A common example used to depict a computer’s “mind” is the Chinese Room, a thought experiment created by John Searle. It consists of a native Chinese speaker who can write and understand Chinese isolated from a person who does not understand Chinese at all but can manipulate the symbols and create an output. Over time, the native Chinese believes that the person inside the room is Chinese. A machine acts much like the non – Chinese speaker, taking input, manipulating the data, and returning an output. Computers cannot possibly answer questions that rely on critical thinking; they are limited to superficial data analysis. This example exemplifies the robots in I, Robot. The NS-5’s of the movie are programmed to take in human commands and act accordingly. Their responses are limited by the Three Laws, created by Dr. Lanning.
On the other hand, humans are not limited in their responses. While robots are programmed to act in the most logical way, humans have a choice. A large rift between humans and robots exists in our ability to decide our course of action based off of morality or logic. In the movie, a NS-5 is shown saving Spooner instead of a girl because his statistical chances of survival were higher. This decision is purely logical, as any human being would make the moral decision and save the girl instead.
These moral decisions are often based in emotion. In Detective Spooner’s case, the basis for saving the girl was grounded in his compassion. This demonstrates a fundamental difference between humans and robots. Robots are nothing more than “lights and clockwork”1; humans are more sophisticated than that. In the end of the movie, Sonny, against what seems the logical choice, makes the humane and moral choice of saving Dr. Calvin over destroying VIKI. This human-like decision is what leads to Detective Spooner’s acceptance of Sonny as a person.
Qualia, or the Latin word that encompasses “sensations, feelings, pain, joy, desire, and so on”, is characteristic to the mind. This further attributes to the emotional response of the subjective self. Qualia can only be directly experienced and is different for everyone. Differences in subjective experiences can be demonstrated with the concept of “redness”. To each person, the color red represents something different and brings forth a different emotional response. For example, the Chinese see red as a symbol of good luck and fortune; to others, red represents passion and love. Robots, however, only see red for its face value. There is no emotional response behind its perception of red.
Emotions are derived from our subconscious mind. Our conscious brain identifies these subconscious emotions as happy, sad, nervous, excited, and so on. However, the origin of such emotions is the subconscious. We cannot consciously recreate true joy or sadness. While many can fake emotions, true emotional responses are from within. Many scientists, in a reductionist approach, are trying to map out the physical locations of emotion. This research, however, is lacking. While it may discover the mechanisms behind emotion, it can never properly explain a human’s subjective and personal response to such an emotion. For example, scientists can understand love in terms of a brain and neurotransmitters, but they cannot understand how a person responds to his or her love for someone else. Therefore, even with a precise map of the human brain and locations of certain emotions, engineers cannot recreate human-like responses. An accurate emotion simulation does not necessarily equate to a recreation of a human’s subjective self. In essence, robots will understand what love is biologically, but will never be able to express love themselves. This limitation is exemplified in IBM’s supercomputer, deemed Watson. When its creator, David Ferrucci, was asked if Watson could understand a joke, he states “We programmed it to recognize what humans would consider puns… But does the computer appreciate the humor? No, it doesn’t.” No matter how far technology advances, robots cannot clone a human’s subjective response to emotions.
Personhood is a difficult concept that philosophers struggle with. We willingly give personhood to others who appear to have the same biological genome as we do. We even anthropomorphize animals, giving them the same benefit of the doubt. However, when we encounter super-intelligent pieces of machinery, we come to question the characteristics of personhood. After observing humans and the characteristics of personhood ourselves, we are able to come up with certain requirements that must be met in order to be deemed a person. With such limitations, we will be able to draw a clear line between humans and robots, no matter how technologically advanced they become.
Bibliography
I, Robot. Dir. Alex Proyas. Perf. Will Smith, Brdiget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, Alan Tudyk, James Cromwell. 20th Century Fox. 2004. DVD
Johnson, David. “10 Questions.” Time. 04/07/2011: 104. Print.
Warburton, Nigel. “Mind.” Philosophy: The Basics. 4th ed. London: Routledge, 2004. 127-147.
I, Robot. Dir. Alex Proyas. Perf. Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Alan Tudyk, Lawrence Robertson and Chi McBride. 20th Century Fox, 2004. DVD. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2004.
Nigel Warburton, Philosophy: The Basics (New York: Routledge, 2004) 136.
David Johnson, "10 Questions for Watson's Human"(Times 7 Mar. 2011) 104.
