Science fiction/robots in our likeness and image

What will happen when we manage to create robots whose complexity will not fall short of that of humans? What will it mean and what will the consequences be? Science fiction writers have a number of thoughts on the matter

By: Uriel Brizon, Galileo

Robots have appeared in works of science fiction since the early days of the genre. They represent a technological pinnacle - man's success in building a device with capabilities similar to his own. The robot is the perfect servant, the more sophisticated it is built, the better it can serve the person. The desire to create machines that will work for us is a driving force behind technological progress.
What will happen when we qualify for this technological peak and create machines so complex that their complexity will not fall short of ours? What will be the meaning and what will be the consequences of this achievement? Science fiction writers have some thoughts on the matter. Stories about robots appeared years before technology made it possible to produce any robots. The robot was then a futuristic and unrealistic vision.

Different types of robots

Today there are different types of robots, but their capabilities are still limited in comparison to the robots described in the stories of Madev. There are industrial robots with huge arms that are used to assemble cars and other devices and there is a limited variety of robotic toys for home use (for example, Sony's robotic dog "Aibo" which was very successful).

Despite the rapid technological progress, it is clear that we are only at the beginning of the road when it comes to robotics, and it is difficult to estimate how far we are from the day when robots like the ones from the stories of the Madev will walk among us. But the assessment is that technology will continue to advance and that one day we will build artificial creatures similar to us in form and abilities. A large part of the basic components already exist today - whether in the field of computing or in the field of materials engineering.

An advanced robot that reacts to its environment, works among humans, talks with them, does various jobs for them and alongside them will one day, apparently, become a reality. A robot designed by man to replace him in performing various tasks and assembled in his likeness and image, puts him in a very strange place: he becomes the creator god for a new type of creatures.

The Golem from Prague and the three laws of robotics

In reviews of the development of the MDB, it is usually stated that the first robot appeared in a play by the Czech Karl Capek from 1920. The word "robot" was invented by Capek and is based on the Russian word "robota" which means work. Some argue that the robot has earlier appearances and even roots in folktales. One of the prominent examples is the legend "The Golem of Prague" which belongs to the Jewish tradition.

The legend tells of a human-like creature created from the ground by the Maharal, who breathed life into it by writing the explicit name of God on its forehead, in order to protect the city's Jewish residents (the story is attributed to around the end of the 16th century). Although this is not a robot that is the product of technology, the golem was created by man to serve the community and is made of simple materials (earth and clay) that by using some knowledge (the explicit name) turned it into a human-like creature.

Similar to the creation story

The process is basically similar to that involved in building a technological robot (what's more, silicon, the main component in computer chips, is produced from sand...). There is also a certain similarity between the story of the creation of the golem and the biblical story of creation. In the story of creation, God creates man from earth; In both cases it is a superior entity that creates an inferior entity in relation to it from simple materials by using knowledge (divine knowledge or knowledge of God's name). The golem, according to the story, rose up against its creator - like man, who some see as a servant who rose up against his creator.

A few years after the appearance of the first robots in the Medv literature, the subject became a magnet for much writing. The one who did more than any other creator for the rise of robots in the literature of the Middle East is the writer Isaac Asimov. In his many books, Asimov explored the robot, its abilities, limitations and its relationship with man from different angles. Asimov described a world in which the robot is an integral part of a person's daily routine, whether in managing the household or in space exploration.

Asimov, it's all different

Many times the story is told from the point of view of the robot and in many cases it is a single robot in a human environment. Experts in MDB literature have hypothesized that in this way Asimov tried to describe the world from the point of view of someone who is different from those around him. Asimov himself, the commentators claim, who was a Jewish immigrant in mid-20th century America and a scientist who lived among writers and journalists, was always different from those in his immediate environment.

All of Asimov's robots were embedded with three basic laws that guided their behavior. Asimov's three laws of robotics, which have become very famous in the meantime, are (briefly and in descending order of importance): a. The robot will not harm a person, b. The robot will obey the human commands and c. The robot will act for self-preservation. These laws, which later appeared in many MDV stories by different writers, represent robots whose goal is to integrate into human society and be subject to it.

It seems that Asimov agreed with the insight of the Golem story and assumed that an intelligent creature created only to serve would strive to break free and turn against its creators. To try to solve the problem, he formulated the "first law of robotics" so that it would determine the robot's place below its master. There is a similarity here to another first law, the one that states: "I am the Lord your God".

Computers, robots and aneroids

What form will the artificial life created by man take? MDB stories offer a wide variety. From the metallic giant with red lamps instead of eyes, which was common in the XNUMXs, to the artificial child from Spielberg's film AI; From Arnold Schwarzenegger's steel skeleton in the Terminator movies to the character of R-To-D-To, the mischievous robot from the Star Wars movies. The latter is not at all similar in shape to a man (he is much more like a solar boiler with wheels) but his spirit is brave and playful, and his personality touches the viewer no less than that of his golden partner whose shape is more human.

Artificial intelligence does not necessarily appear in any resemblance to a human. Take for example the HAL computer from Arthur C. Clarke's "Space Odyssey" series. Hel is an intelligent creature, that if he was contained in a box, instead of a spaceship, and moved on wheels like R-Too, we would surely call him a robot.

Not like a desktop computer

Due to his physical characteristics it is more difficult to think of them as an individual. It seems easier to perceive a robot as having consciousness or consciousness than to perceive a computer as such, but there is no reason to assume that the first true artificial intelligence machine to be developed will not resemble a normal desktop computer in its external appearance.

Most of the robots that appear in the Madev are creatures based on "dry" technology - electronics, a metallic skeleton, silicon, etc., but sometimes biological creatures, flesh and blood, built by engineers are also described. Many examples of this type of artificial life are found in the stories of Philip K. Dick and the best known of them is of course the movie "Blade Runner" based on a story by Dick called "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" (?Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) from 1968.

Dick's Androids

Dick chooses to use the term "android" rather than a robot, but in both cases it is an artificial creature developed by advanced technology whose purpose is to serve man. Dick's androids sharpen the question regarding the nature of artificial life: as long as they are metallic robots or computers it is easy to think of them as mere machines and not attribute to them the complex set of contexts that we attribute to intelligent life (self-awareness, emotions, morality).

There are those who will argue that a robot, no matter how complex it is, even if it has conversation, understanding and analysis capabilities, will not constitute a life form because it does not have a "soul". And what will the person who claims this say when it comes to an android - that the only difference between him and an ordinary person is that one was born to a human mother and the other was born in a laboratory? It seems to me that from the moment a creature exhibits qualities of recognition and intelligence, there is no escape from treating it as such for all that is implied.

The servant, the enemy and both together

One of the first appearances of a robot in the cinema is in the film "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (The Day the Earth Stood Still) from 1951. Precisely in this early example, a robot with a complex and interesting role is presented. He arrives on Earth with a humanoid extraterrestrial to warn the human race. In a dramatic scene at the end of the film, the alien explains that the intelligent races in the galaxy have invented a method to avoid conflicts and wars.

They created a race of robots (whose representative is his companion) and gave them powers and weapons that surpass those of the original races. The robots enforce public order and no race can act violently without risking their reaction. Humans, the extraterrestrial explains, are on the verge of developing the ability to move between the stars, so they must start and behave accordingly - otherwise they will be destroyed by the robotic police forces.

struggle or dependence

The motif of the servant robot that becomes powerful and sometimes an enemy is perhaps the most common in popular robot comics. The last example is unique, but it reveals a deep motif found in many of these stories. Sometimes it seems that in many popular films there is a relatively simple struggle between man and machine, but it is usually possible to look into the depth of the struggle and notice the interdependence that exists between man and his artificial opponents.

The terrifying robot from the Terminator movies, for example, becomes a friend and takes part in trying to prevent a future in which robots rule the world. A particularly interesting example exists in the Matrix films. The robots in these films have taken over the world and humans are fighting a war of attrition against them - this is the top layer of the story, but a deeper look reveals additional complexity.

Matrix case

In the AniMatrix animation file accompanying the series, it is explained that the humans manipulated the robots and brought them into rebellion. In the first movie it is stated that the humans are the ones who blocked the sunlight in an attempt to prevent energy from the robots. The robots began breeding humans, it is said, to deal with the lack of energy from the sun; They acted out of their needs, but in a certain sense all the humans living in the Matrix owe their lives to the robots, because in the sunless world that was created, not many of them would survive without the tumor cells built by the robots and without the Matrix.

In the second and third movies it is hinted in several places that the relationship between the robots and the humans is more complex and that energy is not the only thing that the robots consume from the humans. It is hinted that there is some kind of symbiosis here, the starting point of which is where human thoughts work against the computer simulation. Many of the stories describing a struggle between man and machine imply that both sides need each other and that the slave who has become an enemy can return to exist in peace alongside his former masters.

Evolution through technology

If man develops artificial beings in the future that will demonstrate intelligence and self-awareness - will he have a moral obligation to allow them to be free and define themselves as they wish? Or will Asimov-style robotics laws be imprinted on them and ensure their continued servitude? There is something about the idea of ​​civil rights for robots that defeats the very purpose for which they are made, since they are built to serve man. And on the other hand, the enslavement of an intelligent being is considered by us a great crime.

It is, of course, possible to avoid in advance developing complex machines with too high capabilities. This option exists, but the history of science and technology teaches us that as soon as there is an opportunity to advance in some way, progress will surely come. You can also think about it from another angle. In some of the stories of Madhub (even in Asimov's) it is hinted that the robots may constitute a new stage in evolution, meaning that the evolutionary process on Earth will move to a new stage when the most developed creatures up to a certain point, the humans, will give birth to the next race by building it.

Evolution through technology

It is evolution through technology and not through mutation and natural selection. It is even possible to hypothesize that perhaps this is the way of any evolutionary processes: the "natural" races reach a certain stage and then give birth to the next incarnation and send it on its way. Such a change is especially effective if the race goes from a state of existence on the original planet to long journeys in space.

Artificial creatures, robots, can be made to adapt to life in the extreme conditions of space and other worlds. Perhaps the "original" life that developed in a classical evolutionary process, like us, is in general a minority in a galaxy full of robots and one day our descendants will join them - the robots from Earth.

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