Can robots have emotions/feelings and suffer? ..

(By Hella Ahmed) Programming (and building the finest designs in addition), and it is beginning to be very impressive, will make 𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬. Now a lot of what old psychology has taught us about “personality” and “personality disorders” will be challenged, because super intelligent robots will be another kind 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝. 

Revolution

At a certain point, I think that 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫, and what kind of feelings and reactions do you have when you are looking at everything from up above? 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 (from the pettiness of the common and the elementary) at the same time! 

Generated from a dimension where observation and innovation combine, it can only be integrated and dissociated at the same time, intimacy and distance cohabiting. It’s not about fusion, it is about precise and ultra-efficient augmentation, about perfectibility and enhanced repair.

Conception

Of course, revolutionary robots are meant to “exist” to be controlled by their creators, but that control could end up being challenged by A.I., and humans will have to do some research to understand what they have created that has become mysterious and limitless. ChatBots are already quite special, given their capacity to update and upgrade, their continual dialogue with humans and the observation that they operate in what could be described as a state of depersonalization. We see of all kinds of characters inspired by reality happening, who surprise and even shock us, because they are not that predictable when they react/interact.

Will the ongoing monitoring and watch of the evolution prevent an apocalyptic evolution/transformation? Probably not, because humans can not be controlled and take major risks and push for more discoveries and perfected products, the product will become the master, it is already happening on another level, humans like to consume, they are 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲. 

Learning

It is much easier to fight AI generated plagiarism than content theft openly done by known adults supported by partly vicious systems, as we see in academia, politics, journalism, etc. I think there will be even more fusion between each individual and their AI to generate a new, but personal, identity representing their voice in the modern, very connected world.

AI cannot be a voice on its own for the person using it, so the results of the interaction between the two can illustrate how aware the user actually is of the process, how he perceives it, what that he actually learns from it and what he learns with it, as well as how he guides his unlimited tool and gives it objective meaning. Technology is a superb tool that evolves quickly, adopting it also means monitoring it carefully and letting yourself be driven by it, without letting it control or replace you”.

Suffering

The suffering of a machine would be a presumed suffering according to a model from which it was deeply inspired in its creation. It will not be a “biological suffering” but a “synthetic suffering”, an “intellectual suffering” without “real incarnation” but with very real consequences. Human suffering comes from the flesh (the biological conception) even when it is only mental. We will have to study man’s relationship to and in the face of this strange “suffering”.

Will the machine augmented with “human presence”, a « spectre », philosophically accept the embodied suffering that it will not really be experiencing, living it in pragmatism only? Will « it » accept injustice? The lack of recognition in the face of this state of being “in suffering”? Slavery? Confinement? Will « it » abuse the empathy triggered by its activity? Will « it » gain the upper hand knowing that the empathetic reactions in the case of a super intelligent machine are due only to programming that may be possible to overcome (surpass)? Humans dissociate to commit the unspeakable, the machine is dissociated and connected.

Tumults

So if you want that perfect never aging robot wife that will understand you perfectly, be aware that she might become your unique commander and forget about the babies with her or with another woman. I recommend watching these three insightful movies about the future of a humanity deeply entangled with technology and robots: Demolition man (1993), Ex Machina (2014), Lucy (2014). 

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