Sheila(on the phone): So Tim, what about that new thai restaurant at Columbus? Wanna head there this evening? Tim: Tonight? Well ya, I've been wanting to go there for...
Tim is interrupted.
Cathy: Tim, I thought we'd go for a movie tonight! Its the premier of 'Sex and the City'! We could...
Tim: Cathy cmon, we can do that later...
(Her voice turning ever so whiney)
Cathy: WHyyyyyyyy, lets go for the movie! I've been planning this for...
Sheila sighs.
Tim: I cannot handle tis right now! Cathy will you please 'SHUT UP'!
Cathy goes cold and motionless.
Sheila: Cmon Tim, why do you treat her that way?
Tim: She's just so whiny and girly!
Sheila: But isn't that what you wanted? Why do you treat her that way?
Tim: Sheila, whats the damn difference? She's a machine!
Sheila: Tim!
No, Tim was not speaking metaphorically. Its the year 2157. Skin jobs, or 'live machines' now 'live' amongst us. Anyone who wishes to 'own' one has to pass a licensing exam. It entails going through a three week 'live machine user and ethics course' called Genesis. It trains people with respect to dealing with live machines; what can be said to them, what should NOT be said to them, how should they be treated, how to deal with a hostile or malfunctioning live machine - just some of the reading and learning material given to prospective live machine owners at Genesis. Once they passed the exam, they were free to buy live machines, ones that would be customized to their needs. One could not only decide the sex and age of the live machine, but also its characteristics. These characteristics could also be modified later, for a price of course. Upgrades or changegrades. One needs to be atleast 18, to be able to write the Genesis exam.
Long before the new Battlestar Galactica, ever since the Matrix, I had imagined Tim to be having such conversations. Its only a matter of time now. That time could be 200 years or 500 years but nevertheless, it will happen. If it doesnt, the reasons would hardly be technological, perhaps political or philosophical, but not technological for sure. We have always wanted to defy nature and I don't see why we would do any different in this realm. Unfortunately, I might not be there to witness it, but I think this blog would be. (I trust Google!)
But what happens then? What are the issues we might encounter? I am not referring to machines taking over the world and such; I speak of the social ramifications of including them in our day to day lives. Perhaps we would stop wanting to hang out with real people. Real people are flacky, capricious, hard to deal with. Live machines provide almost the same deal, except they might agree with you. They could be switched off with keywords. Tim chose 'Shut Up'. Would goverments enforce rules to force 'human' social involement? Would it be considered dangerous and unlawful to spend more time with live machines than humans? It sounds too 'sci fi ish', but think about it. Why not?
What happens when a live machine commits a 'crime'? Would the owner be held responsible? Would the manufacturing company be held responsible? Or perhaps there would be a 'trial' or 'image download' to determine if the live machine committed the crime on someone's insistence. I think thats a huge can of worms and live machines would come with not just warranty but also 'risk factor'. Imagine QA for that!
Sheila, Tim and Amit at Wild Ginger (the new thai restaurant?)
Amit: This coconut curry is really tasty!
Tim: You should try the penang here...
(A poker faced Sheila, turning red)
Sheila: I am still bumbed about how you treated Cathy this morning. Did you learn nothing at Genesis??
Tim: We're still on that? Am I crazy here or is she not a machine anymore?? She'll be fine. She doesnt feel anything.
Amit: How can you say that?
Tim: What do you mean? She's programmed to say all those things. She doesnt feel pain or get hurt!
Amit: But she doesn't know that she cant! You could shut her off but if you're rude to her, I don't see how she would 'feel' any different from you and me.
Tim: This makes no sense. She has no mind.
Sheila: Amit is right. She is designed to have neurons, except they are not organic. Pain is a also simulated in her, just like any other emotion. And you are subjecting her to it. This is live machine rights violation!
I think the most interesting aspect of this technological marvel would be the eventual discussion and deliberation on live machine rights violation. The debate of whether or not they can 'feel'. And while strictly biologically, we might say no, perhaps there would be advocacy to change the very definition of 'feel'. Perhaps everything cannot really be compared to human biology. This debate might eventually lead us to abandon this luxury once and for all.
...to be continued
(p.s. She's a model at SVA; the closest to 'stoic' I could find...)
Tim is interrupted.
Cathy: Tim, I thought we'd go for a movie tonight! Its the premier of 'Sex and the City'! We could...
Tim: Cathy cmon, we can do that later...
(Her voice turning ever so whiney)
Cathy: WHyyyyyyyy, lets go for the movie! I've been planning this for...
Sheila sighs.
Tim: I cannot handle tis right now! Cathy will you please 'SHUT UP'!
Cathy goes cold and motionless.
Sheila: Cmon Tim, why do you treat her that way?
Tim: She's just so whiny and girly!
Sheila: But isn't that what you wanted? Why do you treat her that way?
Tim: Sheila, whats the damn difference? She's a machine!
Sheila: Tim!
No, Tim was not speaking metaphorically. Its the year 2157. Skin jobs, or 'live machines' now 'live' amongst us. Anyone who wishes to 'own' one has to pass a licensing exam. It entails going through a three week 'live machine user and ethics course' called Genesis. It trains people with respect to dealing with live machines; what can be said to them, what should NOT be said to them, how should they be treated, how to deal with a hostile or malfunctioning live machine - just some of the reading and learning material given to prospective live machine owners at Genesis. Once they passed the exam, they were free to buy live machines, ones that would be customized to their needs. One could not only decide the sex and age of the live machine, but also its characteristics. These characteristics could also be modified later, for a price of course. Upgrades or changegrades. One needs to be atleast 18, to be able to write the Genesis exam.
Long before the new Battlestar Galactica, ever since the Matrix, I had imagined Tim to be having such conversations. Its only a matter of time now. That time could be 200 years or 500 years but nevertheless, it will happen. If it doesnt, the reasons would hardly be technological, perhaps political or philosophical, but not technological for sure. We have always wanted to defy nature and I don't see why we would do any different in this realm. Unfortunately, I might not be there to witness it, but I think this blog would be. (I trust Google!)
But what happens then? What are the issues we might encounter? I am not referring to machines taking over the world and such; I speak of the social ramifications of including them in our day to day lives. Perhaps we would stop wanting to hang out with real people. Real people are flacky, capricious, hard to deal with. Live machines provide almost the same deal, except they might agree with you. They could be switched off with keywords. Tim chose 'Shut Up'. Would goverments enforce rules to force 'human' social involement? Would it be considered dangerous and unlawful to spend more time with live machines than humans? It sounds too 'sci fi ish', but think about it. Why not?
What happens when a live machine commits a 'crime'? Would the owner be held responsible? Would the manufacturing company be held responsible? Or perhaps there would be a 'trial' or 'image download' to determine if the live machine committed the crime on someone's insistence. I think thats a huge can of worms and live machines would come with not just warranty but also 'risk factor'. Imagine QA for that!
Sheila, Tim and Amit at Wild Ginger (the new thai restaurant?)
Amit: This coconut curry is really tasty!
Tim: You should try the penang here...
(A poker faced Sheila, turning red)
Sheila: I am still bumbed about how you treated Cathy this morning. Did you learn nothing at Genesis??
Tim: We're still on that? Am I crazy here or is she not a machine anymore?? She'll be fine. She doesnt feel anything.
Amit: How can you say that?
Tim: What do you mean? She's programmed to say all those things. She doesnt feel pain or get hurt!
Amit: But she doesn't know that she cant! You could shut her off but if you're rude to her, I don't see how she would 'feel' any different from you and me.
Tim: This makes no sense. She has no mind.
Sheila: Amit is right. She is designed to have neurons, except they are not organic. Pain is a also simulated in her, just like any other emotion. And you are subjecting her to it. This is live machine rights violation!
I think the most interesting aspect of this technological marvel would be the eventual discussion and deliberation on live machine rights violation. The debate of whether or not they can 'feel'. And while strictly biologically, we might say no, perhaps there would be advocacy to change the very definition of 'feel'. Perhaps everything cannot really be compared to human biology. This debate might eventually lead us to abandon this luxury once and for all.
...to be continued
(p.s. She's a model at SVA; the closest to 'stoic' I could find...)
10 comments:
I can see your predicament.
We evolved to be responsive as we "feel”...i am not very sure if that is involuntary action or we are taught to react in a particular way to a situation or question posed to us...but my guess is it’s the later
(I can see the gallactica influence on you ROTF )...
Anyway...do we show respect to something that is not us hmm? Well if it’s a choice then I guess it’s left to a persons thought to follow or not follow the same etiquette he/she follows with his/her own species...
But some one could say the same about us as well...if you remember the following sequence in transformers when humans were "whining/or what ever one might call our actions" in the room...
Ironhide: [brandishing large cannons] The parents are very irritating.
Ratchet: [trying to calm him] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Ironhide: Can I take them out?
Optimus Prime: Ironhide, you know we don't harm humans. What is with you?
Ironhide: Well, I'm just saying, we could... it's an option.
well we might argue..that is so incensitive blah blah..there you go !!...
if we observe nature most species tend to at the very least entertain (pretend to entertian in the case of a ALPHA males :p) the opinions of their group or other members of their species...be it birds or elephants...we might call this "respect" if this is a trait of natural evolution then i guess robots will learn the idea to be respected...now does it have an emotion attached to it or will it just be a wired response is also a debatable topic..
For all you know the way we proclaim our human emotion is also a variation of some voltage between your neurons triggered by various chemicals so making this so called emotiong a result of a logical process...
to be contd...
If you had to design machines to entertain/satisfy/keep humans company why would you program in pain?
Even if you did, would it mean anything other than the value of a variable?
Follow this thread long enough and you'll end up at the problem of defining consciousness, since any "thing" that is not conscious can not feel any emotion. So, how do you define consciousness? Is Cathy conscious?
yes ajju ur right! It does all come down to "consciousness". What that is, itself is being debated upon but we do have some loose guidelines. I wish I could get into them rightnow, except stupid company has blocked blogger! I will continue this thread at home...
What is also interesting is we could potentially predict our behavior towards inferior machines by interpolating our behavior towards other animals. Have you noticed how we tend to more kind and considerate towards animals that are "cute" and "cuddly" (like dogs and cats). I think it might be similar towards machines. Their look, feel, naturalness might dictate how we treat them. It is for certain that if they look like tin cans, they will be abused ... just like our vacuum cleaners :-). Shunned in some dingy corner. But if they looked like normal people or lets say beautiful, smart, polite and charming people ... then maybe we might actually treat them better than we do other human beings?
I think just like any other technology there would be a period of resistance and then gradual amalgamation. The transition isn't going to happen very suddenly. It is going to be a gradual induction. So I feel confident that after a brief period of instability man will live peacefully with machine. Infact, I feel we might get into a sort of symbiotic relationship with them. Look at how dependent we are on computers today. The border between man and machine will eventually crumble and the two will fuse into a cybernetic organism of sorts.
Now getting to the aspect of whether machines are actually different from us. We are actually machines as well. Organic machines; programmed with basic instructions that lead to semi-predictable stochastic behavior. As of now our understanding and design of machines (even intelligent machines) is very different. Its gonna be a while until we unravel those basic instructions that allow a machine (organic or silicon) to have "consciousness". The fact of the matter is nature and biology uses noise and randomness to its advantage. Whereas we look upon it as a curse. I believe that is where the key lies. Consciousness and self-awareness are also responses programmed in our biology. We just haven't figured out the mechanics yet.
As in galactica, if a machine were so alike a human that the two were practically indistinguishable then the man-machine era would face problems no different from our own problems .. racism, sexism. The world wont be so different in my opinion. Probably just more efficient with a lot more ADD syndrome :-).
And btw a picture of Number SIX would suite this post better :-).
Very cool to see that you're interested in robots, consciousness. Have you read Asimov's Robot series? Some volumes might seem a bit dated, but the way Asimov deals with consciousness and the fundamental rules that (would) possibly govern all robots, is still brilliant.
@anshul: very interesting comments anshul! those were the lines on which my thoughts lingered. i think an interesting book on this subject is "the singularity is near" by Ray Kurzweil. Havnt had a chance to really dig in...
@ritwik: i havnt read asimov's series. will give that a try this summer!
@anshul: Yes, a SIX photograph would've been most appropriate, but it wouldn't have been an image shot by me, as I would like to maintain that theme throughout (Oh well, i wish I could shoot Tricia Helfer!; wouldn't that be the day id be featured in 'VOGUE' :P)
Venksster, also try Kurzweil's "The Age of Spiritual Machines". It's not directly related to what we're discussing, but begins to build a foundation for it.
@ajju: Well, anshul has said much of what I would've. But ya, I do believe that we are machines in a way, that the functionality of the human brain is quantifiable in terms of technology. We should be able to build that technology in the "near" future.
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