WE, ANTHROBOT
WE, ANTHROBOT
GLOSSARY
AI winter Artificial Intelligence is a field that experiences cyclical periods of general interest and funding. In between the periods of enthusiasm for AI are ‘wintry’ years during which research appears to stagnate. During such periods, it can be beneficial to pause, reflect and generate new ideas.
anthrobotics The idea that we can no longer consider human societies without their interconnections with algorithms and robotic devices. From a collective perspective, we already are a dynamic compound of flesh and protocols, creativity, feelings and electronics. Anthrobotics is a way of looking at the development of AI and robotics from a holistic point of view.
artificial neural networks AI computing systems that are designed to work like a brain. They learn progressively by connecting inputs of information with outputs, through a filtering process that is partly autonomous, and via a collection of nodes called artificial neurons, in which each connection is a simplified version of a synapse. This model is responsible for the success of deep learning since 2011.
big data The act of gathering and storing large amounts of information for analysis or archive. AI uses big data to try to distinguish patterns that humans could not detect.
collective mind and collective consciousness In 1999, Lawyer Richard Glen Boire proposed the phrase ‘virtual collective consciousness’ to describe the internet and its capacity to generate a form of collective worldview and behaviour. At the end of the nineteenth century, French sociologist Émile Durkheim spoke of ‘collective consciousness’ to describe how much our thought is produced by the groups or society we belong to.
Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) A national agency connected to the US Department of Defense that invests in long-term research perceived as beneficial for national security. Outcomes have included precision weapons and stealth technology, but also breakthroughs in civilian technologies such as the internet, automated voice recognition and language translation.
symbiosis Literally ‘living together’: a close and long-lasting relationship between two species. In 1960, computer scientist J. C. R. Licklider published a seminal paper using the metaphor to call for a time when electronic machines and humans would have a symbiotic relationship of benefit to both.
Zeroth Law When two objects are in contact, they exchange heat. The heat flows from the hotter object to the cooler object. At some point, this transfer of heat stops: the objects are in thermal equilibrium. The Zeroth Law of thermodynamics states that any third object in equal equilibrium with one of the first two objects will also be in equilibrium with the second object. In robotics, Zeroth Law is a law introduced by author Isaac Asimov on top of his famous Three Laws of Robotics. It states: ‘A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.’
INDUSTRY 4.0
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The first industrial revolution is often characterized by the introduction of steam power, used to perform tasks impossible or impractical to perform using human strength alone. While this was indeed revolutionary, the more fundamental change of this industrial revolution (and those that followed) was an organizational one: the bringing together of many workers in one place to help perform a mechanically augmented task. The second industrial revolution was the introduction of the assembly line. This broke the production of complex things into many small tasks performed in sequence as a continuous process. The very first production line, at the Ford Model T factory, reduced the time to produce a car from 12 hours to 90 minutes. As robots began to replace humans in manufacturing, we reached the third industrial revolution – automated factories. The Ford Fiesta factory in Cologne, Germany produces a new car every 86 seconds. The fourth industrial revolution involves logistics. Currently, demand for products is estimated and enough are produced to meet that predicted demand. Excess production means unsold products being scrapped, at financial and environmental cost. Integrating AI systems into the supply chain enables a customer’s order to be produced on demand.
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Automation enabled the organizational changes that characterized the first three industrial revolutions; AI will do the same for the fourth industrial revolution.
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Just as the third industrial revolution saw some reduction in physical manufacturing jobs, the fourth may see entirely automated factories. For the first time, the means of production may no longer rely upon human labour. The political implications of this are significant. It seems unlikely that factory owners would choose a human workforce, who require salaries, holidays and pensions, over tireless machines; it is unclear which new jobs may become available instead.
RELATED TOPICS
See also
KAREL ČAPEK & THE FIRST ‘ROBOTS’
UNIMATE, THE FIRST INDUSTRIAL ROBOT
THE MERGING OF ROBOTS, AI & HUMANS?
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
HENRY FORD
1863–1947
American industrialist who transformed factory production by introducing the assembly line in his Ford car factory
BERTRAND RUSSELL
1872–1970
British philosopher who in 1932 wrote ‘In Praise of Idleness’, in which he describes the economic impact of automation on a theoretical pin factory
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David Rickmann
Every new industrial mutation eliminates old jobs and creates new ones – or not.
THE THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS
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Isaac Asimov was one of the most prolific science-fiction authors of the twentieth century. Many of his robot stories deal with the problems that arise when robots live and work among humans. Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics were first presented in his short story ‘Runaround’ (1942). The First Law is ‘A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.’ The Second Law: ‘A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.’ The Third Law: ‘A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.’ In 1985, Asimov added the Zeroth Law: ‘A robot may not injure humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.’ These laws are problematic; it is not clear, for example, what ‘harm’ means. Giving a student a bad grade is harmful, but is it wrong? Imprisoning criminals harms them, but it is usually seen as necessary and morally right to do so. Sometimes, short-term harm (such as surgery) can prevent long-term damage. Regarding the Second Law, can a robot always be sure which commands would cause long-term benefit or harm?
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In 1942 Isaac Asimov proposed three principles that laid the groundwork for robot ethics to this day – but they are not straightforward.
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Particularly chilling is the Zeroth Law. If averting harm from humanity as a whole justifies every other action, including harming humans, then it would be morally right to kill or enslave individual human beings in order to benefit humanity. We often make choices that are harmful to us or to humanity as a whole – to smoke, to eat sweets, to drive private cars. Should robots be required to prevent us from doing these things?
RELATED TOPICS
See also
HAL 9000 IN 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
JOHN WOOD CAMPBELL
1910–71
American science-fiction writer/editor who mentored the young Isaac Asimov
ROGER MACBRIDE ALLEN
1957–
American science-fiction author who wrote three novels that use the idea of Asimov’s Laws
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Andreas Matthias
The laws of robotics are meant to be programmed, but their application might lead to judiciary conundrums.
EXTENDED MINDS
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Otto is forgetful. In order to remember anything, he writes it down in a notebook. He always carries his notebook around. When he has to go to an appointment, he looks at the notebook to check where the appointment will take place and how to get there. The notebook thus fulfils some of the functions of Otto’s brain. Can we say that Otto’s mind is all inside his head, or is the notebook part of it? Clark and Chalmers, in a famous 1998 paper, argue that there is no functional difference between remembering something inside your skull, and remembering it on paper. Whether you add up long numbers in your head or on paper is irrelevant. The mental process of addition is the same, and therefore we can say that mental processes can take place outside a person’s head. Today, notebooks are often electronic – the development of AI makes them more accurate than simple reminders. Apps tell us the best way to go to our appointment or which movies to watch, based on our past choices and those of ‘people like us’. Big data is like a huge extended memory that shapes our decisions; knowledge is commonly shared and expanded collectively, for example on Wikipedia. What sociologist Emile Durkheim called the ‘collective mind’ is now a digital reality.
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Everyday experiences show that our thoughts start partly outside our brain, in our own body, in social bodies or in supports for memory – where do our minds end?
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The question of responsibility for one’s actions is very important, both in criminal law and in case of compensation claims for damages. However, our decisions are increasingly influenced by AI systems that are extremely complex and based on huge amounts of data. It becomes extraordinarily difficult for the end users to question the systems’ conclusions; they have to trust them blindly, without being able to exercise their own judgement.
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See also
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DAVID EMILE DURKHEIM
1858–1917
French sociologist. One of the fathers of modern social science
HUMBERTO MATURANA
1928–
Chilean biologist who studied how cognition can be defined in terms of the interaction of an organism with its environment
ANDY CLARK
1957–
British philosopher, specializing in the role of the environment in creating mental processes
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Andreas Matthias
Our multi-connected world is shedding new light on our collective and inter-relational identities.
THE MERGING OF ROBOTS, AI & HUMANS?
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Even the official US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) has declared that it believes the merging of humans and machines is happening now, crossing a new technological boundary. The power of computers and AI allows us to test our ideas better and faster. Robotic prostheses are making such progress that people are able to regain usage of their members, control machines via brain implants or walk anew thanks to exoskeletons. The symbiosis of computers and humans announced by computer scientist J. C. R. Licklider in 1960 seems to be happening in front of our eyes. Consider how lost and powerless we feel when we don’t have an internet connection! Technology is not only about tools that help us, but it is also a part of who we are. We are becoming anthrobots, an intertwined combination of flesh and artificial systems. But is this really a new paradigm? In fact, the human species can be defined by its continual adoption of new systems since the beginning of history. Language and grammar, for example, allowed humans to communicate so that they could extend their will. The division of labour enabled us to create human machines of workers performing mechanical tasks. Robots are fascinating because we recognize ourselves in them.
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Once a science-fiction hypothesis, the idea that humans and intelligent machines are blending into a new species is taken seriously even by official institutions – but is this a novel theory?
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In The Myth of The Machine, Lewis Mumford showed how civilized societies functioned somewhat like gigantic machines. Humans are often controlled by protocols, and institutions use them to perform procedures, as if they were machine cogs. Technology enables us to do things we could not do otherwise. But enablement, in psychology studies, is a term that also designates dependency and the risk of addiction. Are we using machines or are social machines using us?
RELATED TOPICS
See also
HAL 9000 IN 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
LEWIS MUMFORD
1895–1990
American historian and philosopher who criticized the tendency of ‘megatechnical’ societies to create deep human dissatisfaction, because selfhood seems irrelevant to efficient systems
PIERRE BOURDIEU
1930–2002
French sociologist who showed how even our most intimate tastes and preferences are largely determined by the social group we belong to
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Luis de Miranda
We are already an anthrobotic species, living in symbiosis with machines.
