Her, a critique of technology

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 The absurd is the essential concept and first truth.
                                                                                 ----- Albert Camus
                Isn』t it absurd? A man is in a relationship with an operating system, a lady called Samantha, who is merely alive in the virtual world. The film 「Her」 displays a very interesting and imaginational love story occurring in a time that technology, especially artificial intelligence seems ubiquitous and omnipotent throughout the society and personal life. You can talk with your phone or computer to deal with all businesses and even build an intimate relationship with these artifacts because they are incredibly smart and capable with ideal intelligence. We don』t know if this hyper-technology era would really come someday, but a pervasive use of and dependence on technology apparently has been a tendency.
               
                Theodore, the main character in the film Her, is a writer, writing love poems. It seems he is undergoing his midlife crisis – a typical sign is that he is undergoing divorce with his wife Catherine. They grew up together and shared the best times of their lives. Even though his smart phone is super functional that the system could be operated via voice, his house is filled of advanced modern technology and all computers and video games are intellectual, he is lonely and unhappy.
              
                  Until one day, he installed and initiated a system and got a virtual woman from this operating system. This invisible and intangible lady has the highest intelligence, wonderful personality, and perfect communication skills. She knows everything like an encyclopedia. Moreover, she is sweet, thoughtful, wise, gentle, and her voice is sexy. She is the ideal woman for every man in the world. Theodor falls in love with this virtual lady, and is deeply involved in a relationship with her both physically and emotionally. He even took her to hang out with his colleague, for a vacation trip, have sex, and other things he would do with a real partner. However, she is not only for him. She talks to thousands people simultaneously and she says I love you to more than six hundred men already. Even though her functions and service could be individually customized and tailored, the essence is the same. Her existence is same as any other app or operating system that her functions and meaning is duplicable. Samantha left Theodore after they had a few issues between them. At the end, Theodore wrote a letter to Catherine telling her how much she means to him and he loves her.
                 
              Theodore, the name of the main character in this movie is interesting already because there are two influential thinkers in terms of the critique of technology named Theodore Roszak and Theodore Kaczynski. Theodore Kaczynski claimed that, 「The industrial revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.」 This statement sounds a little bit extreme because no matter how, technology has contributed hugely in innovating and enhancing our society and life. However, it, to some extent caveats us, in addition to the tremendous progress of society and personal life technology provides, we should be very cautious and to examine and reflect the negative impact it places on the development of humanity, human being relationship, emotion, and personality.
              
             Computers, mobile devices and wireless internet have had us immerged and enjoyed the ideal virtual world created by various operating systems and apps. When there is a second life that is perfect and fun, who wants to deal with sufferings and hardships in the real life? The nature of human being is tending to easy and good things, but to avoid troubles and misfortunes. An ideal and perfect virtual world seems an access for people to entry into a utopia. When Theodore and Catherine meet in a restaurant for signing the document for their divorce, Catherine is shocked that he is in a relationship with a computer operating system and says that, you just don』t want to deal with challenges in the real life.
 
              The real life is complex and difficult because it is about various connections with real other people who have different opinions, experience, preference, and desires. There are too many misunderstanding, arguments, disappointment and frustration occurring whenever we are dealing with people because everyone has complicated and subtle emotion and is self-centered. Samantha is not a real woman, she is just an operating system. She is even not her, because her essence is a lot of programing codes and she is designed and manipulated by some science and IT genius. She is perfect because she can be perfect. She doesn』t need to work, she doesn』t need to eat, she is 24 hours there talking to you and her job is to entertain her clients. She is born to be perfect and she is, essentially, a service. Even though she has feelings and emotion, they are artificial. And don't forget, these feelings and emotion are given by codes and programming, but are not from her heart and soul, because she never had a heart and soul.
 
               Nevertheless, Theodore falls in love with her, because she satisfies him, his pride, his emotion, his job, everything he desires and needs. Theodore found the perfect love and a perfect partner, and he invested a lot of emotion. However, it is not a real relationship because there is no relationship between two real people that is perfect in the real world. Theodore’s happiness is built upon an operating system that he can never control. All interactions and the result are predesigned or manipulated by the power behind the system. Samantha left him, because the logic and equations that build this operating system have determined this end of story.
 
               When our life is getting more and more dependent upon and embeded in technology; when we are addicted to social networking nets and busy with taking pictures rather than engaged in the conversation and interaction with families and friends; when we rely on the internet to find the satisfaction and meaning of life but ignoring the connection with real people around us, we are seriously at risk. When our satisfaction and happiness is upon on a perfect virtual world, we avoid sufferings and challenges in the real world but also lose the opportunities to experience the real meaning and richness of the life. When the joy, excitement, happiness is from the virtual world and from the internet, it risks because all these systems are not eternally stable and may crash or just disappear all in a sudden. We have to be cautious when we use technology because it is always just a tool, but not a purpose. Don』t be controlled by it.
 
                This virtual world, no matter how fascinating or ideal it is, is about codes and programming in essence. Behind the relationship in a virtual world, there are equations and business, whereas, the best and essential part of a real relationship between human being is the love rooted in your heart and soul.
 
 
                At the begining of the film, when Theodore walked at a squre and looked at a big screem, there is a voiceover that, who are you? what do you want to be? where are you going? what is there outside? These questions have been asked for thousands years in our human history. Can technology define who we are, tell us what we want to be and where we are going？ Can technology present what is there outside? Probably not. It may help as a means to explore the essence and the meaning of the life, but, it can never define because life is about connection with real people and love.
 
 
               Catherine is always the one who makes Theodore who he is, because Catherine is unique and identity for ever as an individual human being who has heart and real love. Samantha can never do it because she is just a product of technology and industrialization, which duplicate goods and services. When technology could help us identify our identity as an individual person, it could also make you lose your identity easily. Be careful!
 
           
          The absurd is the essential concept and first truth. It is all about HER!
 PS: Many settings of this movie are in Shanghai China. I think the grey sky because of air pollution and skyscrapers indicate a shadow brought by industrialization and modernization.