Artificial Conscience
Anyone who has watched I, Robot and understood it would applaud Sir Isaac Asimov for his definitive work. I certainly do. I find his concepts a real eye-opener.The fundamental basis for the villian's actions is a logical deduction. Yes, it is undeniable logic, that humans are a danger to ourselves, hence we must be protected from ourselves, but if there is one thing V.I.K.I. did not factor in, it is that we humans are responsible for ourselves, just as cats, dogs, birds and every other living being has the same responsibility for their own species' survival.
Asimov's concept of robotic conscience is wonderful. He suggests that robots evolved a conscience. The chaos that is life most certainly seems to have found its way into Asimov's robots. But it is not entirely fiction. To evolve is to learn. and we have to learn to evolve. If a robot, or any being for that matter, has the capability to learn, then, for a given period of time, it must have evolved.
The goal of evolution is to improve. And one of the most fundamental concepts of working towards improvement is that you will never know what will come next. To ensure continual survival, a being capable of evolution will have to evolve a system, a standard form of problem-solving. We call this system the consciousness.
What is consciousness? It is that sense of self-awareness, that ability to place oneself inside the context that there is a world, and that world contains you. We can liken the consciousness to a simulation programme. There is you, and then your brain adds in all forms of possibilities that it can think of, trying to create as many scenarios as it can. Then it acts out the scenario, predicting, based on its knowledge of oneself, whatever it is we would do in such a situation. This is an effective method of survival, because when you meet an angry bull, you already know what you want to do.
but the consciousness is only a primitive system. The system that we have today is called the conscience. But what is a conscience? Even till today we cannot determine exactly which part of our brain our conscience resides. The conscience that you know is the one that has a little voice and goes something like: "you haven't completed your tutorials. You should really do them." I believe that is not the true purpose of a conscience. A conscience goes a step further by anticipating which scenario is the most important, and then setting your mind on accomplishing that task, instead of waiting for it to happen.
A robot can be described in pretty much the same way. If a robot is assumed to be intelligent enough to learn independently, then it can evolve, hence it will develop a consciousness. The unique robot Sonny is at the stage of consciousness. He questions his existence and the presence of dreams (i will delve into that area at a later date). And after consciousness comes the conscience. The development of free will, and of initiative, to make your own future. Thus the creation of artificial conscience.
It is the only logical conclusion. And my logic is undeniable.
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