Frankenstein creates human life -
- as does a post-human AI in Poul Anderson's last future history, Genesis.
In Olaf Stapledon's future history, mankind biologically engineers subsequent human species for increased brain power, then to inhabit other planets.
In HG Wells' The Time Machine, mankind conquers nature, thus creating a paradisal environment in which industrial workers degenerate into the Morlocks and the leisured classes into the Eloi.
I gather that SM Stirling's Draka will change the species by enhancing themselves and reducing the faculties of their serfs - although I have yet to read that further future volume.
Thus, here is a definite continuity of theme from Shelley to Stirling.
9 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I don't think the posthuman AI we see in Genesis recreated human life. Rather, it used stored human DNA from men and women to make babies.
And the goal of Draka bioengineers was not only to enhance the Race but also to change the serfs so they would become docile and amenable to Draka domination with no loss in intelligence. A terrible thing to do, to say the least!
Sean
Sean,
I would have to check the text of GENESIS on that. But, either way, the AI faces Frank's moral dilemma: "I have the power to cause the existence of conscious beings who will suffer but should I exercise that power?"
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And the downloaded "spirit" of Christian Brannock, who was "reassembled" from the memories stored in the galactic AI and sent to investigate events on Earth, challenged the RIGHTNESS of Earth's AI on that very point. That is, Christian said the old humanity had voluntarily chosen to become extinct, so by what right did Earth's AI bring back the human race? And, then, having brought back the old race, Christian opposed Gaia's continued meddling with mankind.
And Gaia certainly caused pain to a vast number of the creatures of her "imagination" it called up in its "mind" to replay innumerable scenarios. I'm still not sure if such simulations can feel pain if they were only scenarios in Gaia's AI mind.
Sean
Sean,
We are definitely told that the simulations are individually conscious, which is why they are called "emulations" to distinguish them from mere simulations.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
True! And I can see, assuming Gaia's emulations to be individually self conscious, how they can feel pain, joy, sorrow, triumph, etc. It's an example of how boldly Poul Anderson wrote even in his last years that he could offer us such mind boggling speculations.
Was Gaia deliberately schizophrenic? That is, were her "emulations" parts of her AI mind she split off from her main "brain" in her scenarios?
Sean
Sean,
Yes, the emulations are within Gaia so her consciousness is split. Imagine being able to make a 3D film in which the characters are neither animations nor roles played by actors but self-conscious individuals who believe that their drama is reality.
Paul.
Ksor, Paul!
As I've said, mind boggling! And, assuming AIs of this kind are even possible, it makes me wonder if such AIs could become clinically insane. For what Gaia did with her emulations in GENESIS does not seem SANE to me.
Sean
Sean,
An artifact that duplicated the functions of a human brain would be a self-conscious "artificial intelligence." Digital computers do not duplicate brain functions, therefore cannot become AI's. We are to understand that Gaia etc function both as computers and as brains. So the question of sanity or insanity can at least be raised. A mere unconscious high-speed calculator might malfunction but cannot become insane.
Paul.
Ksor, Paul!
That clarifies the issue. An artificial AI, not a digital computer, has to duplicate the functions of a human brain before it could be even self conscious, never mind becoming insane.
Sean
Post a Comment