Our essence, our soul

Hello World!

I’m using my daily thoughts and encounters to discover as many things as possible which bring together, rather than divide, our various belief systems and cultures.

TV - both essential and yet pointless at the same time. I don’t really need it to survive, yet I always say I couldn’t live without it. The problem is that there are so many shows to choose from, one never knows what’s good and what isn’t. A difficult task when the schedule seems to be packed full of game shows, reality TV, and crime dramas.

However, in my efforts to watch more worthwhile programmes, I recently stumbled across Black Mirror. This was billed as an ‘intense satire’, and well-done parody being something I enjoy immensely, I decided to watch, and wasn’t let down. I shall try not to fill this post with too many spoilers, but the premise was that a young man had come to a tragic early end, leaving his wife alone and trying to come to terms. She discovers an app on Facebook which, using the deceased’s considerable social networking footprint, is able to ‘chat’ to her, taking on an approximation of his personality.

As the form of their communication develops into astonishing proportions, she realises that what she is talking to is not the man she loved at all, but just a reflection of the thoughts he left in the virtual ether.

What I enjoy about TV like this is the thoughts and questions it provokes. Our immediate instinct throughout a story such as that is to bemoan the amount of information we leave on the Internet. After all, although we know deep down that the apps which exist in this Black Mirror episode do not really exist, it all seems somehow realistic because of the amount of traffic we all know we put out there.

Is that a scary thought? Perhaps. But I was even more intrigued by the message at the end. It seems that, no matter how clever technology becomes, man-made intelligence cannot replace human personality. And that’s because no computer app can replicate the soul. If you don’t believe in a soul, then it’s whatever you call your essence, your sense of knowing you are you, and not just a mix of chemical reactions.

Such reactions would be the same all the time. Take a look at your favourite painting, for example – you love it, but does everyone? No. Each of us has an individual sense of aesthetics, a unique skill-set, a sense of perception which is a once-only occurrence. Each of us feels everything – pain, pleasure, guilt, elation, pride, loyalty, or anything under the sun – in a totally different way to our neighbour.

So, what do we call this unique sense of individuality, the nagging feeling that within our shells we are more than just moving parts, the inability to imagine what it’s like to simply not exist?

That’s a question I’ll leave you all to answer for yourselves.

Thanks for listening, and take care.