Check out this link before reading further:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1141192.cms
Isn’t it amazing to know that just 2000 years ago humans were like machines – responding to stimulus just because of chain of the reactions that were triggered in their bio-chemical-electronic systems!! In fact, we still do most of our activities by the same bio-chemical-electronic impulse – it is what we call ‘reflex’. Imagine driving a car – when you slow down, you immediately shift to a lower gear – do you think, analyse or consciously lower the gear? I bet no! (unless you are still a learner). It happens automatically – a habit is nothing but a consciously analysed action getting coded in the bio-chemical-electronic control mechanism of your body.
Humans are complex creatures, but based on the theory of evolution one can definitely say that the brain is essentially a heuristic engine. It learns by experience (why else would the industry want ‘experienced’ personnel?) – it forms rules and axioms (some of which are habits and reflexes) on the basis of previous experience. And even today we rely less on consciousness and more on ‘reflex’ or ‘habit’.
I have been reading I-Robot by Isaac Asimov currently and I realise that today we are already in an age of building robots which ‘react’ and have a ‘reflex’. However, parallel branches of research into neural networks, fuzzy logic and Artificial Intelligence are trying to emulate the human consciousness as well. These are techniques which will help the robots or machines ‘learn’ from experience. Once a ‘habit’ is learnt, it becomes a part of the ‘code’ and hence becomes a reflex.
Come back to Humans – have you ever noticed small children getting attracted to red-hot objects or fire? They try to go near the objects and touch them – however their mothers (and fathers too) try to shoo them away from such places. But let the child get burnt even once! Just once and he/she would learn a lesson forever – not to touch ‘red’ or ‘flaming’ objects in future unless you are sure that it is not ‘harmful’ (hot = harmful in this case). But we do learn to touch ‘red’ objects later in life, right? When will a child learn this in spite of its past experience? Case 1: His mother or father assures him that the object is not harmful. Case 2: The child is falling off the bed and there’s nothing else to hold on to but the ‘red’ object. Case 3: Everyone else around is touching the object and does not get hurt.
So we see that our habits, experience and habits have a priority. A rule can be skipped if another rule with a higher priority is being violated. Ex:
Rule 1: You hold to an object when you are falling off the bed
Rule 2: Do not touch a ‘red’ flaming object
Since Rule 1 has a higher priority so Rule 2 will be violated when Rule 1 is in threat. Now consider the following excerpt from I-Robot.
The three fundamental Rules of Robotics —
“We have: One, a robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
“Two,” continued Powell, “a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
“And three, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.”
Supposing that the article I have mentioned in the beginning is true, and also supposing that Robots are a ‘race without being conscious of their existence’ today – can we conclude that 2000 years hence we would see Robots as a race like Humans?
PS: I know there are many arguments against this tenet but imagine if it could ever be true then this quote from I-Robot make sense – “....remember a world without robots. There was a time when humanity faced the universe alone and without a friend. Now he has creatures to help him; stronger creatures than himself, more faithful, more useful, and absolutely devoted to him. Mankind is no longer alone.“To you, a robot is a robot....But you haven’t worked with them, so you don’t know them. They’re a cleaner, better breed than we are.”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1141192.cms
Isn’t it amazing to know that just 2000 years ago humans were like machines – responding to stimulus just because of chain of the reactions that were triggered in their bio-chemical-electronic systems!! In fact, we still do most of our activities by the same bio-chemical-electronic impulse – it is what we call ‘reflex’. Imagine driving a car – when you slow down, you immediately shift to a lower gear – do you think, analyse or consciously lower the gear? I bet no! (unless you are still a learner). It happens automatically – a habit is nothing but a consciously analysed action getting coded in the bio-chemical-electronic control mechanism of your body.
Humans are complex creatures, but based on the theory of evolution one can definitely say that the brain is essentially a heuristic engine. It learns by experience (why else would the industry want ‘experienced’ personnel?) – it forms rules and axioms (some of which are habits and reflexes) on the basis of previous experience. And even today we rely less on consciousness and more on ‘reflex’ or ‘habit’.
I have been reading I-Robot by Isaac Asimov currently and I realise that today we are already in an age of building robots which ‘react’ and have a ‘reflex’. However, parallel branches of research into neural networks, fuzzy logic and Artificial Intelligence are trying to emulate the human consciousness as well. These are techniques which will help the robots or machines ‘learn’ from experience. Once a ‘habit’ is learnt, it becomes a part of the ‘code’ and hence becomes a reflex.
Come back to Humans – have you ever noticed small children getting attracted to red-hot objects or fire? They try to go near the objects and touch them – however their mothers (and fathers too) try to shoo them away from such places. But let the child get burnt even once! Just once and he/she would learn a lesson forever – not to touch ‘red’ or ‘flaming’ objects in future unless you are sure that it is not ‘harmful’ (hot = harmful in this case). But we do learn to touch ‘red’ objects later in life, right? When will a child learn this in spite of its past experience? Case 1: His mother or father assures him that the object is not harmful. Case 2: The child is falling off the bed and there’s nothing else to hold on to but the ‘red’ object. Case 3: Everyone else around is touching the object and does not get hurt.
So we see that our habits, experience and habits have a priority. A rule can be skipped if another rule with a higher priority is being violated. Ex:
Rule 1: You hold to an object when you are falling off the bed
Rule 2: Do not touch a ‘red’ flaming object
Since Rule 1 has a higher priority so Rule 2 will be violated when Rule 1 is in threat. Now consider the following excerpt from I-Robot.
The three fundamental Rules of Robotics —
“We have: One, a robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
“Two,” continued Powell, “a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
“And three, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.”
Supposing that the article I have mentioned in the beginning is true, and also supposing that Robots are a ‘race without being conscious of their existence’ today – can we conclude that 2000 years hence we would see Robots as a race like Humans?
PS: I know there are many arguments against this tenet but imagine if it could ever be true then this quote from I-Robot make sense – “....remember a world without robots. There was a time when humanity faced the universe alone and without a friend. Now he has creatures to help him; stronger creatures than himself, more faithful, more useful, and absolutely devoted to him. Mankind is no longer alone.“To you, a robot is a robot....But you haven’t worked with them, so you don’t know them. They’re a cleaner, better breed than we are.”
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