Her

This is my heinously late post about the Spike Jonze film Her. So late as to be completely irrelevant, but maybe still of interest to the DOZENS of people who asked me what I thought of the movie.

You may wonder why anybody would ask me for my critical opinions on cinema when I watch like 6 films a year and don't get around to blogging about them until months later. If ever. In this case I think it's more to do with the fact that I'm a huge virtual companion geek. To the point that I lived with a Healing Partner Yumel robot companion doll for over a year and have quite possibly used every virtual boyfriend application released on web or mobile between 2006-2012.

ごめん、ユメル。いつかまた会いたい

From the virtual companion angle then, Her is not really that interesting. Samantha's intelligence, artificial creative output and the singularity's evolution beyond matter are convenient plot points - the film is not really about AI.

Maybe I have also read too much about the latent misogyny and autobiographical weirdness to view Her through an unbiased lens. Certainly the technology here is in service of Jonze's vision - whether you believe that to be a hollaback at Lost in Translation or empathy for sensitive white dudes.

Which is not to say I have no interest in that narrative. Of course the feminist in me would loooove to have seen how the dynamics of ownership could have played out for a sad Scarlett Johansson cybering with her "male" OS, and more of the fascinating platonic interaction between Amy Adams and her OS girlfriend would've ruled. But as far as the role companion technology can play in our lives, Her is a pretty conventional love story and doesn't push the boat out far.

For one, we can do most of what Samantha (and her predecessors) can do already, in superior form factors. Of course voice will be the most common input modality - we're getting there already. Why on earth is Twombly carrying around that dinky screen and still trying to shield his porn from view on public transit when large-screen phablets and wearables already exist? Is it intended as a faux-nostalgic throwback like the polyester trousers? 

Speaking of which, have you seen the latest Google Glass frames? Would totes wear.

Um, where is VR and haptic feedback? The bit with the meatspace sexual surrogate was almost unthinkably retro. 

Ok so maybe our learning algorithms need to improve before Cortana can ask Spotify to actually "play a sad song" that I want to hear, but it's not far off. 

The only part that really got me excited, working in voice UI, was the idea that Samantha could gauge emotion and intention through tone of voice. I'm sure natural language processing researchers somewhere are working on this already (and I am now wondering why I am not working with them instead of my current job) but emotional expression is so complicated with individual and cultural differences, sarcasm, humour -- in short, a very cool problem to solve.

I suppose what made Her significant was more the tacit cultural acceptance of virtual companions. Although not without moral ambiguity, the emotional connection the humans have with their operating systems is depicted as sympathetic and valid. I wonder if the zeitgeist is ticking toward greater acceptance of man-made agents? It's refreshing to see a take on artificial agency (intelligence or robotic) that isn't themed around it being "creepy", but rather, emphasizes the usefulness of a virtual concierge and indeed how helpful and emotionally supportive a companion can be to lonely or vulnerable people.

"I, for one, welcome our new AI overlords" - is that what you were waiting for?