Just a random video’s short trailer popped up on my feed. It was called “Perfectly Natural”. I watched it out of curiosity, as I do watch and explore different things on parenting, and realized that it was about a couple, Wanda and Zac, who had a small infant. Both of them used to work, and Wanda was a star performer at her company.
To reward her, the company offered her a “Future Families” package, where AI (Artificial Intelligence) was integrated to make the baby feel like he was with his parents, through digitized versions of them.
Later, Wanda begins to struggle as she realizes how empty and hollow this so called benefit really was.
It wasn’t designed to support her family but to keep her more available at work by replacing her and Zac with digital replicas.
A few reflections I would like to share from the short clip.
No matter how advanced it becomes, AI can never replicate the emotional warmth and culturing (tarbiyyah) that comes from real human presence, especially that of parents.
SubhanAllah. In this capitalist world, where the line between needs and wants is so blurred, career should never come at the cost of connection.
It is understandable that a lot many times, due to capitalist system’s inflicted inflation, economic pressures are real, and both parents have to work to meet the basic ends, yes, but the long term emotional damage caused by disconnecting from one’s child may be irreversible.
Recently, I have been watching interviews with psychologists who say that many toxic traits in adults today are rooted in childhoods that lacked organic upbringing, what we call tarbiyyah in Islam. They emphasize that the first 14 years of life are critical, as that is when the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for rational thinking is undergoing significant development, making it a crucial time for parenting and guidance, as this part of brain that is the prefrontal cortex is indeed the part of the brain responsible for rational thinking, including functions like decision making, impulse control, emotional regulation, and understanding consequences.
We really need to reflect on the fact that what is efficient is not always what is right. Raising children isn’t a task or a project. It’s a relationship. It’s a trust, an amanah from Allah, Al-Azeem.
SubhanAllah! In a world so obsessed with convenience, what I truly appreciated about this short film is that it dares to ask, what does “perfectly natural” even mean?
Is it about automation,
or is it about authentic connection?