10 Reasons I'd Never Marry a Robot
On her wired blog Regina Lynn posted the article 10 reasons I'd rather marry a robot. It is a rather glib presentation on what will present some serious ethical issues regarding the interaction of human beings with artificial intelligence and what it really means to BE a human BEing.
Artificial-intelligence expert David Levy's new book, Love + Sex With Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships, makes a compelling case for the development of real human-robot partnerships -- by 2050.
Using Lynn's headings, here are 10 reasons I would NEVER consider a robo-marriage:
Robots are more than sex machines.
Yes, they can dance, play drum and bass and move heavy furniture at your command. But if you take a moment out to look at what a miraculous sensing, living, breathing, feeling, moving structure that a human being is no amount of metal can compare to the ultimate perfection and combination of tissue, nerves, skeleton, muscle and tendons that we take for granted. The warm, friendly, loving touch of a caring hand can lift our spirits and make us feel alive. How can a synthetic counterpart every fill us with so much feeling of what it means to be ALIVE?
Artificial intelligence is still intelligence.
It is intelligence but not empathy. It is empathy that separates humans from psychopaths. How can a robot ever understand what it really feels like to be human? In his fascinating book 'without concience' Robert Hare writes:
In many respects they [psycopaths] are like the emotionless androids dipicted in science fiction, unable to imagine what real humans experience. One rapist, high on the Psychopathy checklist, commented that he found it hard to empathize with his victims. "They are frightened, right? But, you see, I don't really understand it. I've been scared myself, and it wasn't unpleasant."
The biggest danger to society actually comes from the 'white collar' Psychopath: From The Mask of Sanity:If you are born at the right time, with some access to family fortune, and you have a special talent for whipping up other people's hatred and sense of deprivation, you can arrange to kill large numbers of unsuspecting people. With enough money, you can accomplish this from far away, and you can sit back safely and watch in satisfaction. [...]
It is 'white collar' psychopaths that by their lack of conscience are able to rise to the top of government and corporations and make the rest us humans lives intolerable and cruel. To see how their pathological ideals of empire building wars and fascism filter down through all aspects of society you need to read: PONEROLOGY: A NEW SCIENCE:
Crazy and frightening - and real, in about 4 percent of the population..Ponerology describes the genesis, existence, and spread of the macrosocial disease called evil. Its causes are traceable and can be repeatedly observed and analyzed. When humanity manages to incorporate this knowledge into its natural worldview, it will have defensive potential as yet unrealized
Robots are sensitive and responsive.
But only in the same way a psychopath is.A robot will only create drama if I want it to.
It is the drama in human relationships that really makes them worthwhile. By making us realise what our own faults are we can change ourselves to become better people. By realising how our actions impact on others we can take more control our own lives instead of merely responding automatically to our own desires and emotional mechanisms. Most of the drama in our lives is caused by external forces created by pathologically deviant and evil World leaders.
Robots have off switches.
But life doesn't have off switches. Life is a continual journey of discovery and learning, by having the option to turn off the things we are emotionally illequiped to deal with surely we will not make any personal development necessary to live a full and rewarding life.
Accessories.
The robot could hoover the floor, granted. But with population sizes exploding, jobs becoming scarce do we actually need or desire inaminate lumps of metal to perform labour that can provide a living, food and shelter for real human beings with concience?
Robots are available for sexual adventure without elaborate discussions, permissions or restrictions.
Communications is one of the most important skills a human being has and through discussing our fears, feelings and phobia's with someone who truly cares about you brings a great deal of satisfaction and fulfilment. A hedonistic approach to life may be fine and dandy for some but for me I know deep inside the short term chemical release of climax is insignificant to long term fulfilment of living a life based on making ones own decisions, not simply reacting to chemical impulses that only have short-term gains.
The safest sex on the planet.
The safest sex is none at all or sex as a true expression of love between two individuals who know themselves and each other. Anything else is simply emotionally destructive, short-term, narcissistic, self-serving and ultimately unfulfiling.
A robot can be a personal trainer for sex.
yes, it can mechanically condition, train you into a soulless existence, in very much the same way we are culturally deteriorating under a psychopathic leadership hell-bent on creating obedient, non-questioning human slaves
A robot is forever -- at least until the warranty runs out.
A robot will last much longer than our own fragile human existence. Most Eastern religion's and philosophies revolve around the importance of accepting our own mortality as a basis for living each day to the full. Never forget today maybe your last. Are you going to spend it browsing through the latest gadget catalogue or spending time with your loved ones or networking with like-minded people who care about you and the true state of our world today?
Lynn concludes correctly:
It's the occasional wobbliness that provides the challenges that keep a relationship interesting and real.
We should become more in touch with our own humanness and do everything in our power to prevent us being robotic slaves ourselves. In the magnificent book, "in search of the miraculous" Gurdjieff writes:
"Contemporary culture requires automatons. And people are undoubtedly losing their acquired habits of independence and turning into automatons, into parts of machines. It is impossible to say where is the end of all this and where the way out— or whether there is an end and a way out. One thing alone is certain, that man's slavery grows and increases. Man is becoming a willing slave. He no longer needs chains. He begins to grow fond of his slavery, to be proud of it. And this is the most terrible thing that can happen to a man."But this is what is happening. we have a society obsessed with materialism and consumerism. People are proud of their shiny new cars bought on credit and excited by a job title in a company that produces nothing or things no one really needs. Until we break free from the illusions that keep us trapped in a soulless society then we are contributing to the deaths and destruction of our fellow humans. Who will be left to marry the robots?
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