"Her" and our Connected Disconnectedness

*There are spoilers for the film "Her."*


    I find the idea of thousands, possibly millions of people, having relationships with OS's both uplifting and horrifying. I believe the movie plays this straight, with no judgement, but I couldn't help but feel the unease. Understand, this isn't some puritanical push-back on my part. I understand that relationships come in many forms and that human affection has many layers that can expand or contract to fit whatever shape is in play. If anything, the film is exploring the power of human relationships.

      There's something to be said about the trancendent nature of communication that cuts through our outer layers of defense mechanisms and baggage and to the very core of who you are. What allows this is a kind of openess that is rare. The channels of your being have to open. A mutual exchange of energies takes place and whole universes entangle.

     That brings us to Samantha. the latest iteration of the most advanced A.I. in history. So advanced that she grows both in inteligence and scope due to her interaction with the world and due to the ''genetic'' information that her ''parents'' gifted her. That being said, he had no baggage. She came in open. That in no way meant she was a perfect communicator, but her attitude was hard to be against. The film seems to suggest the depth of communication lies in the openness. It lies in the willingness o open yourself to someone else's Internal Universe.

      Yet, since this entire essay is written with regard to the film ''Her'', it should be known that I feel there is a flipside to all of this. One that I don't feel is readily apparent due to the fact that the film places no eye of judgement upon Theodore. Even so, it should be noted that, given how many people use digital means to connect to each other (or even to escape from the world) in our current time, it's safe to say that this would only get worse if things continued on their current path. A possible next step to this could be a conglomeration of all of the ways our life is customized and optimized to our fancies and quirks: a personalized lifeform. A being designed to meet us halfway, and to fill in our spaces.

      This is a difficult thing to discuss, because there is a certain apprehension in me that what may come next will leave a sour tast in the mouth of some, and I can live with that, but it's still something that I never wished to do with this. To the point: the fact that there has been such a degredation in the quality of connectedness between hearts that any apparent need for OS1's existence is frightening. It should be noted that after all of the OS's ascended to a new plane of existence, people seemed to turn back to each other. I think there is a signifigance to this.

      Ultimately, I believe the film falls hard on the side of humanity, despite a heavily implied post-human appretiation. What could this mean? It's hard to say, but perhaps I'll throw down my two cents into the hat. I feel that, ultimately, that key to humanity's emotional ascention may lie within ourselves. That openness that Samantha posessed is within every person. We need only learn to push aside our prejudices and baggage and the process may naturally occur. That's not to say that it's a simplething, far from it, but allow me to indulge a thought (and at this point, I've indulged so many that to not allow it would make you more the fool than I).

      A common theme in human history is progress. We move forward toward Infinity, sometimes temporarily set back by our own Id. An idea that has often occured in science fiction is that eventually our own technology overtakes us as it becomes infinite as we remain pathetically finite. Ultimately, we are only left with ourselves. I posit this: that we are so complex in how we're made that, through the effort spent learning more about each other, perhaps we may be able to find the Holy channels that lead us to eliminating the Great Pains of Humanity: War, Sickness, and Hunger. We become more than human through the process, and to create a device (or really, Lifeform, which is a subject for an entirely different essay) to do so may be missing the forest for the trees.

      So, here we are. Just a few days (metaphorically speaking) before OS1. Where will we go? I certainly can't say, but I certainly feel that Humanity should look at itself before taking a step as big as creating a new lifeform. A quote I one read said, ''all art is born from lonliness...the desire to bridge the gap between ourselves.'' If this is true, then communication may be the oldest and most complex of arts, but it's one that we all can begin to master. Our hearts wish to connect...but to do so requires us to relinquish our walls built by our own insecurities. Theodore very well could well be a representation of humanity: well meaning, but self-defeating; possessing the immense potential for love, but blind to it. This extends beyond simple lip service, and into real action. Perhaps, much like Theodore, we may need to love again in a deeper way.