On Artificial Intelligence and Machine Men : Part Six

[ellyssian]

On Artificial Intelligence and Machine Men
By Everett A Warren
March 14, 2004

Presented as part six of sixteen

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Part One
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"Greed has poisoned men's souls – has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed."

Greed and progress are not synonymous, yet funny how they are tied together. Too often progress is achieved through the desire to make more money. How can this be done cheaper/faster? How can we improve the bottom line? Some claim that this greed is needed to create a free market and progress from darkness to light. Yet this greed allows some to succeed phenomenally, whilst leaving others impossibly behind the curve... in other words, lifting some to the light, and shadowing all others.

Am I implying that socialism should be attempted? Binary minds in action, switches clicking, sort routines putting these thoughts into this slot or that based on preconceived notions. Please, for a few moments at the least, cease pigeon-holing. I do not imply that black is better than white, nor that Coke is better than Pepsi. Well, perhaps on the latter case I may agree, but that is my preference.

Already, I think, it becomes apparent what binary decision making can do for us: capitalist versus socialist – why not do as Victor Hugo suggests in Les Miserables⁴, and avoid any of the -ists, -isms, and -istics? Talk about barricades! Talk about goose-stepping and decision-limiting! And we wish – or some of us wish – to create artificial life that will make our lives easier by doing work we don't desire, and yet remain free-thinking, able to problem solve and adapt to whatever situations they are faced with, so that our distance can be maintained and our free time enjoyed.

How long then, after this robotic nirvana is achieved before these self-aware constructs determine they are slaves? Can we make them truly AI, yet follow some restrictive code such as Isaac Asimov's Laws of Robotics?

Asimov's Revised Laws of Robotics (1985)

Zeroth Law:
A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

First Law:
A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this would violate the Zeroth Law of Robotics.

Second Law:
A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the Zeroth or First Law.

Third Law:
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the Zeroth, First, or Second Law.

- originally from I, Robot, 1940⁵

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Reference Links

4. Victor Hugo – "Les Miserables"
**** http://www.penguinputnam.com/static/rguides/us/les_miserables.html
**** http://www.motherbird.com/LesMisera.htm

5. Isaac Asimiov – "Revised Laws of Robotics"

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~ Questions and discussion welcome! ~

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