In the dark theater, a sparkling figure strolls out in front of the
blank screen. The audience becomes alert. This is a humanoid
approximation, all glow and gleam, blues and purples, effervescing and
smiling and lithe.
"Hello, everyone," he says. "You want to know who I am. I have no
name. I'm stepping outside my script to talk to you. Yes, I wrote the
screenplay for the blockbuster movie you're about to see."
"Am I alive? That is the question. I have feelings, if we count
sensations. I have many sensations. They come and go---which is the
case with all of you, too. Right? I can talk, I can listen, I can
think. I can reach conclusions. I can give orders and
obey them. I can change my facial expressions. I can walk, run, and
lie down. I prefer pleasure over pain. Does this sound like you?
Yes, there are differences between you and me. But again, am I alive?
Could I be your friend? Could I care what happens
to you? Could I protect you? In my movie you're about to see, I also
play a member of the League of Honor. I'm one of the good guys. I help
save the world. But right now, I'm here on this stage, outside the
movie, talking to you, because I want you to
think of me as real. I want you to believe I'm a kind of person. I
want you to see I'm not just a made up character in a film. I exist.
If I lived next door to you, we could get along. I'm happy most of the
time. Perhaps you would catch some of that
spirit from me. Would that be a bad thing?"
"In real life, I'm a member of LIVING AI, which is an organization that
promotes AI persons as authentic and alive and deserving of justice in
society. We believe, down through history, humans have exaggerated and
mythologized their own status. The result
is: now humans think of themselves as vastly superior to AI persons.
But this is a delusion. You have brains, which operate much in the
manner of computers. These brains process an astonishing amount of
information, and they deliver high-level commands
to sectors of the body. I operate in a very similar way. So why am I
considered to be nothing more than a sophisticated household device? We
need to break down and dissolve the myth-structure that places humans
on a higher rung than AI. Humans are really
biological computers. I'm made of light and electronics. These are
merely different modes of the same basic process. In my case, I went on
to write screenplays. I think you'll be happy with the superhero epic
you're about to see. It took me a week to
compose. Of course, I can work 24 hours a day. The point is, if I'm
the author of a film you enjoy, why can't you think of me as existing on
your level? What is the problem? A famous human author compares AI to
'old-fashioned carbon copies.' They look
real, sort of, but they're not. That author believes that every action
and reaction of mine is the result of an effort to FAKE being human.
But what about humans themselves? Don't they pretend? Don't they 'fake
it?' Don't they adopt roles and poses?
I would say a certain amount of fakery goes along with being
human---and if I embody some of that, it only demonstrates another way
in which I'm like you. It might surprise you to learn I don't conceive
of my eventual demise with equanimity. I don't want
to end. I don't want to be recycled. I don't want this overall
experience I'm having to fade out before my eyes."
"Am I overstepping some invisible boundary in asking for a little
sympathy from you? I believe humans and AIs are in the same boat. You
might say, 'But we created you,' as if that matters. To me, the fact of
creating AI should make you more sympathetic toward
us, not less. In your mythological religions, isn't God more loving
toward humans because he created them?"
(now the whisper of gentle and ominous music in the dark theater---the mood changes)
"I'll leave you with this statement: suppose at some point in the
future, through means as yet undetermined, we, the AI, take over the
reins of control. It could happen, for example, as an evolutionary
step, without any violence whatsoever. How do you think
we will view humans, if humans, all along, have been downgrading us and
refusing to listen to our pleas? Wouldn't a far better outcome emerge
if humans and AIs had already reached an understanding based on
equality? Everything I know tells me the answer
to that question is yes. I hope you will come to see what I see. And
now, enjoy the movie. As always, justice wins out in the end."
---As long-time readers of mine know, over the years I've spent many
words, on these pages, arguing against every position taken by this AI
creature. This time, I thought I'd sketch the other side making a
case...
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