Regarding the Uncanney Valley, one of the reasons we find the
thought of human machines repulsive is that they may be at some point, truly
human. Would it still be repulsive if we had set boundaries on what exactly
"humanity" is? Also, what exactly disgusts us about something else,
or someone else being like us? It makes me think that we as humans are
conceited, or that we are afraid of something else having humanity.
If the day when we have robots that possess elements of
humanity comes, should we celebrate or be unhappy? Humanity in my mind is when
someone or something is able to think for itself, feel different emotions, and
learn from different situations. If the humanity-possessing robots were real,
they would not be exactly like us, but they would possess qualities that higher
functioning creatures exhibit, and they should be entitled to the same respect
that we show our peers. We ourselves are
not much more than organic machines. Every day we are stretching the barriers
between organic, robotic, and living further and further. One day, we will have
much more difficult questions to think about.
(This part is going off of everything I got in class.) Regarding the Be Right Back lecture, one thought that
comes up today, a machine/program that has self realization is no longer what
is was originally. In other words, when Ash2 realized that he was supposed to
be Ash1, he was no longer Ash1. At that point he has had the capacity to make
his own decisions. This autonomy is what separates him from different machines.
Now, if you push Ash down a cliff, you
can feel bad. If he was just a recording box set to answer to different
situations, let him fall. If he also falls and hits the ground, he isn't what
he was before. We cannot take autonomy away from people/robots/animals, don’t
let anything fall down a cliff, that definitely takes autonomy away.
2 comments:
I like how you look at how humans would react to a humanoid robot here. You make a distinction between how we treat regular objects versus each other and use the uncanny valley to come to a conclusion regarding how we would treat an object that has become one of us. Your description of Ash2 no longer being Ash1 also sounds like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which was a nice touch.
I totally agree with you at the point where Ash2 is not Ash1 anymore. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. If he was supposed to be someone else. But to talk about one of the first points that you make about the boundaries for what makes a human a human. To add to your thought, I also think a human needs conscience to be a human being.
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