This week of class we look into how technology and how its role in our lives can be expanded on. Also we learn more about the impact of social media and the many qualities it has. We also take a deeper look into artificial intelligence from the Black Mirror episode Be Right Back.

After watching this episode I thought that there is no possible way for artificial intelligence to replace human interaction. In this episode, there is a woman who loses her boyfriend in a car accident and she is devastated. One of her friends tells her and suggests that she go to this online service where she will be able to talk to dead her boyfriend, because since he was always on his phone, it has all of his social tendencies to talk to her. After getting more invested with this service the woman wanted further her connection with her dead boyfriend. The service also offers an exact replica or clone of the person you want. After a night of seeing her boyfriend and his physical touch she realizes that the clone even though he looks the same, does not compare to the one that has passed away. She becomes so frustrated due to the fact that he cannot argue with her because he just goes along with everything she says. At the end of the episode both of them were at a large cliff with the clone standing on the edge, with the woman not knowing what to do and if she should have him jump. After this it cuts to their daughters birthday party where we see the clone living in the attic. I believe that the woman could not lose her boyfriend again, even though they only look the same it would still be to much emotional pain for her to go through the same thing again.

Even before watching the Black Mirror episode I had always thought that there can be no way that something created by man a.k.a AI, can ever compare or fill the gap of human interaction. After watching the episode it confirmed my beliefs and showed me that if we do that sort of thing we will just be disappointed because even if we want someone fake to be real, it will never become a reality. For me looking through the Replika website and watching their video about what service they provide for people, I thought it was a waste of time. I know that it is a great thing for people because it can make them feel happy and better about themselves, but I believe that this kind of happiness is actually bad for a person because there is no hope for these things to be real. We have enough technology in today’s society where you can find someone on social media, websites, or other places online to talk to and start a friendship or even romance if that is what you want to look for.

News Aricle

I looked up a story about Replika because I did find it very weird, but also a cool way to use technology. In this article in goes into saying on how it was first created and what it is like using the app. The post goes on saying what made Replika so good, and how weird or buggy it can be.