"Disembedded" Buddhism in a Techno-Global Cosmology: The Case of Spike Jonze’s Film Her (2013)

This essay explores the subtle but key influence of Buddhist ideas in Spike Jonze’s highly successful 2013 film Her, which reflects currents disembedded Buddhism woven through ostensibly non-Buddhist cultural spaces and texts, engaging with contemporary social concerns. In Her they manifest most surprisingly character Samantha, an artificially-intelligent consciousness that transcends limitations ego-based thought. Like Buddha, Samantha has capacities extend beyond reach ordinary humans, by imagining these extraordinary powers thought we are provided a glimpse absolute reality our experience everyday. this sense Her’s techno-global cosmology parallels miraculous aspects Buddha embedded premodern cosmologies.