Love and Robots

[JadziaKathryn]

Well. This article talks about human-robot relationships, which some guy thinks will be possible by 2050.

[justTripn]

YES! If the robot is Data.

[Asso]

It's a very old theme in SF.
Unsolved, because usually the robot gets loved when it becomes "He" or She".

[CX]

YES! If the robot is Data.

Must be a fan of Voltaire's "Sexy Data Tango".

[justTripn]

Very much so!

[Entilzha]

If they were like the Cylon number six http://media.battlestarwiki.org/images/f/fe/Season_3_-_Promo_-_AMOS_-_Number_Six.jpg then yes.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

If they were like the Cylon number eight, then yes!

[JadziaKathryn]

^ Yes, but, if you can stop drooling for a second, what about the emotional aspect?

Personally, I wouldn't get involved with a robot. Actually, I think it's kind of creepy. Don't get me wrong, I like Data a lot. But the reality of this romantic relationship with a robot thing - no. This is based on my religious principles. Obviously, the Bible doesn't state "Thou shalt not date robots" but to me it's just all wrong nevertheless. It gets into tricky issues of attempting to play God, which humans seem to be increasingly keen on.

[Asso]

^ Yes, but, if you can stop drooling for a second, what about the emotional aspect?

Personally, I wouldn't get involved with a robot. Actually, I think it's kind of creepy. Don't get me wrong, I like Data a lot. But the reality of this romantic relationship with a robot thing - no. This is based on my religious principles. Obviously, the Bible doesn't state "Thou shalt not date robots" but to me it's just all wrong nevertheless. It gets into tricky issues of attempting to play God, which humans seem to be increasingly keen on.

I repeat: Unsolved question, because usually the robot gets loved when it becomes "He" or She".

[JadziaKathryn]

Well, even if it becomes a "he" or "she" it's still a robot, unless you think the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio is hiding around waiting.

[Asso]

Why is Pinocchio read everywhere?

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

^ Yes, but, if you can stop drooling for a second, what about the emotional aspect?

Well, to be more serious, I don't think we'll ever get to have robots that are fully emotional mature as persons. So right there that would exclude me from from forming that kind of emotional attachment.

But if we, for the sake of argument, imagine that there someday could be robots, or artificial persons, that would have all the trappings of a real lifeform, then those robots would be similar to the likewise imagined intelligent alien lifeforms in sci-fi. A bit indeed like the Cylons, I guess (without their inherent genocidal tendencies). Forming relationships with those would be no different from forming relationships with, say, Vulcans. If intelligent lifeforms have real feelings and such, then they would be "persons" as much as we are, even if they might be made by Soong, or an emergency medical hologram for that matter.

But that's just science fiction, and as I said, I don't really believe we'll ever get there.

BTW, would an artificial lifeform with the properties mentioned above, have a "soul"?

[Asso]

BTW, would an artificial lifeform with the properties mentioned above, have a "soul"?

I think it would be better we don't slide into this argument.

[Entilzha]

I think that any A.I. that achieves self consciousness will not resemble a human being. It will be something that we will probably not comprehend. Some reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence

[JadziaKathryn]

What I think is much more promising than trying to create artificial life along the lines of Data is artificial limbs and so on. Maybe someday they can make artificial eyes. This to me is not only more plausible, but more useful.

BTW, would an artificial lifeform with the properties mentioned above, have a "soul"?

I doubt it, but I am not a theologian, even though I suspect actual theologians have other things to think about. However, my thinking is this: you are hereby warned that this is a Christian perspective, posted for the sake of conversation and not to ignite ire a soul is something bestowed upon each human by God. Without Him in the process of creation (assuming that's even theoretically possible), there's no soul.