In our assigned chapter Graham reintroduces a common criticism against human like A.I., “that it cannot simulate emotion, intuition, instinct, imagination or innovation: that, in brief, a computer lacks ‘soul’.”(Graham 127) What examples in our texts and media so far advance or refute this critique?
ENGL 360 | Future Perfect Human
Prof. Myra Seaman | Fall 2016
I agree that all of the texts and media we have dealt with thus far contain this critique. In particular, the discussion of this issue found in Battlestar Galatica seems especially prominent to the “meaning ” of the show as a whole. The cylons featured in the show ostensibly constitute artificial intelligence as we are told they “were created by man.” However, as the show has progressed, the cylons are starting to seem increasingly LESS artificial and perhaps more emotionally intelligent. The most recent episode, “Epiphanies,” features a cylon woman distraught at losing her unborn child, an emotionally manipulative cylon girlfriend of Dr. Baltar, and an emotionally developed human president who may now be part cylon herself. These applications of supposedly inherently human traits, emotion, intuition, instinct, innovation etc. to the Cylons complicates the audiences view of them.
This growing complexity of the Cylons in general serves, I think, to force the audience to engage with them. By depicting the Cylons as apparently overcoming the “common criticism” that Graham discusses, the show’s creators force us to question the supposed boundary between humans and human creations. It is hard to conceive anything about a mother bashing her head against a window as “artificial.” Further, if humans and cylons are not distinct on an emotional / internal basis, how should we think of them as two separate entities?
I agree with Matt that the Cylons are the most compelling dispute of the presence of emotions in the AI. They, while very alien and other, behave much like a human would in many instances. On Caprica, Valerii prioritized keeping Karl,the man she loved, far away from Doral and Six. Six is an enigma unto herself, she seems to love Baltar, hate him, and every iteration between depending on the time of day. Their belief in their own souls and in their monotheistic God is also something that is very human in interesting, and a point that comes up again and again in the series.
Even GERTY, my favorite little Moon-based AI, has a lot of emotive power with his little smiley face screens. He is limited by his programming, yet still cares enough about Sam that he is willing to sacrifice himself for him. Yes, when he powers back on, GERTY will still be there, but he will not be the same-he will have lost much of himself that grew and cared for the fragile human under his care. We tend o characterize this sort of self-sacrifice with the noblest of humans, doe it make it any less when it comes from a smiling machine? I don’t think so, and was more distraught over GERTY than Sam for a while.
Every text we have discussed so far in class has made a critique on this very subject, some refuting this idea and others elevating it. In regard to the ‘soul’, Never Let Me Go is the first text to come to mind. Herein we see a posthuman world where humans have created clones as a technology to further medical advancements, and these clones humanity is called into question. They are presented with tests of artistry and studied to determine whether or not that have a soul, and should be treated as human.
Furthermore, in Battlestar Galactica we see yet another instance where humans have created an A.I. in hopes to assist them, and these technologies begin advancing in ways the humans never foresaw. Again, the cylons display of emotion and innovation make the audience question the boundaries of humanity and whether or not a human can manufacture souls.
In what consider the most realistic portrayal of a posthuman world, at least in this aspect, Elysium presents cyborgs in a way that does not make us question their artificiality. The ending, wherein the cyborg declines orders because the request goes against his original programming, reassures the idea that Graham is trying to make here — that artificial intelligence cannot simulate emotion or innovation or anything further than the boundaries given by its programmer because it does not have a soul or a consciousness.
I like Levena like to think of Gerty as much more than the computer program/droid, simply because of Kevin Spacey’s voice and what a great actor I think he is, however that is irrelevant. I think Gerty is an exceptional example of artificial intelligence transcending to a higher form. The way he is able to show intuitive like behavior when he knows that sam is distressed at the end, and offers assistance. This shows very advanced decision making ability as well as planning. There also appear to be conflicting emotions within Gerty as well, almost like he feels bad about lying to sam, or hiding the fact that he had been in contact with earth. This shows that Gerty is capable of feeling a sense of guilt, because he had been going behind Sam’s back for so long, and lying to him about the satellite communications being out. By the end of the movie it is almost like Gerty is rebelling, and dealing with a moral dilemma, the dilemma being either continue to follow protocol or help sam get to earth. Since he seems to be feeling conflicted and shows guilt it appears he is almost picking sam over the people on earth. Moral conflict is something artificial intelligence should not be concerned with, because that would involve having a soul, or displaying attributes of a being with a soul. So I guess I am arguing the point that Gerty was able to transcend his droid form, and elevate his consciousness to a more evolved understanding of himself as he relates to Sam and the rest of his environment. Gerty was able to develop attributes we would associate with a being with a soul. In this case Gerty appears to refute this critique.
We haven’t seen a whole lot of examples of actual AI this semester so far and both Matt and Levena have pretty much covered all of them. Gerdy, although too robotic to actually contain what most would define as a soul, does have amazing emotive abilities. Many of us related more with Gerty than we Sam in that movie.
In BSG, on the other hand, the human looking Cylons are indistinguishable in almost every way from actual humans. It takes a blood test to tell the difference. That means they do have emotional range and the existence of a soul in them is as easy to prove as the existence of a soul in humanity. It’s important to note that, although there are many different types of Cylons, only the human looking Cylons have these emotional qualities. The others seem to act like, well robots.