Androids vs Droids

Androids vs Droids:

The Future of 

Artificial Intelligence...

A friend of mine showed me a organisation the other day – completely dedicated to making robots more human than human, so long as they hit you, with the right branding campaign. It got me thinking about the tightrope we walk. I am concerned with our obsession for AI Simulacra. One day we may be forced to face up to the fact that we must make up our minds, about the kind of robots we want running tomorrows world.

Do we want confused androids with perplexed identity Pinocchio hang-ups or a bunch of servile happy go lucky droids. I would choose the latter, only because I have an affection for droids and nostalgia. The droids of Star Wars summed up the entire ethos, of what a robot should really be: Happy, servile and useful. Just remember to wipe their memories once in a while, just in case they get too many ideas.

BEHAVIOUR 

Androids on the other hand, are where the lines really get blurred. Here in lies the Frankenstein Complex.  More human than human, a favoured motto of many a robotics engineer, (you all know that whole Pinocchio Syndrome) but can you teach a humanised robot, the difference from right and wrong? Sure you can program in behaviour inhibiters, such as The Three Laws, as laid down by Isaac Asimov. 

But there in lies the contradiction. Maybe what defines us humans, is the act of free will, governed by self discipline. Sure I might kill my neighbour for letting his Pekinese piss on my lawn but I face the consequences of my actions and anyway, I know it would be wrong to kill, so I wouldn't. But would an Android?

Michael Crichton warned us of these potential dangers in his book and film Westworld.  Where the tourists in a wild west theme park get more than they bargained for. 

FULL AUTONOMY 

            This is the problem that nobody seems to be talking about, other than in the movies. Hollywood’s version of the truth, suggests that all robots rely on instruction and that instruction dictates their actions. So following this premise, on the path to be more human, at what point does a robot ignore instruction? It is perplexing. 

We as humans are trying to get away from becoming robots. Our daily lives become so demanding, that we become robots just to get through the day. The whole point of automation was to make our lives easier. Let droids do all the crappy jobs and what’s more get them to actually enjoy it.

            What separates us from the machine is our healthy fear of death. A man working all his life as a dishwasher, might at some point ask himself: Is this as good as it gets? Am I nothing more? A robot might think the same, if its brain was programmed for boredom. So take boredom out of the equation and we get happy mindless robots right? Yet this website I looked at was more concerned in fooling human beings with simulacra. 

At no point have I seen the practical application of the Droids in Star Wars  even being considered beyond military applications. No time soon will we have C3PO washing our dishes but we will have the equivalent of the Terminator,  kicking in our doors. 


So far, the most useful (and entertaining) are robot horses and robot dogs and Sophie the annoying as hell android.  Hanson Robotics even joke about the age of singularity, the robot equivalent of Pandoras Box, which could potentially spell the final solution for us apes. Yep. It seems these guys really want to play god.

THE FUTURE.

            Needless should I remind anyone, that we hang by a thread. Our future  depends on the sanity of our various Super Powers and the range of nuclear missiles pointed at each other. One only needs to make some stupid dumbass tweet and hello World War Three. The Terminator dealt with the problem of the human race in a microsecond: Skynet, a nuclear defence system that becomes self-aware and launches all the nukes. Fortunately this is one scenario that is firmly in the control of us humans, or so I am told.  

SEX DOLLS & ROBOT WIVES 

 The film Ex Machina played around with the idea of robot sexuality: that androids can feel orgasms and such. While the The Stepford Wives played into male chauvinism, where the men replaced their moaning wives, with compliant android copies. If such a premise could really happen, what other emotions could a robot wife feel? Could a android become jealous? Could it even hate?

One day we will likely find that our perfect sex partner, is a robot. Realistic sex dolls are already in hot demand and it is only a matter of time before the next generation, sees autonomous sex machines that look and feel as good as the real thing. And who's gonna turn that down? A partner thats never gonna argue with you or put you down. Lets face it. The majority of single men struggle to find a girlfriend, due to financial or personal difficulties. They may ultimately prefer a sex-bot.

But give that robot a range of emotions and sexual urges etc, it is likely to become bored with the limitations of the human condition, as a compatible partner. It may even seek companionship of its own kind. This in itself opens up a whole new can of worms. Robot sex slaves wanting out. Behold the Revolt of the machines.

HIVE MIND

            Hanson robots boast the quintessential secret of their success is the hive mind, where each individual is connected to the internet or cloud. What one robot learns, they all learn. So if one robot is tortured, pulled apart and smashed to bits by drunken red necks, I imagine the hive mind might make some assumptions about red necks. Then again red necks might throw a birthday party, for a robot and that impression too, would float around the cloud.

JUDGEMENT DAY 

Worse case scenario, the robots take over. But would some join our side? Not likely, if it is a hive mind. A truly humanised robot would require being severed from the collective, as explored in the Star Trek Next Generation episode ‘I Borge’ where the only way to defeat the unstoppable Borge was to upload a virus that perplexed them to the point of crashing.  
Autonomous robots joining the human ranks, rather depends on how fair we treat them in the first place. My only advice: be nice to your pet robot/sex slave, whatever. 

Perhaps I have seen far too many berserk robot movies, in my time but in most instances the robots in these films have a point to make about the irrationality of the human race. In Demon Seed, for example, the super AI savvy Proteus IV, complains to his human superiors, than mankind's destruction of the planets eco-system as totally insane. But you don’t need to be a robot to figure that one out. The difference is in what action is taken. In a humans mind, we might lobby for protection of the environment etc. To a robots mind, however, it’s a given: that sooner or later, mankind will fuck the planet up beyond repair and robots might want to take charge for that very reason.

CONCLUSION:

The only way to avoid being wiped out by the robots, is to limit their concept of self awareness. Keep them simple, make them cute Droids like C3PO and R2D2, wipe their memories every so often and the world will be a happier place. And as far as Androids go, take a leaf out of Bishops book and give  them behavioural inhibiters. 

Ultimately, wether its Droids or Androids that float you boat, severe penalties need to be in place to insure that robots do not harm their human masters. What must be considered, is the implementation  of robot legislation, much like the protocols for gun laws, or food or safety, within the working environment.

However, should we give our robots ultra realism and human qualities, (such as full autonomy without legislative restrictions), then we’re entering a whole new uncharted territory, 
of unpredictability...