How does the concept of “Embodied Virtuality” apply to Ash, the main character of this episode?
Hayles claims that the mind and body are two separate entities that can stand alone but they seem lacking or incomplete without the other. Ash embodies the disconnect that occurs when the mind and body are separated after he passes away and his wife brought back his social media persona. Ash’s persona, not Ash.
Ash’s body was buried so when Martha orders the android version of Ash, she had his mind, or rather his internet persona, fill the shell of the android. He knows nothing about the real Ash’s physical mannerisms, he knows only what Ash had put online and what information Martha has given him.
In the end, he isn’t quite like Ash because there is only the literal information that the android has but no memories, no emotional context, no empathy. The mind and body are two separate things that cannot function properly without the other and that is how Ash embodies virtuality.