Sunday 17 April 2016

Doublethink 16 - Robot Reservation


Index: 296

10 comments:

Tessa den Uyl said...

Dear Youngjin,

This is a very sad vision about a divided world; are your robots even more human then portrayed?

docmartincohen said...

It would be sad if taken literally. I took it as an allegorical story ridiculing society's divisions. Maybe Youngjin has a view?

Youngjin Kang said...

It's been a long time since we have talked, Tessa den Uyl :)
Well, it's hard to tell. I definitely think that robots will obtain some sort of human-like properties such as emotions, but those will somehow differ from those of humans (just like dolphins have different feelings from mankind). Will this be interpreted as human-like, or will this be interpreted as a new paradigm which will threaten humanity? The question remains unanswered...

Youngjin Kang said...

Hello, Martin Cohen!
I think the scenario I depicted will probably never happen, since engineers will design the robotic infrastructure very thoroughly and carefully. I believe, though, that there is going to be a conflict between those who want to make robots as passive tools only (i.e. always follow the user's command), and those who want to make robots as active tools which exert direct power over the crowd.

docmartincohen said...

People do talk about the 'internet' as a kind of conscious being with its own rather sinsiter character...

docmartincohen said...

Oooh, I don't have your confidence, Youngjin. Take the new technologies for drones - they plan to program them to idenitfy human targets and kill them without needing human intervention (as 'quicker' and 'more powerful'). But even where robots are supposed to do only 'good', as philosophers, we know that THAT is by no means possible to identify: there are too many competing factors so someone always loses.

Youngjin Kang said...

Perhaps... we are the brain cells of the internet's mind?

Youngjin Kang said...

The advent of conscious robots will force us to redefine morality, I think - just like the birth of vast civilizations (during the biblical times) triggered certain moral axioms to spread, such as the ten commandments.

Chrissy Philp said...

I have reason to suspect that life is a very sophisticated virtual reality. If you are interested in why I make this suggestion you can check it out by reading a presentation I put out on slideshare called How Life Works. I also experienced an NDE in which I got sent back. I remember asking to have the 'light turned down' and I meant here. What did I know then that I do not know now? I don't believe in this crazy stuff so thinking about this when I got back I demanded proof. I got it - not just once but three times. I don't pretend to know what is going on but I walk with caution. Something big is going on and I am in awe. Perhaps we are the robots? We watch scary films don't we? perhaps its boring on the other side? On a more practical note, what use are those robots if we still have to clean up our own mess because we have banished them behind the wall? It's OK ... I am just playing with ideas. Playing is good ... yes?

Tessa den Uyl said...

Things become dangerous properly when they are related to morality. There is a problem between means and ends. If morality could be redefined, this should happen before, and not after inserting conscious robots into systems for this happens inside of morality issues that were not redefined beforehand but properly used to serve the established instead. The question is whether men, being quite stubborn, can create something that does not have that stubbornness?

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