1-22-08

R.U.R. originated the word robot

these are biological robots that look human
is this more like cloning?
there is interest these days in biological robots
not being able to tell the difference between robots and real people?
can you program a robot to be indistinguishable

this early story goes straight for robots that are exactly human
the robot field wanted from the beginning to create humanoids
create a human to prove that God wasn't necessary?
like Metropolis we will be as powerful as God
is that human nature?
or particularly an issue that concerns us about technology--our technology surpasses our humanity
the possibility that we can create something that is more powerful than we are

Robots more intelligent than we we are, but they didn't think robots would take over
robots slowly became better than their creators--by the end the robots weren't just robots

can robots be:
 what separates humans from robots? (or from animals)

what were these writers responding to?
Metropolis--industrial revolution
internal controversy between between technology and being human
is man the master of machines or machines the master of man
we fear technology that we don't understand
live is becoming overcomplicated
Marx--get past progress on the backs of laborers, machines will do the work instead
fear of humans becoming slaves to machines
the assembly line was a new and somewhat shocking thing

the difference bewteen a slip (you know better) and a mistake

out of fear destroying what they needed to survive
it is already past the threshhold of being completely dependent on the technology and couldn't go back

would computers/robots do harm like Hal by following its programming or by their own initiative?
you would need to be smarter than the computer to keep it from doing things you don't want it to do
programs are already so complicated we can't be sure of the outcome

if robots are smarter than humans would they be able to understand our minds better than we can?
we will have to define what consciousness is
computers can't make art--is that true?
you can make robots as advanced as you want but there are things beyond how we are wired
people have preferences
people have emotions
people have motives
a computer can create but not be creative
can a computer have self-control and decide what is most important
theory of mind--humans know other people have the same feelings they do
robots don't want things, they don't have needs (or greed)

we think about computers becoming more intelligent as becoming more human-like
how about we make them different from humans
humans are flawed, might it be better to have a robot that made more rational decisions
but would a robot operating independently without feelings be ineffective?
but partial feelings might be worse
some of it comes back to do things just because it is a challenge
the ultimate challenge is to create a human

RUR starts with wanting to make robots different, simpler but able to do our work better than we do it
they find they have to make them more like humans eg. feeling pain, to make them "more perfect"