Predicting the future impact of technology on our individual lives and society has always been an entertaining, alarming and often exciting business. From the now seemly innocent days of Tomorrows World predicting self-cleaning clothes, endless leisure time and food pills, in the (now historic) future, to the recent advances in artificial intelligence and technology which make the Blade Runner android seem like a real possibility in the next 20-40 years. That is at least according to David Levy, chess master and president of the International Computer Games Association, who discussed his vision of the future at the Love Robot event at the ICA in London on Monday night.
Levy sites a comment made by a young computer geek in the early 1980’s, who said he preferred his relationship with his computer to the ones he had experienced with girls, as the inspiration for his book, Love + Sex with Robots, in which he explores (amongst others) the hypothesis that strong emotion bonds between humans and non humans are possible, and in some cases already exist, in the form of the love that people feel for their pets. So far so good, throw in the ability of some tamagotchi owners to fully suspend their disbelief (and some would say good sense) to engage in a nurturing relationship with a crude digital entity and you have the basis for a weird and according to Levy, potentially wonderful, caring, sharing and sexual satisfying future between humans and their robot partners, friends and coworkers.
It was a very interesting talk which elicited a lively question and answer session, that understandably focussed on the minefield of political, moral and ethical issues which the development of intelligent artificial life, programmed to meet society’s and individuals every need, whim and sexual craving could, would and should present us all with. A debate, which like our desire to know the future, looks likely to continue to fascinate and present as many questions as it does different and opposing opinions, including that of the Love Robot event chair, technology critic and journalist Bill Thompson, who it would seem from his BBC blog wasn’t entirely sold on the idea of romance with a robot, or at least not yet?
3 responses so far ↓
Bill Thompson // 15 April 2008 at 10:23 pm |
Not ever! OK, well maybe if it was a real intelligence, but I don’t see that happening
Machine Love » the billblog // 17 April 2008 at 10:51 am |
[...] It was inspired by a debate at the ICA which I chaired, and has attracted some comment online from Tara, Jordan, and Clare, among [...]
Lloyd Raworth // 18 April 2008 at 12:29 pm |
Hi Tara, it sounds like it was an interesting event.
It seems a pity Bill Thompson had no “philosophical objections” to some of the ideas put forward though, because we ought to focus more sharply on what some of these ideas represent. Far from being a scientific challenge, the claims of some artificial intelligence evangelists, to me look more like an abject, and potentially catastrophic, philosophical and intellectual failure. The significance of which isn’t that computer “intelligence” might one day replace human intelligence, it is that it’s even considered possible in the first place.
Best regards,
Lloyd Raworth