In “Toward Embodied Virtuality,” Katherine Hayles discusses her perspective on dualism. Dualism is considered the separation of the mind and body, in which either one may have the capability of functioning without the other. This text describes how the growth of intelligent machines may indeed lead to a cyborg population one day. This then places the question of what exactly makes us human. By examining the mind and body, not only as a whole, but as separate entities, one can critically analyze embodied virtuality and the big question: Can the mind and body function separately, or do these entities need each other in order to function properly?
In my opinion, both the mind and body influence one another. As Hayles states in her text, “embodiment makes clear that thought is a much broader cognitive function depending for its specificities on the embodied form enacting it” (Prologue 14). This clarifies that the mind influences the body, as well as the body influencing the mind. The physical characteristics of a being may impact their thinking in a positive or negative way. Thoughts and opinions may be altered due to the way one sees themselves. In addition, the mind impacts the physical characteristics and functioning of the body. For example, stress can negatively impact the regular functioning of the human body and results in an altered way of thinking. However, some still question whether the mind can be put into a machine and still function the same way as humans do now. Therefore, in relation, the TV series Black Mirror and the women from the movie Stepford Wives represent this idea of an embodied virtuality.
The women in Stepford Wives contain a simulation like mind with a machine body. In this movie, men move their families to a small town in order to replace them with human-like machines. However, the women only function how the husbands have altered their system to work. Therefore, the wives become more obedient, tidy, and the stereotypical representation of ‘what a women should be like.’ In this case, a separate mind, or program containing a simulation of a human mind, was put into a machine to portray the women. The body was also created to look exactly like the women. However, the body could not function properly if trauma occurred. In the movie, one of the women who hadn’t been replaced yet found her best friend to suddenly be a cyborg. The woman got so scared that she cut her best friend but the friend does not bleed. However due to this trauma the body could no longer function. The body started to spas, as well as the mind. This portrayed that although the body may seem real, it is only a fake embodiment of a simulated thinking process. Although the machine version of the wife tried “encourage a comparable fantasy,” I believe that it ultimately failed in the end (Hayles 12). Therefore, I believe that those who believe “that because we are essentially information, we can do away with the body” are wrong. The mind and body have to be connected in order to create the whole being; if one system fails, the other will too.
Similarly, in Black Mirror, a woman’s husband dies suddenly. In order to help her grieve, she starts using an online system that used all of the husband’s online data to recreated conversions, as if he was writing them. This then turned into her ordering a human-like machine to mimic her husband. The husband’s thoughts and words were created through videos, pictures, and text from his online life. This created a mind just like the real husband’s. However, the body was simply there for looks, he could not portray his feelings or actions like the husband did and could not show true emotions. Without human bodily functions, the machine’s mind was simply not enough. Therefore, this supports Hayles idea when it is stated that, “we see only what our systemic organization allows us to see,” describing that, in relation to Black Mirror, the machine version of the husband can only do so much with what was programmed into the system (Hayles 11). This means that although he may talk the same, his actions and responses do not match or are irrelevant.
Overall, dualism in my opinion helps identify what makes us human. Dualism is the separation of body and mind, yet with the separation the identity of the individual is lost. Black Mirror and Stepford Wives both show that the mind cannot make up for physical features and actions. Therefore, integrating a thinking process like the human species now into a machine will never make them human. The emotions are unable to be portrayed correctly, actions do not match up, and there is no empathy within the simulation.