The film Artificial Intelligence by Steven Spielberg highlights the argument between Searle and Dennett: can programs give rise to the same understanding that humans have? The movie also touches upon the ideas of Lycan who argues that a creature’s origin or its subneuroanatomical chemical composition should not matter to its physical processes or any aspect of its mentality (Lycan 320). In the movie, new robots known as “Mechas”, advanced robots capable of emulating thoughts and emotions similar to those of humans, are being developed in order to fulfill humanity’s need of not only sustaining a human population but to also fulfill the need of parents who want children. The first prototype of a mecha was tested on the Swinton Family. The Swinton’s have a son, Martin, who is in a coma. The Swinton’s test out the first prototype of mechas, who are made to resemble a child and are programmed to feel love for its human owners. The mecha, David, who belongs to the Swinton’s was built with “pain receptors” but was not considered a real human by his owners. Mechas differ from humans, who are coined “orgos”, because people believe that orgos have some form of understanding that these robots do not.
Although David shows instances of what people may believe are examples of real understanding such as his “love” for his mother and his imitations of Martin in order to seem like a real boy, they are all just a façade and illustrate Searle’s thought experiment of the Chinese Room Argument. David appears to be conscious and exhibit traits of real understanding but these are just programmed inputs and outputs similar to those of the Chinese Room. David’s rulebook, in essence, is Martin. David tries to imitate his behavior similar to the way the person in the Chinese Room Experiment just looks at the rulebook when he receives “squiggles and squaggles”. David’s actions are merely programmed and manipulated.
I believe Dennett would argue that David does actually show an example of how programs can give rise to understanding through David’s journey of trying to find the Blue Fairy so that he can become a real boy. David’s motivations for seeking this fairy were built on emotions of envy and desire. Dennett would argue that these emotions exhibit an understanding similar to those of humans. Similar to his reply of the Chinese Room thought experiment, Dennett would counter that while David does not initially understand human emotions and actions through his own rule book, Martin, he is able to better understand what it is like to have human emotions and understanding.
Lycan’s argument is also extremely relevant to the movie as it discusses how humans should treat robots that appear to be human in every sense but seem to be missing something extra that humans have. Similar to David in the film, Lycan supposes that a robot named Harry is a form of a machine that has lifelike plastic skin and can converse intelligently and can execute actions such as play golf and make love. If a person were to see him, they would think that he was just an ordinary person. Lycan then argues that we do not discriminate against a person who has a wooden leg or a mechanical kidney so then why should we discriminate against Harry?
When arguing whether or not David is just a “computer” like that of the Chinese Room Argument or whether he does give rise to human understanding, I believe it is important to not take sides that are inflexible. Although there are instances in which David does show understanding, I believe that he does so because his human rulebook tells him to do so and that humans have something extra that no robot will be able to duplicate because unlike robots who are “fed” information; humans have experiences that allow us to give rise to real understanding.
No comments:
Post a Comment