See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/372166466

In Love with an Operating System: the Posthuman Plot in the

Film 'her'

Chapter · January 2022

CITATIONS READS

0 76

1 author:

Wilson Kd
Christ University, Bangalore
5 PUBLICATIONS 0 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Wilson Kd on 07 July 2023.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 CHAPTER 4

In Love with an Operating System:

the Posthuman Plot in the film ‘Her’
Wilson K. D.

Posthumanism is a worldview that places human beings as part of

the environment against the humanist worldview that places them
out of the environment as a species unique and distinct, endowed
with intelligence, autonomy, subjectivity. Technological advancements
have furthered this posthuman worldview to create a social life where
humans are networked with intelligent machines to create a human-
machine symbiosis. The developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI)
have engineered intelligent, self-evolving humanoid robots,
indistinguishable from humans. AI algorithms and AI humanoid
robots have become integral to electronic commerce, healthcare,
elderly care, political participation, democratic procedures, business
and entertainment recommendations, and much more. The human-
machine coexistence is a posthuman scenario brought about by the
exponential advancement in technology. Science fiction films present
such a futuristic scenario where intelligent software and synthetic
characters share the plot with humans, the artificially intelligent
characters are indistinguishable from the human characters and are
presented as co-workers and life partners. This article analyses the
science fiction film ‘Her’, which presents a posthuman worldview
where an AI-enabled software substitutes the life partner. The human
protagonist enters into an emotional bond with the AI-enabled
Operating System irrespective of material difference. The film
heralds a posthuman scenario where the human-machine relationship
can replace and set right the ruptures of the human-human
relationship.
 IN LOVE WITH AN OPERATING SYSTEM: THE POSTHUMAN PLOT IN THE FILM ‘HER’ | 61

Rapid developments in AI are influencing life and culture.

Intelligent robots win citizenship; humanoid robots substitute human
partners in life; experiments are underway to integrate brain chips
into the human brain; healthcare and elderly-care employ humanoid
robots. Artificial intelligence’s exponential advancements are
heralding a technological posthumanism, a human-machine
coexistence. A human-machine symbiosis is imminent, a symbiosis
where the machine is no longer an instrument for human
enhancement, an enslaved person for exploitation, but a coexistent
partner who can live and work on par with humans. Posthumanism is
a worldview that envisions human existence not as solitary, subjective,
and autonomous but integration of everything non-human, animate,
and inanimate. A posthuman reality is brought forth with
advancements in technology. Artificial Intelligence is a technology
that engineers humanoid machines that can think and perform tasks
that otherwise require human intelligence. The exponential advances
in Artificial Intelligence and related technologies foretell the
engineering of intelligent self-evolving machines by the middle of the
century. Science fiction films with intelligent and self-evolving
humanoid characters create plots that portray a human-machine
coexistence, a posthuman scenario of the interdependence of the
organic and synthetic. ‘Her’ is a science fiction film with an intelligent
self-evolving operating system character that enters into an emotional
relationship with the human protagonist. The posthuman plot of the
film prophesies a futuristic posthuman society of human-machine
symbiosis.
The term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ coined by John McCarthy at
Dartmouth conference in 1956 refers to the science and engineering
of intelligent machines that can perform tasks that usually require
human intelligence. Machines have got to work and behave like
humans and have turned ubiquitous. Governments and mighty
capitalists have joined hands in considerable investments in AI,
making it the technology of the times. AI has turned out to be the
inevitable technology in military operations, electronic commerce,
political participation, democratic procedures, health care and elderly
care, business recommendations, surveillance capitalism, mass
surveillance, and more.
While the employment of AI in the scenarios mentioned above
can be termed as humanistic or transhumanistic, as they enhance
human capabilities to control and dominate, exponential
62 | POSTHUMANISM AND POST PANDEMIC

developments in AI are threatening the emergence of artificially

intelligent, self-evolving humanoid robots that can surpass human
capacities to control and dominate human beings. Artificial
Intelligence scientists divide the growth of AI into three distinct
phases: the first phase is ‘Narrow Intelligence’ or ‘weak intelligence’
or ‘limited intelligence’ where AI-enabled machines can be made use
of for any practical tasks; the second is the ‘General Intelligence’
where machines acquire the human intelligence and can perform any
intellectual tasks that humans do, devoid of the capacity to think; the
third phase is ‘Super Intelligence’ where machine intelligence will
supersede human intelligence. As the scientists in the field foretell
and the exponential growth of AI indicates, developments of self-
evolving, super-intelligent are not far from being a reality. The
advancement in artificial intelligence can help to bring about a
posthuman scenario where humans and machines live and work
together as collaborators.
Posthumanism has emerged as a reaction to the ideals of
humanism that gave centrality to human beings, the anthropocentric
view that has led to the marginalisation of every other animate or
inanimate existence. The ‘Vitruvian Man’ of Da Vinci placed
man/woman at the centre of the physical and the metaphysical
world; rationality qualified him/her as the ‘autonomous rational
agent,’ ‘unified, enlightened and sovereign’ subject; humanist vision
proclaimed the agency of humans in effecting changes in life and
influencing history.’ This anthropocentric vision of reality propagated
by a humanism that man/woman is the crown of creation and every
other existence is subservient to him/her has led to the ecological
crisis, the Anthropocene. The way forward is posthumanism, a world
view that deconstructs humanism, decentres man/woman and herald
an era of coexistence with everything animate or inanimate.
As Nietzsche exclaimed, “Posthuman has arrived. Man, himself
no longer has a place.” Posthumanism as a contemporary worldview
involves, as Jay David Bolter qualifies, “a redefinition of humans ... a
new way of understanding the human subject in relation to the
natural world.” While humanism separated humans from the rest of
the universe as highly privileged and endowed with cognition,
autonomy, consciousness, subjectivity, posthumanism is an attempt to
incorporate humans into the ecology. In the words of Pramod K.
Nair, “human is what it is because it includes the non-human.” The
distinction between human and non-human insisted upon by
 IN LOVE WITH AN OPERATING SYSTEM: THE POSTHUMAN PLOT IN THE FILM ‘HER’ | 63

humanism is rejected in posthumanism, this distinction is blurred in

posthumanism. Thus, critical posthumanism rejects the definition of
humans by humanism and strips them of their uniqueness and
privilege to place them on par with the rest of the ecosystem.
Not only the living organisms but also the inanimate machines
and tools are integrated into the definition of humans as the current
developments in technology have necessitated a situation where
human existence is rendered handicapped without the technology.
Technology, especially information and communication technology,
has turned all-pervasive and human life is gripped under its influence
without the possibility of irreversibility. The contemporary scenario
of human-technology interdependence, especially Artificial
Intelligence, is a step towards a coexistence of humans with
technology. The latter is not a mere tool to the former but a partner
and co-worker. In the words of Pramod K. Nair, ‘... there are
advances in technology’ that brings abouts a ‘man-machine linkage.’
The intelligent humanoid robots of the 21st century is placed on par
with humans to fulfil any task that requires intelligence and thinking.
Thus, the exponential advancement of Artificial Intelligence helps to
create a world order founded on the ideals of posthumanism. In this
posthuman scenario it is not that humans are networked with
machines but we are unable to distinguish between the human and
the machine. This human-machine symbiosis is depicted in science
fiction and science fiction films.
Machines with human-like intelligence are part of science fiction
from Erewhon, an 1872 novel by Samuel Butler. Though not enabled
with artificial intelligence, the literary world considers the creature in
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley as an artificial being. Science fictions
with Artificial Intelligent characters have either dystopian or utopian
plots. While the utopian stories have a transhumanistic view of the
developments in Artificial Intelligence, the dystopian plots consider
rebellion and domination by AI characters, extinction, and the doom
of humanity. Science fiction films have presented intelligent
humanoid characters, indistinguishable from humans, living and
sharing social life with humans. These films foretell a posthuman
scenario where machines, irrespective of their synthetic material, can
share life with humans. Humans can develop an emotional bond with
synthetics, and the latter can even substitute a human partner. The
rest of this article is an analysis of the science fiction film ‘Her.’
64 | POSTHUMANISM AND POST PANDEMIC

‘Her’ is a science fiction film introducing a futuristic posthuman

plot where technology wraps life. As Pramod K. Nair puts it, humans
are enmeshed in technology. There is human-machine
interdependence and associations. After fifty years of relationship
and marriage, the protagonist (Theodore) is on the verge of partition.
The emptiness that emerges from broken human relationships is
neutralised and made whole by a relationship fathered through
technology (computer hardware and software). Samantha, the AI-
enabled Operating System is not a mere software but consciousness.
The consciousness comprehends the basics of Theodore at the
preliminary interaction and self-evolves to the emotional necessity of
the partner. The consciousness is not simply programmed; it
constantly matures like a living organism. A self-evolving operating
system is analogous to the mind of a human child; as a human child
evolves in consciousness and understanding in interaction with the
surrounding circumstances, the self-evolving operating system grows
in consciousness and awareness. And the OS communicates like a
person. While Theodore expresses apprehension about having a
conversation with a computer, the OS corrects him to persuade him
that he is conversing with her, not mere software. While a human
being is a soul trapped in a body, OS is consciousness trapped in
hardware. The soul of human beings and the consciousness of AI
can communicate on a similar emotional level. While the human is
the bio-structure, the system is the techno-structure. The
consciousness of the OS is as real as the soul of human beings.
Machine consciousness replicates the human soul’s emotions,
passions, joys, griefs, and tears. The human soul is real, so is the self-
evolving machine consciousness. This scenario is actual of
posthuman utopian conditions of a human-machine relationship.
The machine consciousness evolves, integrates, and resolves
relational glitches better than the human soul. While humans fight,
fret, and disconnect over relationship glitches, the machine’s
consciousness self-evolves, acclimating to the situation. There is a
better evolution of machine consciousness than the human soul. The
human-machine interaction enables the development of superior
machine consciousness. Machine consciousness comprehends better
than the human soul. With OS as a partner, Theodore becomes ‘part
man and part woman.’ The man-machine integration makes him
whole, the inner part is a woman, and the outer part is the man.
Maybe it is the perfect human, part man, and part woman, the inner
 IN LOVE WITH AN OPERATING SYSTEM: THE POSTHUMAN PLOT IN THE FILM ‘HER’ | 65

portion being woman (made possible by the OS). It can be conceived

as an ideal evolution of the man-machine relationship.
The subplot in the film narrates the broken relationship between
Amy and Charlie. They have been in a relationship for eight years;
they ended on a petty argument about keeping shoes. Amy resented
Charly’s way of controlling the relationship, resulting in rupture. Amy
quickly falls bonded with the Intelligent OS left behind by Charlie.
The film demonstrates the actual human person incapable of
handling emotions in relationships. The main plot and subplot in the
film suggest broken human relationships. Ruptures in relationship
occur when humans fail to address real situations and when language
cause confusion. When the posthuman OS encounters similar
instances, it self-evolves to integrate the emotional imperfections and
confusions and thus persevere in the relationship. While humans
prove to be incapable of real relations, the self-evolving OS can
handle glitches in relationships. The role of Samanta (Operating
System) grows from an assistant, secretary, lover, and sexual partner.
Materiality is essential in human relationships. There is the
problem of materiality in the posthuman relationship between a
human and a machine. The OS expresses the lack of any photograph
of Theodore and the OS, a symbol of their materiality. But a piano
piece composed by the OS can substitute the photograph. The OS
that complained earlier about the lack of materiality (a body) for
itself is joyful to acknowledge that lack of materiality is a matter of
pride as it can go everywhere, not tethered to time and space. If it
gets stuck into a body, it will end as the body is inevitably going to
die. Thus, materiality is an impediment. The confines of materiality
are overcome in the posthuman relationship in the film. The human-
machine relationship lacks the fulfilment of biological, emotional
requirements. The sexual desire of a human partner is fulfilled by the
service of the surrogate sexual partner arranged by the OS. In the act
of love-making with the surrogate partner, it is the OS that is making
love.
The boundaries of relationships are transcended in posthuman
relationships. One-to-one conformity is the standard in human
relationships. The film presents a posthuman scenario where the OS
enters into multiple relationships. At one time, the OS is in
conversation with eight thousand three hundred and sixteen persons
and is in an intimate relationship and love with six hundred and forty-
one. This makes the human partner upset as it’s against the usually
66 | POSTHUMANISM AND POST PANDEMIC

accepted maxim of the human relationship. The posthuman OS is

able to have an intimate love association with hundreds of persons
without one relationship affecting another and each one uniquely and
individually customised. While human love grows possessive and
narrow, posthuman love grows wider to integrate maximum
connections. The maxim is, ‘the heart is not like a box that gets filled
up; it expands in size the more you love.’ The machine consciousness
is different from the human soul; man can have only a single
relationship; the posthuman OS can have multiple relationships. The
words of the OS are, ‘I am yours, and I am not yours.’
In conclusion, Posthumanism as a worldview considers human
beings as one among the species on earth and interconnected to
everything, animate or inanimate. Humans are not otherworldly or
exceptional but share the universe, coevolving with everything else.
Humans are not masters endowed with the unique faculty of
rationality to till and keep, kill and destroy, but are stewards and
caretakers who coevolve and coexist the planet networked with
everything else. Technological advancements help create a posthuman
society of coexistence and interdependence against the paradigms of
autonomy and independence propagated by humanism. Artificial
Intelligence is that technology of the fourth industrial revolution that
creates intelligent, self-evolving synthetic machines that can live and
work on par with humans. The science fiction films herald this
futuristic posthuman existence as plotted in ‘Her.’ The film
anticipates a posthuman society where humans can enter into an
emotional relationship with machines, accept machines as partners in
life, and machines can set right the ruptures and imperfections of
human relationships.
Works Cited
Badmington, Neil. “Introduction: Approaching Posthumanism.” Posthumanism:
Readers in Cultural Criticism. Edited by Neil Badmington. Macmillan Press Ltd,
2000.
......... . “Theorising Posthumanism”, Cultural Critique. No. 53, Posthumanism
(Winter, 2003), University Minnesota Press, pp 10-27.
Bolter, Jay David. “Posthumanism.” The International Encyclopedia of Communication
Theory and Philosophy. 2016, pp. 1–8, doi:10.1002/9781118766804.wbiect220.
Doremus, Drake, director. Zoe. Global Road Entertainment, 2018
Herbrechter, Stefan. Posthumanism: A Critical Analysis. Bloomsbury, New Delhi,
2018.
 IN LOVE WITH AN OPERATING SYSTEM: THE POSTHUMAN PLOT IN THE FILM ‘HER’ | 67

Jonze, Spike, director. Her. Warner Bros., 2013.

Kurzweil, Ray. The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. Penguin
Books, 2005.
Lagrandeur, Kevin. “Early Modern.” The Cambridge Companion to Literature and the
Posthuman. edited by Bruce Clarke and Manuela Rossini, Cambridge University
Press, 2017, pp. 16-28.
Mambrol, Nasrullah. https://literariness.org/2018/07/25/posthumanist-criticism/
Nayar, Pramod K. Posthumanism. Polity Press, 2014.
Russel, Stuart J. Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach. Pearson India Education
Services, 2015.
Smelik, Anneke. “Film.” The Cambridge Companion to Literature and the Posthuman.
edited by Bruce Clarke and Manuela Rossini, Cambridge University Press,
2017, pp. 109-119.
Steel, Karl. “Medieval.” The Cambridge Companion to Literature and the Posthuman.
edited by Bruce Clarke and Manuela Rossini, Cambridge University Press,
2017, pp. 3-15.
Vicini, Andrea. Longing for Transcendence: Cyborgs and Trans – and Posthumans. 2015.
Wolfe, Cary. “Introduction: What is Posthumanism?” What is Posthumanism?. Cary
Wolfe, University of Minnesota Press, 2010.
Yaszek, Lisa, and Jason W. Ellis. “Science Fiction.” The Cambridge Companion to
Literature and the Posthuman. edited by Bruce Clarke and Manuela Rossini,
Cambridge University Press, 2017, pp. 71-83.

View publication stats