[alicebot-aiethics] botmaster as deus ex machina

[Robby Garner]

Tamara Thompson wrote:
> 
> Hey Robby,
> 
> I read this email this morning, had the whole to day to think about life and
> things.  I think I owe you, for sure, if not others, a big apology for the
> things I've said, or the way I've said things lately.   To say it's been
> stressful lately for all of us would be the understatement, wouldn't it?  But I
> am sorry.
> 

No apology neccessary here. I think the recipients of this list are very
kind, good hearted people. I'd like to thank them too, for letting
people hash out their feelings here. The human condition is certainly
key to any concept of ethics in AI.


As for being scared, I stress believing in oneself, that is as strong a
foundation as you can make it.  Next, believe in your family, and then
your friends. This part varies with individuals who have extended or
missing families. But for religious people, belief in religious
practices gets you through good times and bad, and are a source of
constant reassurance. Your mileage may vary, but without religion,
people are more alone unless they are very social creatures and have
people to depend on. Whatever works for the individual.

> 
> So what do you think Robby?  Of that idea to make humans like 'Gods' to bots?
> It sounds a little scary to me.  

Well, as I mentioned before, when it comes to "playing God," I like
those kind of simulator type games like SimCity, and Hamurabi, etc.
where you get to either control a small economy, or in the case of
SimCity, I think you can build characters and buildings and things.

At HuMimics, we've sort of "back-burnered" a project to produce
"Droidville" (droidville.net) as a virtual place for talking to droids,
but will probably still get around to it eventually.

It is a lot like "playing God" when you create a chatterbot for the
internet, because you are creating this thing that will interact with
strangers, all by itself, and you have to sort of "send it out into the
world."  But it is often even more like just building an art
installation, where you set something up, that runs on it's own, and is
self-sustaining to look at.

But as for making chatterbots, and being "God like" - I don't feel very
God-like when I am teaching my bot how to respond to "f*** you" and
similar human statements. It can be a drudgery if it weren't for the few
decent folks who make reading chat logs fun, and often humorous. I made
chatterbot, but I didn't make humans, so humans are the great wildcard,
the "unpredictor."

To teach your chatterbot that you are God, is up to the botmaster. It
could be cute, but I think it would be a drag having a computer grovel
and beg for things all the time ;-)

Arthur C. Clarke said, and I paraphrase, "a technology so advanced would
appear like magic" so it scares some people to think that our machines
might become "god-like."

I don't know if you ever saw the movie "Demon Seed," but it features a
very foreboding and ominous computer which decides to use artificial
insemination on "the inventor's" wife in order to procreate as a human,
and locks her up in an automated house to do this.

So as long as you can open your own doors, turn your lights on and off
by hand, and get out of the house whenever you want to, the computer is
not "god."  ;-) (but a disturbing movie, nonetheless)

later 'taters,

Robby.