A Day Without Technology Analysis

In the beginning of the film, technology is portrayed as a perfect companion. The OS1 advertisement that Theodore saw asks existential questions such as “Who are you? Where are you going?” before proclaiming OS1’s ability to “listen, understand and know you” (Jonze, Her). This scene suggests that you probably do not need to answer these questions yourself because technology can do that for you. It proposes a utopian future where artificial intelligent beings know and understand us better than other human beings and even ourselves and that with the help of algorithms, these devices can make our lives better. This idea of an artificially intelligent operating system being the perfect companion is further emphasized by the juxtaposition against flawed human companions. This places unnecessary pressure on the characters in the film to live up to

Technology as presented in the film shows us that our futures are not unpredictable. They are a result of a series of specific decisions made by society. In the film, the moment when Theodore falls in love with Samantha is not a serendipitous occurence. It was the consequence of specific choices made by a technology company who designed the operating system the way it is and released the software for mass consumption. What was the intention behind enhancing intelligent personal assistants to become sentient? Did they forsee Samantha and the other operating systems attaining singularity? What systems do they have in place to manage the consequences of the operating systems overcoming the limitations set by its creators? These are the questions that we should ask ourselves about our current attitudes toward development and usage of technology as this is what is going to help us guide ourselves toward a more desirable