starmer, met his tragic end near the beginning of the episode. At his funeral, a friend attempts to console Martha, offering to enroll her in a program that she claims can help soothe the pain of loss. Martha adamantly denies this, repeatedly telling her friend to “shut up, shut up, shut up!” She struggles to cope over the next few weeks, and as her recovery is lengthened by only to find out her friend signed her up for the program anyway. Martha finds out that the program was designed to allow anyone to “speak” to their lost loved ones, and the system would mimic their personality based on any public media posted by or about them. The system eventually mimics Ash’s voice, and informs Martha that there is another experimental, expensive step to the system: the actual creation of a humanoid robot, complete with Ash’s voice and mannerisms. Martha opts for this, and initially is shocked by its similarities to the original Ash. Eventually, Ash 2’s lack of memories start to cause internal conflict within Martha. At times when Ash 2 forgets to perform minuscule actions, such as close his eyes when sleeping, or even simpler things like breathing.

Eventually, she scolds Ash 2 for not “performing” well enough. In one scene, when she tells him to get out, he complies. When he starts walking out of the bedroom door, she exclaims, “Ash would argue against that! He wouldn’t just walk out when he was told!” Near the end of the episode, she takes Ash 2 to a cliff, and tells him to jump, stating that he’s not Ash, he’s just an incomplete copy of the lover she once had. He once again complies, and she argues with him, saying the real Ash would be scared, and wouldn’t want to jump. Ash then begins to cry, and begs for his life. Martha then exclaims that it’s not fair for Ash 2 not to want to jump.

This highlights the drawbacks of not achieving real closure, but instead relying on remnants of a lost loved one. In that way, a person cannot truly move on with their life, and like Martha, will be conflicted with themselves. The end of the episode flashes forward approximately a decade, to whether her daughter is nearing her teens, and finds an excuse to bring cake upstairs to Ash 2, who implicitly has been kept secret since the cliff incident.

            In a way, Martha’s friend who introduced her to this system could be blamed for all this internal conflict and suffering that she went through, since otherwise she would have had a relatively normal and less lengthy grieving process. However, Martha is also at fault, for denying every advance and effort made by her family to console her. She had a large support system, as many people attended Ash’s funeral. Although she lived in a very rural area, which made having Ash 2 around a lot more feasible, her sister went to her house in the show to try and help. Martha’s dependence was a detriment to her health, emotional well-being, and later, her child’s rationality. The decision to have Ash 2 activated was one made under extreme stress and desperation, but Martha never truly realized the error of her ways, instead becoming attached to Ash 2. This dependence is the root of more problems that will come for her daughter in the future. In my personal opinion, Martha’s decision making was extremely haphazard and dangerous, but also somewhat understandable due to the amount of strain her mind had taken from her life’s circumstances.

The Pitfalls of Technology

The Uncanny Valley is a theory of robotics by Masahiro Mori stating that there comes a point where a robot becomes so human-like that it repulses humans. One theory behind why the Uncanny Valley exists can be illustrated in the film The Bicentennial Man. The main character is an android who wanted to be human. He was denied the right to be recognized as a human because the thought of an immortal human would incite jealousy and anger in other humans and also make humans face their own mortality. If a robot did not look like a human, and simply resembled a mechanical object, it would be more readily accepted by humans. In this age of technology where people have stopped communicating face-to-face and have relied on social media and texting as a form of communication, acceptance of a mechanical non-human-like object has become all too common.

The Uncanny Valley theory can also be seen in the series “Black Mirror.” In the episode “Be Right Back”, Martha had missed her partner, Ash, so much that she wanted to bring him back in any form. She first uploads texts and starts off messaging the Ash-bot back and forth, later Martha uploads more information from Ash's social media to actually talk to the Ash-bot constantly. Martha does the final step in ordering a physical Ash-bot that she can touch and interact with as if it were the real Ash. She becomes fed up with the Ash-bot and locks it up in the attic because it will never be like the real Ash and does whatever she wants it to do up to a certain point. As long as Martha had non-physical but verbal communication with the Ash-bot, it comforted her. During her pregnancy, it gave her a way to communicate with her partner and did not allow her to come to the realization that he was dead. Once the Ash-bot informed Martha that she could have a physical Ash, she was elated that she could have Ash back. The physical sight of Ash without the human-like qualities and quirks of the real Ash invoked her senses to realize that she could never truly have Ash back. Once Martha realized that the Ash-bot was not the real Ash, she locked it up in the attic because she could not get rid of it nor could she continue to look at it thus sealing her own fate where she could never move forward in her own life without Ash.

In my opinion, humans may become repulsed at the sight of an android because they resemble soulless humans. By creating androids that appear human-like, man is trying to play God. Humans are really not God because no matter what leftover pieces he contrives to put together a robot is not a real life.

Technology and its advancements

After watching the film " Be Right Back", I was amused of the fact of having a love one be brought back to life after passing away. The film showed me that technology is really advancing as years go by and something like this can be useful in the future for those who go through deep depression after the lost of a love one. It can help them with pain and grieving. the idea can seem  scary and weird at first but after spending time with the android you can get used to it. I know talking to a robot can sound creepy but if it help with dealing with death people should use it. If connecting with a loved one through technology is the only solution , everyone should try it until they are at a point where they find peace that their love one is gone.  Say for interest that the two of you all was on bad terms and he/she passed away , by getting the android can be a way to solve the conflict , so you want feel as if you are responsible for the death of that person. We as people take spending time with those who mean the world to us for granted and by being able to bring them back to life even though is not their actually body , you can still create more memories with them to cherish after you are done grieving. the fact that you can make them just like the love one you lost is amazing and the features they may not be able to collect from the person , being able to just tell them how is was is acceptable to me as well . its just the feeling of having that love one back in your life is what mostly what matters.


In the film "Be Right Back", Martha ordered an Android of Ash who passed away , it was scary to her but she got used to after a while of seeing that he was similar to Ash. The Ash 2.0 to me was  more of Ash than Ash because Ash 1 was an online type of person, he was always using social media. And by them creating Ash 2.0 off of the things he posted online made him the real Ash to me. Even though Ash 2.0 didn't have the emotions  Ash 1 showed in person , He was still able to  be him by listening to the things Martha stated and just piecing it together of what is expected from him. Martha freaked out a few times when he did certain things different from Ash but by her keeping Ash 2.0 around still was the branded in her head that it is him and will be the best way for her to get through life. One thing Martha did that I did not agree with was the part when she , keep him in the attic after their daughter was born. I believe she should have explained to the daughter who he was and what happened because the daughter did not call him dad she called him Ash. So that showed me she had no clue who he really was.


The uprising of technology is expanding widely to ideas that are a good for the people who have hard time dealing with life after the passing of someone who they truly care for. Being able to create these androids of people you know and the androids ability to talk and sound as if they are really that person is shocking and even though the robot is interpret what is on the person social media , that still counts as a duplicate as them because people post majority of their life on social media. Social media in take of people life is so high you are able to find whatever you are looking for by just a click of a button.

What Makes Us Human? What Separates Us From the Other?

Throughout history many people have attempted to define what it is that makes us human in a variety of ways. From defining the moment someone becomes human to deciding that only people with a certain skin type can be human or at least a proper human. For some reason we are obsessed with separating ourselves from the other or at least what we perceive as the other. However this separation only comes at a certain point. This person may have most of the same features as us, but if the nose is to wide or they don't show what we feel is the proper emotion they are suddenly the other. Perhaps that is why we hate the idea of artificial intelligence and humanoid robots, but only at a certain point. We enjoy the idea of them the thought of something that came for the most part replicate a human, but only half way. If they begin to show traits that are too human say emotion we are then repulsed by them. We as humans are funny that way we enjoy things that strive to be like us, but hate them we when they become like us. In the first episode of the second season of Netflix's Black Mirror Martha portrayed by Hayley Atwell loses her husband Ash portrayed by Domhnall Gleeson in an accident that was most likely due to his excessive cell phone usage as he was described as a "heavy user" she becomes filled with and during that time she sent to a service that using all of his social media posts mimics Ash bringing him back to live even, but as time goes on the line between Ash the man and Ash the other becomes blurred. Soon our protagonist has an android of Ash that she activated in her bathroom. This thing has the same looks as Ash, the same type of humor, but he's missing something. Martha remarks that he looks like Ash, but only on his good days and there is even a point where he grows a mole of Ash's onto himself to make her happy. However the moment that shows what exactly is missing from Ash is on the cliff side when Martha tells him to jump. And when he starts to obey she berates him telling him that her Ash would beg her to stop that he would cry and he does and that is her breaking point as she lets out a heart shattering scream and then the screen cuts to black. Martha is older with a child and Ash is standing at the attic. Her putting him away connects to the point that we only enjoy technology to a certain extent. Martha enjoyed Ash until he became too human on the cliff side when he showed emotion even though it was what she asked for. In that moment the line became too blurred what separated Ash from the Other was the lack of flaws in my opinion though he was the better lover and more attractive he was missing the flaws that made her love human Ash. I think flaws are integral to being human. What are we really without our flaws? Our flaws are what separates us from the other.

The Future of Grieving?

There is nothing worse in life than losing someone who is close to you. Whether it is a family member or a friend getting over the loss of a loved one is not something easily done. Throughout the past decade there have been several movies referring to robots taking over the world. However, even more recently there have been movies made about the benefits of robots. This weeks black mirror episode reminded me of one of those movies. Her, in where Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with a computer software that can think and speak on its own. Phoenix takes the software everywhere, the software even asks him to experience a physical encounter that comes with the system. A woman knocks on the door and comes onto him without speaking and phoenix is unable to go through with it. Phoenix only wants the physical touch from the woman (the software) he is in love with. Just like the episode we watched in class where she only loves the person she fell in love with and the robot/software is not enough. 

            A person must wonder if this is where technology is heading that direction in the sense of grieving or even dating. Could a person possibly fall in love with a software system or a robot. The other question that follows is how many people would actually be interested in bringing back a late loved one or falling in love with a robot. The other fear is that could a robot potentially be treated better than a human being? Or would there be laws past to prevent discrimination towards these robots or could someone even tell the difference between a robot and a human. The upside to having these robots would be war, the work force for dangerous jobs and of course grieving. People don’t have to worry about their favorite actor or musician dying. People don’t die in war. The possibilities are endless when it comes to living robots that do not rely on food or sleep in order to work.

            Not only does it seem more and more likely that these “humanoids” will be the new norm but it also seems that that transition could happen sooner rather than later. While a robot could never replace a loved one, it could make the grieving process much easier and the more we see this kind of technology the more economically efficient the robots will be.

Don't Look Right Back

It is tragic when someone loses a loved one. They might wish that they could see that person just one last time or hear their voice. In their memories, people keep their loved ones alive. However, even that isn't enough for some people who are grieving. Sometimes people wish they could have their loved ones alive yet again and imagine scenarios where they would be brought back.

Orpheus and Eurydice

Over the centuries, there have been countless tales of the dead being brought back to life due to someone's inability to let someone they loved go. These stories range from Orpheus travelling to the underworld to bring back Eurydice to tales of magic and necromancy. Besides the basic idea of bringing people back from the idea, these stories tend to have one basic concept that attempting to fight death inevitably ends in failure. These stories seem to remind people that it is necessary for the dead to stay dead, and they further the taboo for any attempts at keeping people alive longer than they should be alive. 

Frankenstein's Monster

Life itself is a sort of taboo when it is in the form of anything unfamiliar. Take Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for instance. Frankenstein's monster is seen by everyone as a mistake, and although the monster does look gigantic and terrifying, the story also seemed to imply there was something wrong with creating life. Humanity seems to find the idea of creating life wrong, which would also be why bringing the dead to life is seen as something so terrible. Likely the reason that this concept is so terrible is probably due to religion. People who believe in some kind of god or deity often believe it is only the right of their god or gods to give or take life. Doing anything else would be blasphemous. Necromancers and witches are often associated with the devil after all. 

However, can anyone really blame those who wish to bring back the people they love? If so many people want something so similar, why is it so wrong for them to want such a thing? Maybe people don't want to get their hopes up that something like that could happen. However, with advances in technology, keeping people alive is practically already happening and has been happening for a while now. 

Ash and Martha - Be Right Back, Black Mirror

If people are not afraid to keep each other alive through various medical technologies, what about when people try to keep someone alive in the same way they hold onto memories of loved ones? People leave digital records all the time after all. Take Frankenstein's monster and input all of the data of someone who had once been alive, all the messages, videos, e-mails, and any recorded communication. Would you end up with a human being? In an episode of Black Mirror, called Be Right Back, Martha loses her husband, Ash, and decides to sign up for a messaging system that uses all of Ash's past messages in order to determine how he would respond to what she said. Initially, she finds this idea horrible since it all seemed like something to mess with her. It wasn't real after all. However, after awhile, she grew attached to messaging this automated system. It was familiar to her, and that's why she liked it. She sought to make it more familiar and upgraded that system with recordings of Ash's voice, so she could then talk to him on the phone. At this point, she didn't seem to think about the fact that it wasn't really Ash that she was talking to. She acted like he was really on the other end of the line, talking to her, even becoming terrified that she lost him again when she dropped her phone. Considering how much she enjoyed talking to him like this, she upgraded the system again, giving it an actual form.

After this upgrade, there was a noticeable change in her reaction towards this robot. He looked like and talked like Ash, but since this was so familiar to her, she seemed to look for the differences between the Ash she knew and the one presented to her now as a robot. Every time she noticed a difference, it reminded her that this wasn't actually Ash, and in a way it was like she was being tricked. In a way, this is how most people respond to something that seems too realistic or familiar but is presented in an unfamiliar way.  There are robots now after all, and many people find them unsettling or creepy. When they look at robots like the Geminoid, they start looking for the subtle differences between the robots and real people. It's as if they're thinking, "You can't trick me. I know what you really are." That's why they find it so unsettling. 

It could also explain why some people don't find realistic and familiar things unsettling. They don't feel like they're being tricked. They either know what something actually is and don't feel like they're being fooled or believe it to be something else entirely and actually are fooled. For example, when Martha talked to "Ash" on the phone, it seemed like she started to believe it was actually him. In those moments, she was not disturbed and loved communicating with the system of algorithms. Only once he had form and she knew she wasn't talking to the real Ash did she start feeling like she was being fooled. It was then that she couldn't seem to stand being around him for long periods of time. 

People will likely protest the idea of keeping people alive with the kind of technology used in Be Right Back, but when it comes down to it, is that just because people have always been told that it's wrong? Is it because they don't want to be fooled when they know the dead are actually still dead? If we were presented with a way to keep people alive, should we really turn it down?

The Obvious Machine

In Black Mirror's "Be Right Back", the idea of using an artificial intelligence with the access to one's entire online data and a human-based cybernetic body to mimic the character and personality of a deceased loved one and its effects on the mind of the buyer is quite an interesting topic. With the Uncanny Valley in mind, this practice of technology found in the film brings much discomfort and awkwardness not only to the main character, Martha, but also to the viewers of the film. At first, Martha got use to this new beta program with ease, but once it reached to a certain extent (that being activating an android with the online memories of her lover, Ash), she could not handle it much longer. Knowing what her Ash looked and acted like before versus the appearance of this new machine only adds onto the discomfort and distrust. If one were to place both the original Ash and the copy Ash next to one another, most people would be able to tell which is human and which isn't.

Obvious differences such as copy Ash's extremely pale skin, hyper-artificial red hair, his slow and indifferent tone, are all examples. Even more specific details like copy Ash's missing body moles, and altered gaps in place of missing pieces of personality traits, such as his submissiveness and greater performance in sex, add onto it. Of course, if one were to see the android before ever lying eyes on the original person, it would be difficult to tell if the copy was human or not (which would not be considered a simulation anyways, the real one must also be shown); but the point being that in comparing the real person with the machine by close observation on movement, appearance, and mood/tone can reveal the identity of the impostor. It is this Uncanny Valley system that's hard wired into our brains that not only establishes this odd and uneasy feeling towards the falsehoods of non-biological objects attempting to act real and living, but it also give humans and sometimes other animals the ability to pinpoint these pretenders. But with the further advancement of technology, there very well may be no way to tell the difference between man and machine. Technology is advancing faster than anyone can imagine. With science fiction opening doors of imagination and curiosity, and modern sciences improving constantly, a future with machines like this is bound to come about. And beyond that future, that future's future, a perfect machine may exist; and with it, all the consequences and controversies that trail along it.

The New Norm

The film Be Right Back was an interesting yet strange film. It elaborated on Masahiro Mori's theory of the Uncanny Valley. In short, it states that the more a robot looks like a person, the more repulsive it appears to us because we can't distinguish it from a person or robot. The story portrayed in the film was truly bizarre. It follows the life of a newlywed couple named Martha and Ash in what seems to be England after they move into Ash's childhood home. 

Things are going fine until Ash leaves to return the rental van. When the whole day goes by and Martha hasn't heard from Ash, she begins to worry since it shouldn't have taken a long time to return the van. She's genuinely distressed when the local police show up to inform her that Ash had passed away in a car accident. She's in utter shock. The day of Ash's funeral is too much for her and she doesn't know how to deal with life without him after finding out that she's pregnant with their baby. To save time, thanks to the many strides in technology she talks to this software that mimics Ash through what he's posted on social media and goes as far as living with a humanoid robot with the same software that looks almost exactly like Ash to cope. She even has relations with it.

She realizes that the humanoid robot version of Ash is not the same as the real him. Every little quirk that made Ash, really Ash, isn't part of the humanoid robot version of Ash. When she can't handle the robot Ash version anymore after an indescribable amount of time, she has it live in her attic as part of her normal life post-Ash. The robot Ash is such a part of her life as to where it's visited by Martha's daughter for what appears to be her 12th birthday like it's nothing. To be honest, I feel like Martha never really coped with Ash's death. She never moved on and accepted the fact that Ash was gone. No matter what Martha did, the robot Ash was nothing like the real Ash. The film portrayed the Uncanny Valley theory through the use of technology and social media. It felt as if the technology to create a robotic version of a person was commonplace or a new norm compared to the technology that we know today since with Martha was able to do it with little effort.

Personally, I feel like going as far as having a robotic version of a loved one is dehumanizing.  I do see the point in having one as a way to grieve for a recently deceased loved one for a period of time but it just doesn't seem right. At the end of the day, no matter what it's not the same having a robotic version of someone you truly care for because there's no human connection between you and the robot. It's just a piece of machinery and it can't relate to the human experience of emotions. The new norm that I noticed through watching Be Right Back was that technology is replacing social interaction between people. It's evident from the times in the film that before Ash died he was always on his phone not interacting with Martha, Martha giving up all contact & physical interaction with people that truly care for her, and today with social media. Everyone is always looking into what everybody else is doing or how they portray themselves on social media. The new norm in today's current society is a little saddening because we're not picking up on social cues, connecting with people in person yet we're doing everything behind a screen. 

Something should not be!

First let me start off by giving the definition of uncanny valley and what it means to me. According to Webster's dictionary uncanny valley means the phenomenon whereby a computer-generated figure or humanoid robot bearing a near-identical resemblance to a human being arouses a sense of unease or revulsion in the person viewing it. I think that uncanny valley is very true in definition. The discussion in class was right on point giving the fact that we as humans are very much so ok with the idea of things looking like a robot. But once that robot/ non-human thing start reflecting a human looks and actions, then that's where it becomes a problem. In today's society robots and gadgets have almost become a crutch in our lives. We include things like computers and cell phones in our daily activities, that if lost those things we would not know what to do. With that understanding what I don't know how a humanoid robot can be considered more familiar than a stuffed animal according to the uncanny valley graph. I'm pretty sure most humans had a stuffed animal or two, especially in their childhood. I bet you that most people haven't ever seen a humanoid robot. A humanoid robot is a robot that has the physical appearance of human like qualities but not enough to think they were a human. Almost like a transformer. The uncanny valley has a very go point of emphasis on people are ok with the idea of puppets (Bunraku puppets) which are weird to me but for the most part society as accepted puppets.

As far as the video goes. I found the video we watched in class very interesting. The lady who lost her soul mate is the definition of weird! She wants to play with the idea of the dead coming back from the dead expect the new dead person is a better version than the old. I feel that since she has played with that idea she has become blind to reality. One top of that the fact of the new dead person not being an actual human being. But she continuously do human-like actions such as having intercourse and trying to get this non-human (robot) to have feelings and reactions as if it was a human. I understand she has feelings and is trying to cope over a death of a lost one but there are ways to achieve that.

From "Ash" to "Ash"

On one of the episodes of Black Mirror, it hinted at Masahiro Mori's work about "The Uncanny Valley." In this episode, there was a man named Ash who was extremely active online. Not long after the episode started, he died and his wife, Martha, was an emotional wreck. She shut people out of her life whole life and she was obviously depressed. At his wake, one of her friends mentioned a technological advance that could collect all of someone's posts online, analyze them, and then reply to texts as if it were really that person. Martha was very against his idea and she had a nervous breakdown at the wake. She was then so desperate to see or hear from him, she asked her friend about the technology. She said, “Ash would be a perfect person for this because he was on social media so much.” So, she downloaded the technology and much to her surprise, it replied. It would response with things like, “isn’t that what he would say?” Eventually she could do more with this technology. She even paid to have a robot that was a perfect simulation of Ash. Isn't it what she asked for? Why did it freak her out so much? 
                                      

Mori would say it is due to the uncanny valley. This is where people like things that pretend to be human, if they are not TOO close to a real human.

Robots that look like a piece of heavy machinery are fine, but they are more popular the more they look real, until they hit a certain point where it is too much like a human but just not quite there. It is a valley because it does not just end like falling off a cliff. It comes back up like with prosthetic legs or a real human. This video shows great examples of the different stages on the chart. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNdAIPoh8a4

The real question is, was Ash the robot creepy or not? I personally believe that the whole idea was creepy and unhealthy. Death is a part of life. It sucks, it hurts, and you want to die with the person you love but it happens. It’s not healthy for someone to talk or interact with someone who is dead, even if it is just a simulation. This does not allow the person to grieve. In the show we see Martha push away all of her friends when she talking to this Ash like “being.” Her friend tries to call her and she ignores it until the friend comes over anyway. Martha is obviously embarrassed of the robot because she hides him, but until her friend came over against Martha’s will, she did not talk to a single human. In my personal opinion the robot Ash was creepy and unhealthy for Martha's life. 

Technology

Throughout the years, people have developed different mechanisms to improve our lives. In our generation, technology has been the mechanism that makes our lives much easier. Actually, all regarding communication is faster and more effective than ten years ago. But at some point people have over used it, and is more complicated to not use phones, televisions, etc. We practically use it every day for different things. Technology is essential for human beings. Phones are a primary example. As we saw in the movie, Ash spent a lot of time using his phone. He was more worried about sharing stuff on internet than caring about Martha (his wife). Sometimes he did not even know what his wife was talking about or asking him because he was not paying attention. He was with her physically but not mentally. His mind was on the internet. This is a real problem that our society has, and that most of the people have issues with because it is addictive.

After Ash’s death, the new Ash did not need to spend time on internet or any kind of device. His mind was solely focused on Martha. The new Ash was mentally with her but not physically. She preferred being with the real Ash (first one) because she knows that he was “real and human”. So, the really confusing part is figuring out why she did not want to be with the second Ash anymore if he was there for his wife at every moment, and trying to satisfy her in every sense. He did not spend time on internet or anything. At one point, I think that the second Ash is more human than the first one. I found two reasons why the second Ash is more human than the first one. First, after her sister told her that it is good to find another man, everything changed. Before that, Martha did not have any trouble with the second Ash at all. When she realized that the second Ash is not the first Ash, she started to lose her mind. She realized that the second Ash is not human. It is an imitation of Ash. The second point is that for all the things that this imitation did not have an answer or it did not have an answer as the real Ash would say, she completely refused the second Ash.  So, at the point that the second Ash looks almost the same as her husband, she knew that it would never be the same just because of the fact that the second Ash would never be a human being.