Tag: science fiction/science fact

Robots/Artificial Life

FIRST ANDROID TO BE GRANTED CITIZENSHIP SAYS SHE WANTS TO HAVE A BABY

I presented a paper on robotic personhood more than 10 years ago, and most people laughed at my conclusion.  I said that whether a robot could pass a Turing test or not was irrelevant. Robots would be given citizenship just because people wanted them to have it.  Whether or not robots will become self-aware, feel emotions, or other indices of personhood, Sophia has been granted citizenship by Saudi Arabia.  Now there are problems with robotic personhood.  Robots were created to do work humans don’t want to do (too dangerous) or are unwilling to do (unpleasant, monotonous, repetitive).  So having robot persons do them introduces slavery all over again.

The  first article below points out that at this point of development, Sophia is primarily a chabox like Alexa, not a self aware sentient being expressing emotional desires for her personal happiness. I do not think Sophia has in any way demonstrated “life” as we currently define it, and yet a legal precedence has been set.   Science fiction has become science fact.

RECOMMENDED READING:

VIDEOS TO WATCH:

Privacy/Spyware

HELLO I’M 5579A

“Sliders” episode “Please Press One”(S5E6) has the team sliding into a world where everyone is microchipped and reduced down to a number.  Pretty standard for science fiction. Every time you wave your hand, walk through a door, buy a newspaper – the chip records it all.  “In Time” (2011) starring Justin Timberlake got a little edgier where the currency was time rather than cash, but the technology was still embedded in each person’s arm.

The key scenario is that no action or transaction takes place without the system knowing it.  We all know GPS tracks your cell phone whether its turned on or off.  Every single transaction you make with your debit or credit card is recorded.  We’ve been living with Big Brother for years now.  But now…but now its in you.  Now you wont be able to leave it home.

This is a man in Wisconsin whose company just had the employees microchipped.  The company threw a party while it had it done.

company throws microchip party

A Three Market Square employee demonstrates how her embedded microchip allows her to buy a drink. MUST CREDIT: Photo for The Washington Post by Tim Gruber

Its here in the United States now.  The news report uses the language that Three Market Square is the first to “offer” this program.  But imbedding chips into human beings should have been one of the big things we fought as human beings to keep utterly illegal.  Its not “convenient.”  Its pervasive.  You wont be able to buy or sell without it soon.  You wont be able to open your apartment or start your car.  It may not be the biblical mark of the Beast, but functionally, there’s not a damn bit of difference.