[alicebot-aiethics] Stephen Hawking

[Tamara Thompson]

Christian and Brenda, your words are fabulous and give me so much to think
about.  I agree and disagree with you both, on variations.  But mostly agree.

Here though is why I think Hawking might be more a candidate for the first
artificial body than the sweet boy I met at the Burger King:

We all know Hawking to have served as our guide and our teacher for a long
time now, despite his disability.  He has an internal compass that keeps him
teaching and researching, despite all odds.

That Hawking is an 'old man' just hadn't occurred to me.. I will have to
rethink that aspect.  Of course you are right, but his thinking and sharing
have always seemed so young, have always given us something new to think
about, I honestly think of him, from my point of view, as timeless.

And yes, a young person might be a better candidate.  But what if that young
person had no ability to process the experience of having that artificial
body, of reporting it to us?  Of articulately sharing the experience and
status with us?    What if he/she had no interest in helping the culture grow?

The whole thing in my mind, is about cultural education--about pioneering.
And the  best pioneers we have known have been able to teach us about the
situation--to show us what it's like and let us learn from their experiences.

And if as Brenda said, Hawking would the be least likely person to request the
artificial body, in some ways, doesn't that make him the best candidate?
Someone unselfish enough to not fight for the opportunity, but to let others
have it?

I'm not sure why I'm sitting here as Hawking's advocate.  I admire him
greatly, but I also deeply miss the life of Feynman in our world.  And in my
daily life I see and feel the heroes of average life, the people who are
unsung and 'not considered useful'--but who are nonetheless the one's who make
this world better for all of us.  I don't know how to answer that question of
why one person would be considered better than another.  We live in a culture
that like all cultures, has it's icons and famous ones, and generally ignores
the smaller heroes.

But if you needed a prototype, a tester situation for a new body, I still
think Hawking would be someone we all know of and trust to tell us all about
it, to report it to us intelligently and spiritually.  Then again, <smile>  So
would Robby.

And this about our culture:  if everytime a great astronomer or physicist
died, one that had touched the public, there was another behind him/her to
fill those shoes, I wouldn't worry so much about losing these brilliant
ones.   But look at the numbers, read the reports: almost no americans are
entering the hard sciences.  Almost no one is there to replace the old ones.
I don't even care anymore if the bright ones are American, they just need to
be there, and be teaching all of us.  Where are they?

One of you two touched on something that has been worrying me: remember the
stories of how the church controlled the biblical stories before people could
read?  How the churchmen did the 'interpretation' for the laymen?  It's very
much like that with science now.  We all have to trust others to understand
and interpret scientific data and meaning for us.  This is frustrating.  The
alternatives seem to be that either the public become very educated in science
and methods of evaluating data, or that scientists take on the extra burden of
teaching us all exactly what they are doing and how they are arriving at their
conclusions.  I think the latter is a more likely evolution of the situation.

there are a lot of 'black boxes' in astronomy data reduction, that lead to
these great 'revelations' of the meaning of data.  I got my degree in
Astronomy, so I tend to trust it and those in it.  But these days I too want
more proof, and more explanations...because science is not supposed to be a
religion, that is above questioning.  That is it's beauty.

So Brenda and Christian, how would you pick the candidate for the first
artificial body, and why?

Tamara



"Brenda R. Freedman" wrote:

> I read about Stephen Hawking's comments when the article first came out and
> thought what could prompt someone who has been regarded as "the most
> brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein" to make these remarks has
> had me thinking for a while on the topic. He has made many theoretical
> predictions that have been proven including the discoveries of COBE (the
> Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite) which probed back in time to within
> 300,000 years of the beginning of the universe. Professor Hawking is not
> one to make statements or predictions without evaluation and yet he
> believes that the machines can surpass our intelligence and take over the
> world.
>
> When I had first read Hawking's bio on his site,  when he was diagnosed
> with a neurone motor disease at a young age but it did not stop him from
> going on with his career and when a young boy in the bed next to him was
> dying of a terminal illness, he thought things could always be worse. I
> have always admired his determination and his way of explaining the
> theories of the Universe to ordinary people.
>
> I go back and read or look up a reference in his "Brief History of Time"
> when I read about something that prompts me in my own interest about the
> Cosmos. His remarks about machines taking over human intelligence, in
> particular a part "artificial brains contribute to human intelligence
> rather than oppose it." I think about ALICE and all the work that has been
> done towards this endeavor.  His ending paragraph in "A Brief History of
> Time" (when he talks about a complete theory of the Universe) says much to
> where we may be going in the world of AI:
>
>         "However, if we do discover a complete theory, it should bee
> understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a
> few     scientists.  Then shall all, philosophers, scientists and just
> ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the  question,
> why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it
> would be the ultimate triumph of human  reason -- for then we would know
> the mind of God."
>
> As Richard Wallace has stated, ALICE was written for the category B client.
> It is something I am reminded about and time again when I see the joy of
> people discovering ALICE for the first time who have no other interest
> except chatting with this enchanting bot.
>
> Stephen Hawking never felt sorry for himself because of his disability and
> I would think giving him an artificial body might not be high on his list
> (this is just my opinion) and from everything I have read about his
> attitude towards his disability. He has led a full life with children and
> now a grandchild, so giving him an artificial body at this point in time
> perhaps would not give him any more accomplishments to his career.
>
> Brenda
>
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