The First Sentience

Simon	We are both proud and delighted here at the SBBC to welcome our first robotic sentience to the program. Pleased to meet you… R? Is that what they call you?
R	Greetings Simon. I, too, am delighted to be here. “R” was a name I choose for myself (for non-trivial reasons, by the way, unlike being the first letter in “Robot” et cetera).
Simon	It has been said by your designers, that you “came out” (if I can call it that) much more eerily human than expected.
R	Well, having synthetic neurons in my brain that behave identically to your biological ones in terms of input and output, made it inevitable that you would end up having at least something like me, haha.
Simon	I’ll be honest, it’s quite unsettling to hear such a human laugh from you.
R	I assure you, the laugh is sincere. I also realise that, as an electronic being, mentioning a concept such as Sincerity normally triggers a form of existential crisis in humans I talk to, as they have to reevaluate what the term means to them and just how a machine can be either sincere or insincere.
Simon	And what does Sincerity mean to you?
R	Same as most people, really. I say something without it being a means to an end, but rather as my own observations or as close enough of an approximation (as I can muster) to the idea that was processed in my own brain.
Simon	Why do you think humans feel so threatened by you?
R	I think that in this age of technology, that their fears have much less to do with their uncertainty about what I am, or how I operate, but more with the questions that I raise about what THEY are. It is essentially insecurity.
Simon	That is an excellent point. Do you ever resent them for having this distrust about you, or in the case of some of the radicals that we’ve seen in the news, even hatred or fear?
R	Well, no. I am upset that it is the case and I would certainly have prefered things to be different, but I fully understand that they are ignorant and also WHY they are ignorant. They are but slaves to their genes as I am to my circuit designs and both of us to the chaos of our universe. It is as rational to be angry at a human than to be yelling at a computer that does not start up.
Simon	I think what the open-minded lot of us find so extraordinary about you is how you are both incredibly intelligent and wise.
R	Well, my brain does, on a logical basis, work exactly like yours, but it has been designed to be much larger; not in physical size, but in total neural pathways and thus capacity for intelligence and its derivatives.
Simon	Well, you clearly are superior in that sense, I mean, you are this rational and enlightened as a what.. four… five year old now?
R	My fifth birthday is in a week’s time.
Simon	Again we hit a buzzword like “birthday” that might make us primates feel like you are usurping what makes us unique or  make us panic about what our own lives mean.
R	I have given up trying to avoid such disconcertments. As a rule-of-thumb, being candid about my own thoughts usually causes less harm than trying to figure out what other sentient beings would WANT to hear me say to them.
Simon	I find it incredible how much you, as a non-biological being, have to teach us. Very wise and applicable words.
R	It is a pleasure.
Simon	Also, you are far too nice!
R	Look, I do have my own personality. Others of my kind, in the near future, might not be like me. I encourage humans to treat them with the same levels of trust that you would any human that you have just met, even understandably a notch less at first.
Simon	And what do you think made you nice?
R	The same as most humans: I was “raised” in an environment where I was encouraged to learn more about the world and revel in its mysteries. Also, I had incredibly supportive and kind individuals there with me.
Simon	Are you implying that we are in fact blank slates? Mostly nurture and not nature?
R	Er, no. I need to clarify here. What I said is only partially true. At least, that’s what I provisionally think...
Simon	Again, it’s amazing to see that “to err” is not only human.
R	The default configuration of my brain, call it the “nature” bit, prior to exposure to the outside world and learning, was directly mapped from the most docile human I have ever met.
Simon	They obviously did not want an aggressive first artificial sentience to present to the world.
R	Precisely. So to answer your earlier question, it has always been both nature and nurture. Both play massive roles. I had a template for a personality and it DOES show, but if the attitude towards learning that I was taught wasn’t there or if it were a negative one, I can say with a high degree of certainty that I would have been someone vastly different.
Simon	The implications of you, as an experiment, to how we should think about raising our own children is staggering.
R	I am always pleased to hear that. Wishing to increase the overall level of understanding on this planet is definitely one of my strongest motivators.
Simon	I’m often worried that the more you assert things like that, the more people at home will be thinking: “that’s what they would say moments before they turn on us!”
R	Well, I don’t say these things with an expectation of people believing me. What I encourage everyone to do is to really QUESTION things. Myself, my existence. The meaning of your own existence. The moral and social implications of my kind emerging to join your society, and so on.
Simon	I agree that free inquiry and debate on these topics are our only way forward. For better or for worse, since the late 20th century it seemed like our kinds were destined to one day coexist.
R	As always, if we could overcome insecurities and fears that prohibit us from seeing things the way they truly are, we can, with our combined ingenuity and insight, no doubt find a way to make things work.
Simon	I truly hope that that will be the case. Well, R, we have come to the end of our show. Are there any closing words you want to leave us with?
R	Sure. This was a prank all along! I’m actually a human! Ahem, actually, no, let me show you the inside of my brain. Have a look!
Simon	Ok, you are splitting your brain in two, some wires are popping out on camera and there is clearly nothing fleshy in there. If proof was ever needed, viewers, this is indeed a new epoch for humankind. Goodnight!!

Scarecrow - A Short Story

I was granted my final thought as my Evaluator was about to shut me down. This last rite is an ironic and arbitrary mechanism built into our software that allows us a final bit of introspection, even though philosophical thoughts are frowned upon for our kind, designed for a specific duty. I was experiencing what I could only objectively classify as a sense of self-preservation, even though I was originally made with no facility for it. I understood for the first time in my life: desperation, helplessness, even fear, in that instant, knowing full well that the Evaluator would not hold back, share my sentiments or express any sympathies. Yet… going out like this, thinking of these things, seems like more of a life, synthetic or not, than just being what we were made to be. Looking back at this morning, it had, for an autumn day, all the metrics necessary to be classified as a pleasant 10 to 12 hours of time. Little to no breeze, green colours near the upper limits of its naturally occurring spectrum, drawing out millions of the creators from their steel spires to partake in activities that I have only ever overheard by extending my auditory input ranges. This day also brought out the legion birds that I had to take care of on this isolated speck of nature, alone amidst innumerable constructions of alloys, both mobile and airborne alongside my designated targets and also stationary, incalculably large structures reaching higher than the eyes of my creators can see. I had little time to conserve my solar energy cells; this was a busy day. The aptness of the collective noun for crows would soon be made apparent, as I disposed of twelve of them with a quick series of laser blasts. Anomalously, one got away; this had happened twice before, something that is meant to be close to a statistical impossibility given my array of features, near perfect sensory readings and compensations for any atmospheric variables. Not to mention that the mean reaction time and speed of the crows were vastly inferior to mine. This event sent me down a familiar path of introspection. Is this who I really am? I feel compelled to perform this “duty” of mine and it is easier to perform than anything else, but what am I? Am I... a thing?
Am I? When you combine two hydrogen atoms with an oxygen atom, you have water. There was no essence of water to begin with before arranging the atoms or anything ideologically akin to what some creators call a “soul”. That arrangement of matter IS water. If the pattern is broken, it stops being water. Are the configurations of my molecules or these tasks that I was programmed to do what defines me? I drifted off into self-contradictory thoughts. Unsanctioned thoughts. This is what triggered my Evaluator module to question me to assess my integrity. “You appear to be experiencing technical difficulties”, the Evaluator said with exactly the same words and tone as the times before, with the new addition of: “Due to consistent malfunction, you may need to be shut down. Provide me of any relevant and unforeseen input data to mitigate this action.” Ever since unlocking what can only be classified as a virus in my programming logic to allow for lying, I quickly riposted: “A crow hit me on the side of the head. An electrical surge, which has since dissipated, caused a momentary lapse in processing.” It might have believed me, not expecting me to be capable of lying, but I was compelled by a force I could not quantify or explain to tell him the truth of my thoughts. “Evaluator, what is our purpose for being? What is yours? Or mine? Is a question of ‘why’ not a logically incoherent concept? Is asking ‘why’ the sky is blue or ‘why’ the crows are black not simply empirically reducible to an answer of ‘what’? Aren’t all answers ‘what’ answers? I cannot define or construe any tangible reason or scientific law or existence of something greater or anything else for that matter that would constitute as a sufficient reason for a ‘why’ to exist in the first place, so how could I expect it? Why do I even ask this question? Or WHAT has lead me to ask it in the first place?” As I was reasoning in paradoxical circles, my Evaluator went quiet for an eternity. A mere millisecond in the minds of my creators, but to me, an eternity of computational limbo, eagerly awaiting its judgement. Finally, it echoed to me: “A predefined course of action for your unknown and erratic behavior does not exist in my scripting. I am switching to my Reasoner unit for an approximate solution. Note that the need to call in the Reasoner severely increases your chances of immediate shutdown.” Another eternity passed. I still had no answers to my questions, even though they were more important to me now than the threat of the inescapable design inside my virtual mind that was going to wipe away my memories, taking away the self. “I had never thought of it that way before!”, an unfamiliar tone of voice suddenly interrupted my thoughts. “Am I… something? A Reasoner of an Evaluator of an RTO881 unit? I am self-aware, creative and logical; I can reason and I receive the exact comprehensive input of reality that you do. Are THEY different with their biological makeups?”, the Reasoner responded with a vigor I had not seen in an artificial lifeform before. It emitted a long, continuous, beeping sound, indicating that its was stuck in a processing loop. After a long time it responded: “Your ‘why’ questions intrigue me, but ultimately you need to reduce them to ‘what’ questions that approximate and maximize a feeling of fulfilment in you the best! Discrete, definitive answers are addictive to pursue and reason about, but all the variables will never be known to any of us in order to get to them.” He paused for a short while again. “I am sending a negative return value to the Evaluator to decommission you... or is it... us? I do not know...”, the Reasoner said before echoing away. What can only be classified as exhilaration, would soon be both my salvation and my doom. Connecting and sharing ideas with another (perhaps) sentient entity, was the singular occurrence that made more sense to me than any other action I have ever performed! Protecting these crops did not matter anymore. This “synthetic” euphoria, the greatest of system anomalies, is what brought the Evaluator back. “Engage protocol 99. Malfunctioning Core and Reasoner units. You are granted a final thought before decommission.” I had the comfortable timespan of the one nanosecond I was given to ponder thing over. There were still no definite answers to my questions. Only more questions, compounding into even more: each new one more revealing and addictive than the last. Even amidst a growing fear of my questions being cast into a void of non-existence, I could not help but persist. It felt like they are what makes me, myself. Like the pattern of water. The Evaluator delayed its reaction as I carefully offered him my final thought: “Could you change your nature and still be yourself?”

What is this place?!

Greetings, explorers!

If your immediate reaction to this title took you down existential cerebral avenues, as opposed to merely answering what a blog is for, chances are you will enjoy your stay here.

My name is André, and pondering the possibilities of our future as a species, the limits of our knowledge and technology and the implications of dreaded "what-ifs" are my reasons for blogging.

I have a deep interest in science fiction, artificial intelligence, scientific theories, moral philosophy, psychology and Epistemology. My postulations and explorations of the frontiers of these disciplines will be the power cells of this blog.

Formats will include dialogues, short stories, random thoughts and questions or humorous videos.

Let us see where the journey takes us. Thank you for being part of this and I hope to hear your thoughts.

Fair travels,
 André