A Fascinating and Mind-Expanding Look at Operating System Relationships

Rating: 9/10 (9 January 2019)

9 October 2017. This intimate look at human and computerized relationships is a mind-expanding experience on the threshold of our contemporary future. Starring Amy Adams as a female human, Scarlett Johansson as a computer or operating system voice, and Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore who dictates letters for other people to other people which in itself presents an odd paradox of communication between two people.
There's two possible conundrums with this movie, one problematic, the other philosophical. Theodore experiences a date early on which has problematic issues that might seem to be more script-driven than real. Philosophically, Theodore begins to experience emotions with Samantha, the operating system, where some existential doubts are raised about the reality of feelings which in turn raise interesting questions about the actual nature of emotions themselves. For a number of neuroscientists, it is the confluence of both the physiological as well as the mental interactions that result in emotions which would suggest that purely mechanical, electronic entities may have the same capacity to experience physical feelings or sensations but not actual emotions. If this is so, the conundrum in this movie becomes even greater, if not hypothetical or more fantasy and magical than potentially real.
Earlier on Theodore experiences phone sex with a real female. Later, Theordore gets to again experience virtual sex as the movie taps into the use of the audience's mental imagination, using a blank dark screen during an intimate scene. Virtual sex is briefly examined in the sci fi action thriller Demolition Man (1993). Another hybrid relationship is presented in Solaris (1972, 2002) where a relationship forms with a planet-created entity from human memories.
Yet computer questions remain. What does it mean that an operating system "wants" and how do wants arrive or occur in such an electronic universe and what are the implications? At some point, another existential question arises from this movie: Do and will operating systems begin to evolve to the point of deserving a right to life and human-type of respect. Interestingly, the proposed alternative relational lifestyles in Her offer some intriguing moral and actually stimulating ideas for contemplation and real experimental experiences when and if technological advances permit. Her may be at least one of those science fiction movies that has arrived before its time and allow for timely thought and consideration for the future of advanced operating systems outside the more stereotypical survival of mankind scenarios. Personally, it's possible that such a relationship would have been worth trying out and whether or not the script outcome was deliberately shortened here for dramatic or time limitations sake. The IMDb rating by age of Her seems to also suggest that alternative operating lifestyles as presented is also based on some generational bias with older people and females (to a smaller extent) who might have greater resistance to accepting such possibilities. As to how birth for woman and child-rearing would impact such operating system/human relationships remains to be considered.
It's possible that Theodore and how his relationships go, is really crazy at heart and even he doesn't know it. It's more about him than sharing and nurturing anybody else in a relationship. There may be a sense of a need for an unnecessary psychological security through a feeling of control in a relationship that only serves to push women away, human or otherwise. By the end of this movie, it is apparent that Her offers up a pertinent relational message to all people seeking something special with another person. "We're only here briefly and while I'm here, I want to allow myself joy so f__k it," says Amy. What Her ultimately accomplishes is to present a cybernetic story in ways that raise valuable and unexplored questions which may unfortunately result in answers that human beings may not really experience the satisfaction as they desire. This movie explores the important computer ethical examination of the computer-human interface that might allow for a computer-sensing entity to capture and experience the multitude of the billions of sensory experiences in a moment that no human could perceive and such an experience could preoccupy the time differential such that the human-computer hybrid relationship could develop and evolve together resulting in something like an Existential operating Buddhahood. Additionally, as operating systems experience millions or billion faster than human beings, it would also seem unlikely that such time differentials would be practical unless such systems were deliberately slowed down, much to the questionable wants of such programs. What this fascinating movie really comes down to is "was the experience from Theodore or Samantha worth it for them?"