Category: Reseach Paper

11/14/12

Working Thesis and Supporting Claims

This essay will be something like an intellectual pondering of the future, because there’s just no way to site evidence about the future where humans live together with androids who look like humans – it haven’t happen yet. However, there are enough evidence to suggest such a future. The question remains whether or not we should accept or want such a future. I will try my best to advocate for the acceptance of that possible future despite the many criticisms and fears that people have.

Working Thesis:

While there are reasons to fear the emergence of human-like machines (androids/humanoids), a future where androids and humans coexist should not be denied but rather should be welcome because machines bear little differences to humans.

Supporting Claims:

1. Similarities between machines and human through language. It is evident and almost common that we refer to humans with a sort of machine-like quality when describing people in the workforce and machines personified with a sense of human-like quality. In Nicholoas Carr’s book, The Shallows, despite the warnings of a future where humans are more robotic than machines (in the end where he talked about a movie that frightened him), there is undoubtedly this seductiveness to technology and machines, attracting us to it like a person would to another person.

 

2. What it means to be human: Repliee Q1expo. What if robots does acquire human looks, applied with the enactive system, gesture reactions, and voice recognition? A replica of a human being that is machine is born. What then can deny it of being “human?” In 2005, Hiroshi Ishiguro introduced to the world a robot with human looks, Repliee Q1expo – a robot whose looks are based on Ayako Fujii. The uncanny human resemblance of the robot is essential to Ishiguro’s question on what it means to be human. He views rather positively about future interactions between humans and robots, believing that a proper and good appearance of a robot is essential to forming good relationships between humans and robots.

^ That will probably be the most futuristic example of an android that I will be able to find – which was made in 2005!

3. Hatsune Miku, the acceptance of “fake” as real. Vocaloid is a computer software program created by Crypton Future Media, a Japanese company. It’s basically a voice sythesizer with a model (there are many but the most famous and popular one is Hatsune Miku) that can dance and sing to the music that people compose. Over time, Vocaloid grew to become more than just a program. Hatsune Miku became an icon with so much popularity that it (or she) was announced as the world’s first virtual diva (idol). She had live concerts (four or five so far in Japan, Taiwan and Los Angeles) just like any other famous singers did. And everytime, tickets were sold out. She was able to capture the minds and hearts of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people all over the world (me included).  I no longer see her as a mere computer program but as a person that takes on the personalities of the composers, artists, musicians and fans. The future of Hatsune Miku and other Vocaloids developed to have their own intelligence and thought looks bright and not so dystopian as what many people think computers’ effect on us would be. The many rebukes from fans conveys the message that there are many people out there willing to accept “non-living” entities as human beings.

4. Love and intimacy with a machine. If a future where androids are fully integrated into our society, viewing the love aspects of that future would be quite interesting and appealing (really depends on your pre-determined views… might be disgusting if you are thinking of simply metals or may be pleasant if you’re thinking of something along the lines of Repliee Q1expo).

5. Counterargument: Humans are replaced by robots and therefore cease to exist. This will be based on an argument by Eugene Marlow, and one that probably many people can relate to or have thought of because of movies like I, Robot where robots are terrorizing humans. Maybe I could present this in the beginning and make this entire paper a sort of a counterargument to the popular beliefs.

11/9/12

Thoughts on What I Can Do… Human vs. Machines

All this talk about the brain, humans, artificial intelligence, nature, and the growth of technology got me thinking about the future that is in store for us. I noticed that, not only in The Shallows but other texts as well, writers often personify computers/technology (I’m going to use them interchangeably here because my reference to technology is mainly to computers and the Internet, which is part of the computer’s function) as entities with human quality. For example, on the page 224 of the book, Nicholas Carr writes, “The seductions of technology are hard to resist…” Usually the term “seduction” is used in a more sexual context between two or more humans. But here, Carr is almost saying that technology has that same quality as human seductiveness as we (humans) are attracted to it (technology). The reverse is also true: we describe people using machine qualities. We would often describe a large group of people doing the same generic action as robotic. Or that workers are more “parts” of the factory, “gears” needed to run the place, etc.

In the end, those are only relationships I noticed. But I’m sure you all did as well; it has become quite common to describe humans through machines and machines through humans – so much that it has become a blur as to which is more human, machines or humans. Our acceptance of these descriptions due to the inundating references over the web and books may contribute to why we are inevitably LED into believing that machines will one day become more human than humans. The role of humans will become that of machines (like what Carr said on page 46).  Perhaps that is the reason it instills the fear of technology taking over humanity.

 

The questions that I want to explore then is… What if machines become more human than humans? What if humans become more machine-like than machines? What are the consequences and effects on people?

 

I have already thought of two examples that I can use so far, one negative and one positive about machines/technology/computers – interchangeable to me at this point.

First is the example of the 2008 stock market crash. Part of the reason it crashed was because people are using computer programs to trade stocks. The computer programs acted like human operators and conducting calculations that will reap the best trades. In a sense, it was design to mimic humans with a mind for calculating probability that is far beyond human capacity. And the result of it was the failure of the stock market (of course, it’s only part of the reason but a reason nonetheless) which greatly impacted many people’s lives, driving them into poverty – hence the negative impact of machines given human jobs.

The positive second example is a computer software program created by Crypton, a Japanese company, called Vocaloid. It’s basically a voice sythesizer with a model (there are many but the most famous and popular one is Hatsune Miku) that can dance and sing to the music that people compose. Over time, Vocaloid grew to become more than just a program. Hatsune Miku became an icon with so much popularity that it (or she) was announced as the world’s first virtual diva (idol). She had live concerts (four or five so far in Japan, Taiwan and Los Angeles) just like any other famous singers did. And everytime, tickets were sold out. She was able to capture the minds and hearts of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people all over the world (me included).  I no longer see her as a mere computer program but as a person that takes on the personalities of the composers, artists, musicians and fans. The future of Hatsune Miku and other Vocaloids developed to have their own intelligence and thought looks bright and not so dystopian as what many people think computers’ effect on us would be.

 

… I felt like I wrote my proposal here instead of just my thoughts on what I can/may do for this project. Anyways, comments and opinions are appreciated!