A.I.

I decided to watch the film I, Robot. In this film, actor Will Smith chases what he presumes to be a robot that killed a human. He feels as some of us did in class. He feels that artificial intelligence will essentially outgrow us and take over society. This concept was not displayed in the movie we watched in class, but it was certainly a possibility that it could. In the movie we watched in class, the programs outgrew us, but they moved into their own "world." This is crazy because as the creators of the programs, we should be the ones leaving them or outgrowing them. Though they learn at a much faster rate, it still remains to be seen as to why we cannot learn just as fast, or at least store information at the rate and complexity they do. Artificial intelligence is a subject that can be scary depending on how you look at it. The robots in the film were controlled by another robot. Robots are a part of us already, just not to the extremity shown. It is amazing how their intelligence can cause them to be so ahead of us in both reality and society. The integration of advancing technology is such a tricky thing. If I ever had the choice of choosing in life between being a robot like creature and human, I would choose human every time.

Artificial Intelligence, Religion, and Progress

Throughout the film Transcendence, Dr. Will Caster asks questions similar to those we’ve asked in class.  In the beginning of the film while he is alive as a human, he asks if there is a soul.  If so, where does the soul reside?  These questions incited anger in some because he was undermining the Judeo-Christian idea of God.  His killer accuses Will of creating his own god; to which he replies “Isn’t that what man has always done?”  Will is murdered, and there are attacks among A.I. labs across the country.  His consciousness is uploaded into a system to be stored and later becomes a 2.0 version of him.  Later, Joseph Tagger (Morgan Freeman) asks this projection of Will to prove that he’s aware.  Rather than do so, Will asks Joseph to prove he is aware.  It is human nature to question the realness, consciousness, or awareness of other existences, but perhaps we should question what we know or thoughtlessly assume about our own existence.

Artificial intelligence and technological advancements that suggest different forms of human life contradict religious ideologies that claim humans are made by a god.  There are debates over the moral conditions surrounding artificial intelligence, but some disagree with creating beings or intelligence to any extent altogether.  In The Most Human Human, computer program Deep Blue’s chess victory caused Garry Kasparov to have self-doubt and question his human identity.  The thought of artificial intelligence or computer programming outshining human thought and strategy scares many.  For example, most religions embrace a traditional point of view that does not leave room for advancement; therefore, some religious people do not support the idea of manmade programs or programs being smarter than man. 

When Holy texts were written, technology was rocks and spears.  No one in history could have accurately predicted the technology we have today; we cannot entirely predict the technology that will come.  Religion must have some flexibility because the world is ever-changing. There will continuously be controversy between technological advancements and religion, but ultimately, religion will have to adjust to rapidly changing technology, because further advancements are inevitable. 

Buffering

Plug and Pray by Jens Schanze and Judith Malek-Madhavi is a documentary about the advances and goals of researchers working in the field of A.I. technology. Among the exploration of the developments in Artificial Intelligence, Raymond Kurzweil and Hiroshi Ishiguro discuss their lofty visions in human development and the inevitability of the merge between machine and biology. This future, and these goals raise a number of ethical questions, some of which are brought up and discussed Joseph Weizenbaum, an early pioneer in computer technology.

The pursuit of technology, specifically the pursuit of Artificial Intelligence, is relatively new to the world and advances exponentially faster than that of biology and nature. Where biology develops slowly via random mutations in trial and error type fashion, technology developments occur in real time. Once a problem is observed, the researcher can manipulate the technology and correct the problem and try again. This is unlike the development of biological organism who have to wait for a random mutation that happens to be beneficial and more compatible with the environment, thus giving the new organism an edge over the previous. Having such a direct hand over the control and development over machinery as attracted intelligent minds since Galileo. However prior to the pursuit of artificial intelligence, machines and computers were designed to serve as aids while being monitored and operated by humans. Artificial intelligence aims to create technology that monitors and operates itself. This raises questions of who is responsible for the machines action and upon the successful creation of a fully functioning humanoid, and what does this accomplishment imply for the current understanding of what it is to be human?

As suggested by The Most Human Human, attempts at artificial intelligence has yet to operate in the same way that humans do. Because computers are based around measurable and quantitative data, they do not make decisions the same way humans do. Humans have an entire additional hemisphere that affects our drives, decision making, and creativity. For this reason when computers are programmed to complete complex human-type tasks, it seems to be insufficient or even ruin the task. For example, when a computer program beat a world famous chess player, chess was declared to be dead. This decision was declared under the context that once the task of chess and been reduced to the computation of quantitative data, it stifled the creative, imperfect strategies, that made the game “human.” This gap in worldview is one of the major conflicts that distinguishes between that which is human and that which is machine.

Kurzweil is correct in claiming the merging of biology and machinery is inevitable, assuming that computer technology continues as it is now. On the other hand, Weizenbaum is correct in claiming that we have control of the development and exploration of technologies. The only inevitability lies within the context of a technological community where the research and funding of technological advances are not regulated. We currently live in a time fueled by technological lust. Our desire for the newest, next best thing is not curved by reason or concern for balance. Much like many other developing fields before it, such as modern medicine and the international market, the technological market will grow fast, be abused regularly, then we will likely suffer the consequences of our lusts. Hopefully, we will be able initiate suitable reforms in the wake of our blunders. However, artificial intelligence creates a domain where the boundaries of our control are blurred. The ultimate destination of the endeavors of leading A.I. researchers has not yet been decided. The greater majority is buffering, waiting for either the culmination or regulation of Artificial Intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence being Possible Human Downfall

Artificial Intelligence is something so powerful that it can stomp the human mind.  In the film, Her, Theodore learned the hard way that artificial intelligence (through Samantha) can surpass what it was originally created for.  Samantha became so real through the film that I actually began to believe that she was her own person.  Her program was so in depth that she actually seemed like she cared about Theodore as in a way normal human beings are believed to live.  She actually seemed more likeable that ninety-five percent of the people I know.

I, Robot on the other hand proved the problem of Robots actually being dangerous and taking over. People became so reliant on the technology that they lost sight of life without it.  What the fascinating aspect of it was to me as well is that it was set in 2035, nearly only 20 years from now. 

Humans in most segments of the world are so reliant on the use of technology to perform simple daily tasks.  From waking up, to reminders, to communications, the addiction to technology human beings have now could certainly lead to sole independence on future advancements in upgrading technology. Including Robots or OS systems that seem so real that even the viewers get attached. 

In The Most Human, Human, Brian Christian recalls an experiment where people have to communicate with a computer and eventually it has to guess who that person is. This concept of gathering information to expand that software is the same thing Samantha successfully accomplishes in Her.  She gains emotions, executes them, and can pull any information from the Internet in less than a nana second.  Samantha’s “brain” is limitless. I place quotes around brain because realistically she doesn’t have a natural brain, which makes me ask does having this certain large muscle in our skull possibly have a limit to learning?

Now, as well in I, Robot, their bodies do not have brains.  Unlike Samantha they can actually physically affect the human race.  Eventually they do by the end of the movie until Will Smith comes in and saves the day.  These robots make life and death decisions not based on morals (because they lack them) but based of statistical analysis in certain scenarios. 

How could the human race continue without morals, the knowing from right and wrong, not what scientific reasoning will succeed.  Once the robots develop and start multiplying in our world, what good can they really do besides turn us into liabilities?

Beyond the Normal or Physical Level

The idea of an artificial intelligence, AI, or singularity has always interested scientist. This is what the whole book of The Most Human, Human was about. In Transcendence at the beginning of the movie, Max says that "Technology collided with man".  This is the constant struggle that we find in movies such as Terminator where the technology and man have this war for who is in control, the creator or the created. What differs in this movie is that the creator is the created.

"Man has always tried to create a God" says Will Caster. This is thought of to be creating something that can help explain to us the un-explainable which we do not understand. This is a paradox. What we create only knows the sum of information that we know. If at this moment there is no person who is able to explain it, then how do we expect a program that is created by a person who does not know to know. What both the movies Her and Transcendence have in common is that they have artificial intelligence in them that has no strings on them. Samantha and Will are connected to the internet and have unlimited information that can be accessed all simultaneously.

A principle that i noticed in the film that is not stated is 'patience'. Doctor Evelyn does not have patience and is constantly trying to get things done to help her husband. Also, the extremist is impatient when demanding that Max upload the virus when he is incapable. This is a virtue that is not held by many in today's society it seems. We always want the newest thing right when it comes out and are willing to pay more even when the device that we have is working perfectly. Will, on the other hand, has patience. Even though he does not have a body, working with PINN, will creates new technology and helps people and know exactly when to let people in on the secret and when not to. He even allows a video of his healed person to be uploaded online when he has the capability to take it down.

Until the last part of the film I was tricked. It seemed like PINN was in control the whole time just using the voice and face of Will to get what it wanted. When asked by the Doctor, "Can you prove you're self aware"? Will responds "Can you?", which is the same response that PINN said when asked before Professor Will Caster died. This gave the illusion that Will was never in the picture. It is only later that we see that Will has always been the system and is accomplishing what his wife always wanted because his life's goal is complete.

People fear what they don't understand. This has always been the case throughout time and is a main reason for many conflicts that have occurred. Hopefully whatever intelligence that we create will be smart enough like Will and care about the world and our welfare.