In her book Toward Embodied Virtuality, author Katherine Hayles discusses her changing perspective on dualism which is the separation of the body and mind. Hayles’ reasoning behind this shift is that humans are creating machines with intelligence which will eventually lead to humans becoming a population of cyborgs. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the term embodiment is defined as “someone or something that is a perfect representative or example of a quality, idea, etc.” Hayles uses this term to describe how information does not have an exact or ideal form. Instead, the form that information takes is more flexible (Hayles 2); it is not bound to a specific system or program and it is free from the materialistic world (Hayles 13). The lack embodiment enables information to not have any restraints or constriction by society. Hayles’ ideas of dualism and the term “embodiment virtuality” are best illustrated through the 1972 movie The Stepford Wives and the character Ash in the “Be Right Back” episode of Black Mirror.
In the movie Stepford Wives, mother and wife Joanna Eberhart moves with her husband and two children to Stepford, Connecticut. Shortly after moving to Stepford, Joanna notices how all the wives within the community are very archaic: they are very submissive towards their husbands, do not question their authority, and only do household chores. When Joanna investigates this matter she discovers that the women in Stepford are being killed by the Stepford Men’s Association and are being replaced by robot, housewife versions of themselves. At the end of the film, Joanna is murdered and a robot clone replaces her. The robot wives within the film demonstrate the concept of virtual embodiment as they are the perfect representative or idea of a wife; she does domestic/household chores and is submissive towards her husband. The husbands within Stepford have the opportunity to make perfect, idealistic versions of their wives. The film illustrates Hayles’ idea of dualism as the mind and body of the wives separated; even though the robots look exactly like their human counterparts, they do not think nor behave like them. The wives’ minds are separated from their robot counterparts and are being replaced with the minds of domestic housewives.
Another example of virtual embodiment and dualism is the Black Mirror episode, “Be Right Back”, which centers around the couple Ash and Martha. In the episode, Ash dies in a vehicle accident leaving Martha devastated and alone. Shortly after his death, however, Martha is given the opportunity to have Ash back in her life through an online computer program. This program replicates Ash’s voice and personality through Martha’s phone using his online accounts/profiles. In the middle of the episode, Martha agrees to make a physical clone of Ash and it appears as if he never passed. Martha’s happiness is short lived however as even though the clone looks like Ash, it does not fully embody who the real Ash was; the clone does fully embody Ash’s personality or his response to certain stimuli/situations regarding when he and Martha argue, his sex life with Martha, nor when his life is in danger. The clone simply does what Martha tells him to do, which frustrates Martha to the point where she attempts to get rid of it. The concept of virtual embodiment applies to Ash as his clone does not fully embody his personality. It is not the ideal or perfect representative of who Ash was as person and as a husband towards Martha. Hayles’ idea of dualism is illustrated in this episode as Ash’s mind and body are separated from his clone. Even though the clone looks exactly like Ash, it does not fully have his mind including his personality, his memories, his temperament, or his response to certain situations/stimuli. The clone’s personality and character are solely based on what the real Ash revealed online through his accounts/profiles. The real Ash’s mind is gone and could not fully be replicated even though his physical body could be. Additionally, Hayles’ idea of information being flexible and not having one specific form is illustrated through Ash; when Ash died his information on his online profiles were transferred from the internet into computer program and eventually into a clone in an attempt to recapture Ash’s character.
In summary, Hayles’ book Toward Embodied Virtuality claims that dualism, the separation of the body and mind is possible. She predicts that within the future, humans will be able to create machines with intelligence which will lead to the human population becoming cyborgs. She defines the concept of” virtual embodiment” as information not having a specific form; in time information will have the ability to change from one state into another as it is not bound to a certain system. Using the movie Stepford Wives and Black Mirror episode “Be Right Back” as examples, Hayles’ idea(s) are fully illustrated and claim that dualism and virtual embodiment are not just theories or speculations. Instead, they are ideas that fully capture humanity’s potential future.