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wolven7So, earlier today, over on Tumblr, there was some Bad Robots Scary talk. If you're new here, I'm Damien, and I spend a lot of my time thinking and writing about things like Ethics and "Artificial" Intelligence and cybernetics and robots and magic. Yes, "that kind" of magic, no that's not why we're here, right now. Look, it's all Right Here, so just go have a look, and we'll come back, okay?
We good? Great. So here's the thing, and it's multiple things, and one of those things is that the vast majority of our robotics technology finds its home and its funding in defense development, and has for decades and in some cases hundreds of years. This means that the ethos of the design of the vast majority of technology will be military in nature and that the vast majority of technology will eventually find a military usage. That is, even that which does Not find itself growing Out of the military will eventually find itself ensconced in militaristic mores.
That being said, the reverse is also true. Those things which may be built for military purposes may also be REpurposed for the sake of non-martial implementations. As William Gibson is often credited with saying, "The Street Finds Its Own Uses For Things."
But neither of these is my main point. My main point, right now, isn't even how the sentiment of "this robot is going to kill us all someday" is dependent on the built-in Œdipal fear of obsolescence, of being replaced by the very things we create. You want more on that, you go down the rabbit hole that is my CV. No, right now i'm here to talk to you about one simple thing: Robots On TV.
I'mmore than a little wary about the new show Almost Human, not least because of the title. It, in itself, is indicative of the audience's inability and unwillingness to attempt to understand the position, motivations, and desires of a non-human agent. We want our AI to either already be humanesque (see J.A.R.V.I.S.), or to seek to be human but maybe never achieve it (see Data, and the aforementioned new show), but we really don't do well with AI which have not only instances of, but even their own Types of goals and desires.
If you're a writer on Almost Human, I'll tell you this for free: As long as you keep looking at autonomous created intelligence through the lens of making it more human-like or appreciating the ways in which It's Just Like Us™ shiny smile, happy moment, rather than respecting its alterity, its otherness, and anticipating the fact that It Will Be Different Than We, then you're just recapitulating the same trope that makes people react to any robot or AI with a "KILL IT WITH MAGNETIZED FIRE" mentality, and thus increasing the likelihood that when--not if, When-- we do encounter those autonomous creative intelligences which will most likely have found their origin in military tech, it will respond to our fear with defensiveness.
That will not be its fault, but our own.
We need to be able to make media which not only anticipates and represents the desires of a non-human or machine intelligence, but which also explores the idea that those desires, though necessarily alien, Will Not Necessarily Be A Threat To Us.
Look at Person Of Interest, and realise that Root Is Right.
Good night.
We good? Great. So here's the thing, and it's multiple things, and one of those things is that the vast majority of our robotics technology finds its home and its funding in defense development, and has for decades and in some cases hundreds of years. This means that the ethos of the design of the vast majority of technology will be military in nature and that the vast majority of technology will eventually find a military usage. That is, even that which does Not find itself growing Out of the military will eventually find itself ensconced in militaristic mores.
That being said, the reverse is also true. Those things which may be built for military purposes may also be REpurposed for the sake of non-martial implementations. As William Gibson is often credited with saying, "The Street Finds Its Own Uses For Things."
But neither of these is my main point. My main point, right now, isn't even how the sentiment of "this robot is going to kill us all someday" is dependent on the built-in Œdipal fear of obsolescence, of being replaced by the very things we create. You want more on that, you go down the rabbit hole that is my CV. No, right now i'm here to talk to you about one simple thing: Robots On TV.
I'm
If you're a writer on Almost Human, I'll tell you this for free: As long as you keep looking at autonomous created intelligence through the lens of making it more human-like or appreciating the ways in which It's Just Like Us™ shiny smile, happy moment, rather than respecting its alterity, its otherness, and anticipating the fact that It Will Be Different Than We, then you're just recapitulating the same trope that makes people react to any robot or AI with a "KILL IT WITH MAGNETIZED FIRE" mentality, and thus increasing the likelihood that when--not if, When-- we do encounter those autonomous creative intelligences which will most likely have found their origin in military tech, it will respond to our fear with defensiveness.
That will not be its fault, but our own.
We need to be able to make media which not only anticipates and represents the desires of a non-human or machine intelligence, but which also explores the idea that those desires, though necessarily alien, Will Not Necessarily Be A Threat To Us.
Look at Person Of Interest, and realise that Root Is Right.
Good night.
