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Could I.T. fix your broken heart?
Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and whether you look at it as a celebration
of romance or a conspiracy among chocolatiers and florists, you can't deny that love is
all around us.
Which made me think about a popular theme in science fiction.
The idea of humans and A.I. having a relationship, like in the movie Her.
Is that actually realistic? Will we ever see romantic relationships between humans and,
say, robots?
You know, we've talked a lot about A.I. in the past, about how it would be challenging
to make a self-aware, conscious machine.
I've also talked about how we humans develop these odd emotional attachments to our gadgets,
like robotic vacuum cleaners.
But what happens when the robotic vacuum cleaners start having feelings for us?
I know it sounds silly but that hasn't stopped people from asking these questions, like Dr.
David Levy. He's a chess master who, in his chess tournament days, noticed the rise of
A.I. and now predicts that in 2050 it'll be legal, at least in some places in the United
States, for a human to marry a robot.
Now he's not just some A.I. enthusiast, he actually earned his PhD with a thesis on human-robotic
relationships.
And he says it's not just probable that this is gonna happen - it's inevitable. Why?
Well, eventually we're going to be able to build personalities and behavior sets that
are really compelling, and once we do, it's just a matter of time before someone falls
in love with it.
Now for some people this could mean a chance at a really emotionally supportive relationship
with a robot who seems at least on the surface to be as real and genuine as a human being.
But it does raise some pretty tricky questions.
For example, if I'm having relationship issues with my robot, does that mean I could reprogram
it? Change out the personality? Give it a new set of behaviors? I mean I wouldn't do
that to another person.
Or maybe I go even more extreme and just throw the robot away.
And if robots are just simulating thoughts and emotions, can we really have a meaningful
relationship with one? Or if that simulation is truly compelling, can we really be sure
the robot isn't having some sort of individual experience?
Because if it is, maybe we should grant it the same sort of rights that human beings
have.
I'm not the only person asking these questions. Back in 2007, the government of South Korea
formed a Robotics Ethics Charter. It's a guideline to create responsible development in robotic
intelligence.
But machine ethics is a can of worms all on itself, because no one really agrees on what
it is yet. In fact, we still have trouble agreeing what's ethical for a human to do
to another human, much less a human to a robot.
Ultimately, I think the rise of social robots is going to teach us a lot about ourselves,
which is pretty cool.
And along the way, maybe we find out that programming a robot just right, doesn't necessarily
mean he's Mr. Right.
That leads me to a question for all of you out there. What is the most romantic, geeky
gesture you've ever made to someone to let them know how you feel.
Maybe you wrote a love song in chiptunes.
Let us know in the comments below.
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then check these other videos out over here. I think you're gonna love them.