Ain't Got No Body: What 'Her' Reveals About Being Human

Remember the movie Her?The film follows Theodore, a regular guy, as he falls for Samantha, an incredibly human-like (or superhuman-like) AI who exists only as a voice in Theodore’s ear. The movie cleverly blends futuristic tech with philosophical questions about the nature of mind and consciousness. But more than that, it raises questions about what it means to have a genuine connection.This article will not be about the Her love story, although I think that could be an interesting discussion. There’s something else about the movie that has piqued my curiosity.Last week, we discussed the embodied view of perception, which suggests that to understand how we experience the world, we need to acknowledge that the brain is embodied. And the way our brain gets information about the world is through movement. If that’s true, it raises some interesting questions about disembodied AIs like Samantha.Interestingly, watching Her in 2024 is a different experience from when I first watched it shortly after its initial release in 2013. With recent developments in AI, such as ChatGPT’s voice mode, the concept of an AI like Samantha doesn’t seem all that far-fetched. The gap between science fiction and reality seems to be narrowing by the day.This shrinking gap raises some fascinating questions. Could an AI like Samantha really perceive the world without a physical form? Or are we talking about something completely different — a kind of intelligence so unlike our own that it forces us to rethink what it means to perceive, understand, and experience the world?This week, let’s use the movie Her as a thought experiment. We’ll ask two main questions:* How would Samantha perceive the world?* What Her says about being human?Note: There will be spoilers. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suzitravis.substack.com