It seems that the Internet is full of lists. Apparently they help readers stay focused on the article. I have also noticed that my blog, although short lived, does not have any lists. So let's do one! I present to you "The Five Paragraphs That, Collectively, Best Describe My Thoughts on Computers Becoming As Human As Humans"
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Five Paragraphs That, Collectively, Best Describe My Thoughts on Computers Becoming As Human As Humans
Paragraph One: An inciting introduction that ends in a question and urges the user to continue reading.
Two of the biggest industries for development have been robotics and technology(mutually exclusive). Hardware profusely matches the texture and delicateness of a human hand and all it's joints and super computer brains can now beat the world expert at chess, while throwing successful pick up lines at his mother. Right there, a chess player with successful pick up lines, ten years ago thiswould have been unheard of. The fear though, is that we will go too far. If we continue, humans will lose control and be dominated by the robotic race. This is intriguing; could a robot programmed brain ever be powerful enough to lead an absolute take over?
Paragraph Two: Presenting a weak argument for the side I do not support, with the goal to counter it in upcoming paragraphs.
There is no denying the power behind the most modern computers. Let's take the aforementioned computer that beat the worlds best chess player (A good text would have a reference here). It did this by calculating every single move possible on the next turn, and then every single move possible after that move and so on and so forth until the end of the game. Literally billions of permutations of moves, only selecting the move that would lead to no possible way of defeat. Sure, this is just programmed planning, it's not learning from mistakes, or gaining knowledge. It is making decisions, but only from a decision bank that has been programmed in it. At this point,the computer merely following orders.
Paragraph Three: Another paragraph for the wrong team, wait what side is this guy on?
Onwards and upwards then, can we program rationality? Or emotion? Most would argue that this is what identifies the human mind. Can we program learning? Unfortunately, the answers are yes, mostly and yes. I'll try to cover all the bases and keep this short and not too geeky, because I feel like the limit was exceeded in part two of the list. Rationality can be programmed based on calculations of given information. A prime example are the robots at banking institutes that use rational thought processing to determine whether or not people are eligible for a credit. It asks a series of yes/no questions, and calculates the answers to decide if the person qualifies. But still, this is all pre programmed. As for Emotion, this is where a lot of the work is being done. Computers can at this point detect and recreate most basic human emotions such as happy and sad. There is also voice and facial recognition to determine what a user is feeling. However the complicated emotions, such as sympathy and jealousness, are out of reach. But need not be alarmed, this is now where lead developpers are focusing most of their efforts. Lastly, can computers learn? Some robots are programmed to respond to errors, by storing the data and changing their behavior. For example, take an experiment where a robot is to make it through a large maze and gets put back to the start every time it hits a dead end. It can be programmed to store the data of left and right turns it took the first time, and remember not to take that path. Like the chess player, only it "remembers" what it did wrong, learns from it, and eventually gets it right.
Paragraph four: Knowing the readers are starting to lose interest, this is shorter, entertaining and makes the final point. It also, attempts humor to convey a light tone and prove that the author is an ok guy.
So were screwed. They now have emotion and rationality. They can learn, and they can have their way with us when it comes to calculations and analyzing data. But there is one thing, just one thing that we will always have; that cannot be programmed by the brightest minds of Google, Apple, or microsoft ... haha ok, that last one was for the laughs, but seriously, it's not going to happen(and no Google, this isn't a challenge). A computer will never have free thought. Ever. Free thought can't be programmed. Even if you put in code, that says "have free thought", it is still just doing what it is told. It can think, but only what it is told to think about. It can act rationally but ... well you get it. A computer has a very strict, yet very large set of orders. And that's it. If the orders do not tell it to play chess, then it won't play chess.
Paragraph five: Finally the freaking conclusion and wait, what... why are you trying to tie this into another subject...
Robots will be harmless while not having free thought. As long as they are not told to attack someone with a battle ax, then it isn't even on the realm of possible out comes, and thus they are harmless. You know what the government would like us to be? Harmless. You know what they are trying to do to us? Take away our free thought, take away our ability to think outside the box by either censoring news, or manipulating the news that is available. Why? Because when we stop thinking critically, when we put away the questions and just believe what we are told, we become like robots. Completely harmless.
This has been a long post, if you made it this far, you owe it to yourself to post a comment. See below!
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I would have to agree with most of what you said, but robots will not be harmless, anything that can be hacked can be turned into a weapon. A robotic lawnmower, could be rigged by terrorists to trim the limbs off human bodies. Robots might never have free thought, but they will always have the potential for harm!
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