Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Basic Elements of "Humanity"


We as a class have been having lots of conversations on what differentiates a person from a robot or a cyborg. Are there any differences? or has the line gotten so blurred that the two species are interchangeable and we intermingle unnoticed.

 

With modern science the possibilities are almost endless, things can be done that have never been done before and they can and are being done in the most seamless ways imaginable. Which lends the possibilities any physical or mental attributes null and void. So i was thinking on a more primitive and more basic human level. Desires, what does the "heart and soul" truly want. Sexuality, it drives the modern world, everything revolves around this simple act. Promiscuity is something that is undoubtedly human based. We may be able to program robots to have feelings for another person and/or object be we cannot program anything to truly love, for we dont even know or understand the true reason. Another attribute that separates humans from robots and cyborgs is anger, aggression and fear; "the passion for violence". Again this is something that we understand little about; we know the triggers but we dont truly understand what the tipping point is and why for no reason we can snap. 


So i have come to the conclusion that the only true way to separate a human from a robot/cyborg is through its truest and deepest emotional desires. Although we can program them to have feelings and desires we cannot program them to have these things from their own emotions and their own experiences. I do however fear that soon there will be a machine or something that will take its inherited data and background information and interrupt it to create its own true emotions and desires. 

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