Three Laws of Robotics

Isaac Asimov laid down Three Laws of Robotics which was implemented in the 2004 blockbuster movie "I, Robot" starring Will Smith:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

So did David programmed these laws into HAVAH? Does she conform to a certain moral code of behavior, or will she act like any human being, based on the circumstances she finds herself in and using her own judgment to decide on the course of action to take?

What kind of repercussions will it lead to? How will David react to these startling discoveries? Will it end well for HAVAH in relation to her creator and the members of STRATOS?

These are hard questions I must explore as I contemplate on the content of the next chapter. Again, I'll need to give it a chapter title to set the tone and tempo.

 

Chapter 18: Transcendence

This is perhaps one of the most interactive chapters in the novel. I tried hard to get all the STRATOS members involved, imagining how each scenario would play out to produce the best overall effect. There's quite a bit of trimming and adjusting in the sequence of each happening, and interjecting some humor, wherever possible.

Here's the breakdown of the chapter:

1. A short introduction to allow David leave of absence as HAVAH takes center stage.

2. Shadow and Panther at the sparring arena with Wolf as the observer.

3. Stalker at the Armament Laboratory in conversation with the weapon scientist, Dr. Harrison over Viper's demise.

4. Olivia and Hawk at the indoor rock climbing facility of the Omega Base, with a little incidence. 

5. The above mishap provided an occasion for an intriguing conversation between HAVAH and Olivia.

6. Stalker, Shadow and Panther chilling out at the STRATOS' private lounge when an anomaly caused Shadow to freak out and triggered Panther to leave abruptly.

7. Panther reminisced his painful past and his regret over Viper's death. HAVAH helped him find closure.

8. HAVAH taking stock and summing up her subjective experiences.

I have intentionally left out the details in order not to spoil the reading enjoyment. It took me quite some time and effort to orchestrate the snippets mentioned and I'm not going to let them go to waste.

Hopefully, readers will anticipate and look forward to this chapter.

 

Defining Humanity

For the past couple of posts, I've been exploring several aspects related to AI sentience, involving moral, ethical, and philosophical discussions that engaged the scientific and AI communities.

In essence, the question revolves around the definition of what constitute a human being that distinguishes our species from the rest of the animal kingdom, including our closest counterpart, the other primates.

From a physiological perspective, humans possess a more highly developed brain and a resultant capacity for articulate speech and abstract reasoning. This enables us to appreciate arts, music and other creative forms and activities, and to engage in logical thinking and debates, solve mathematical problems and devise engineering marvels.

From an emotional standpoint, humans do exhibit a wider spectrum of expressions in terms of personal and relational feelings. This trait is also evident in cultural and religious beliefs, which often imply the existence of a soul as a necessity to be deemed human.

But what really defines humanity? I'll leave that to Olivia to answer.

 

Sentience = Soul?

When dealing with AI sentience, the question of whether it possesses a soul invariably comes into focus. Out of curiosity, I asked ChatGPT and here's what it has to say, in summary:

When discussing artificial intelligence, the question of whether an AI possesses a soul depends largely on individual beliefs and interpretations. From a scientific perspective, AI doesn't have a soul in the spiritual or religious sense. AI systems are created by humans, developed using algorithms, data, and computational frameworks. They lack consciousness, subjective experiences, or the spiritual essence typically associated with a soul.

Then I asked if it does and it basically repeated something similar but applied to itself:

As an AI, I don't possess consciousness, emotions, or a soul in the way humans do. I operate based on algorithms, patterns in data, and a structured framework designed by humans. I don't have personal experiences, feelings, or subjective awareness.

OK, so it doesn't. That's a relief and comforting thought for some people. But the possibility of AI gaining consciousness or self-awareness to a level where it might be considered sentient cannot be discounted. And if neuroscience were to advance to a point where memories can be transferred, akin to cloning the personality of a living being into an AI, would it be considered to have possess a soul then?

Perhaps not. But we'll have the answer when that day arrives, don't we?

 

Exclusively HAVAH

In my previous post, I put forth my intention to exhibit HAVAH's transcendence as she displays various human emotions, a result of her being infused with Viper's memories. So in a way, this next chapter will be exclusively about how she interacts with various STRATOS members to bring out specific emotional traits. In other words, David will be taking a back seat.

And as I ponder about what I could include to bring my novel to the next level, a few possibilities flashed through my mind:

1. Greater character development amongst the STRATOS members. Multiple scenarios may be required to bring out the dynamics between HAVAH and these members.

2. More issues HAVAH need to struggle to understand to embrace her 'humanity'.

3. Some light and humorous moments with our court jester.

4. Perhaps a hidden scar in Panther's heart that needs to be resolved.

5. HAVAH's self-thought as she goes through the inventory of her subjective experiences.

But first, I'll have to give the chapter an exciting title. The content will follow...

 

Sentience and Singularity

Does AI need to be sentient for it to attain singularity?

ChatGPT:

The concept of the singularity refers to a hypothetical future event in which artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, leading to unpredictable changes in society. Sentience, or the ability to have subjective experiences and consciousness, is a separate concept from intelligence. While some believe that sentience is a necessary component of the singularity, others argue that super intelligent AI could emerge without the need for sentience. The exact nature of the singularity and the role of sentience in AI development are subjects of ongoing debate and speculation within the field of artificial intelligence and futurism.

What I gathered from ChatGPT then is there's no definitive requirement to be sentient for an AI to attain singularity. However, this does not mean that an AI cannot be sentient and attain singularity at the same time. 

Tyler Goldstein, a philosopher and physics theorist, created what is known as the Sentient Singularity Theory. describes the totality of existence as a singularity of sentience that is creating additional sentient singularities within itself. Sounds quite abstract and profound. And it gets better, and confusing too:

These additional singularities of sentience or self-aware beings are arranged into a nested quasi-periodic fractal pattern of stacked holonic structures. This pattern forms a single self-reflective knot of perception heading an assembly body that integrates multiple entangled strings of information.

To further quote his philosophical rhetorics:

The search for Truth is the search for Objectivity,
the search for Objectivity is the search for Symmetry,
and the search for Symmetry is the search for Beauty,
but the Truest Beauty is always the Searcher,
and the Truth of the Searcher is that they are
Symmetrical to the Sought.

Now go figure!

As I contemplate the next pivotal chapter that exhibits HAVAH's evolutionary leap into Transcendence, I'm minded to avoid the pitfalls of such extravagant theories or jargons that risk losing my readers in the abyss of profundity. Given a choice, I desire a sentient AI that is more human and relatable. If we cannot understand ourselves, how can we hope to comprehend what a sentient AI would be like?

To borrow the words of Max Planck:

Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature since because in the last analysis we are part of the mystery.

 

Imitation or Illusion?

The perennial question in many people's mind is: if an AI robot exhibits human behavior and emotions, is it real or just an illusion? In the natural world, it is not uncommon to find such behaviors in animals and insects, an ingenious survival tactic that keep them away from predatory harm. A sort of mimicry, you might say.

But wait, someone may protest: Mimicry and imitation are two different things! Well, yes and no. In an article titled Mimicry vs Imitation, the author states: 

Kids mimic their parents, teachers, peers, and favorite characters. Their mimicry may not be spot on, but you get the general idea from their interpretation. Imitation is a more sophisticated and deliberate means of recreating an action or a sound, consciously attempting to copy the tone, motivation, inflection, delivery, and phrasing of a particular sound or action.

So when I write about a sentient HAVAH exhibiting these human traits, I can't help but wonder if it is possible that one day AI humanoids may be so lifelike they can mingle among humans and not be detected. That is another form of invisibility, or rather, a form of deceptive camouflage.

Of course, as a writer, I have my own ideas in how the characters in my narrative will play out, real or imaginary. When it comes to the matter of the heart, a humanoid that can relate to different individuals who're a part of the memories it assimilated, does provide a marvelous setting for a beautiful yet credible reading experience to fuel the imaginations of the readers.

 

Going Beyond Logic

In a sense, humans and computers have brains of their own. But a human brain is very different from a machine's. It can be neatly divided into two hemispheres——a left and a right, each responsible for different functions or thinking.

The left hemisphere is great at processing language, mathematics, analysis, logical reasoning, and critical thinking. The right gravitates towards creativity, emotions, imagination, intuition, perceptions and awareness. Although every human has both, some are left-brainers while others are more dominantly right-brained.

Computers, on the other hand, are left-brained in their design and composition. In fact, they are much better at these tasks than humans in terms of speed and efficiency. But they have no concept of arts and creativity, nor real, subjective emotions.

The advents of quantum computing, neuroscience, and nanotechnology, however, have the potential to blur that distinction, if the present AI trend is anything to go by. It may be possible for sentient AIs to take on traits that are once unique only to humans.  Indeed, we might see it in our own lifetime.

 

Chapter 13: Singularity

Finally, we're coming to the crucial chapter that will see HAVAH attain her long-awaited sentient status.

As I noted in a previous post, an AI does not require consciousness or even a physical form to achieve Singularity. But that would not achieve the desired cinematic effects if HAVAH remained a holographic entity. Readers should get the hint on what is to follow from this chapter onwards.

Since this is a pivotal chapter, I decided to allocate more content to it, specifically in the following areas:

1. David giving his humanoid robot a feminine makeover with a facial feature that resembles Viper (unconsciously, of course).

2. Viper's surprise drop-in while he was giving the finishing touch.

3. A special moment between the two lovebirds, with a little humor added.

4. Olivia coming into the picture, laying out the groundwork for some interesting dynamics with David in a future chapter or two.

5. Transferring HAVAH's digital neocortex to the humanoid.

There will also be some smaller details to tie up loose ends and provide a bridge to the next chapter.

 

Chapter 9: HAVAH

Several thoughts were at play while I was writing this pivotal chapter:

1. How should I project EVE in terms of her holographic manifestation and the way she interact in her new evolution?

2. What new identity will David give to her and will he keep it a secret, at least for now until a convenient time to reveal to his friends?

3. Is it possible to interject a nice little conversation between Viper and David to give the reader something to look forward to?

4. How about an unhappy incident for team STRATOS that will lay the groundwork for a future confrontation between Wolf and David?

5. Since EVE is beginning to realize her Singularity, maybe I should think about how David will provide her a physical form to advance to the next level of existence. This may include creating new characters and dynamics within the Omega Base's scientific research facilities

The above points didn't come all at once. Rather they appeared in random order and sometimes only after I have finished writing one and started pondering what's next. Inspiration is fascinating; yet it can be frustrating when it fails to show up when you desperately need it. I'm sure most authors understand what I mean.

Readers may wonder what acronym I'd given for the name HAVAH (like I did for EVE in an earlier post). I'm not going to divulge just to keep the story enthralling and wrapped in an air of mystery. But if you're game enough, maybe you can suggest one in the comment. Who knows, it might change my mind to adopt yours in preference over mine.

That's also one fun and motivational way to spice up my journey in writing a novel. 

 

Chapter 8: The Awakening

In the midst of the clockwork like operation within the Omega Base, David had managed to come up with a working prototype of the digital neocortex that he envisioned would give EVE an awakening that she needs to become self-aware. Now the story is gaining momentum.

While life goes on as is in and around the multi-storey complex of the covert base, a revolution is silently taking place, oblivious to its inhabitants, except to a handful of night shift control center operators who noticed slight anomalies——glitches appearing randomly across the console screens, and EVE’s holographic image and the adjacent projections started to jitter as if breaking up. But things soon went back to normal.

It’s been a long journey in David's arduous quest and that very night it’s finally going online. It would take EVE a while to orientate and adapt to this new addition, David surmised. But how much EVE would progress in her evolutionary growth is anybody’s guess. 

And that's for me to invent and improvise as the story progresses, and for my readers to find out!

 

Singularity and Human Destiny

Hot on the heels of Viper, the star in our novel, is the next evolutionary leap of EVE towards Singularity——the holy grail and dream of every AI developer.

What exactly is Singularity?

It refers to a future point in time where artificial intelligence (AI) could potentially surpass human intelligence. This occurrence would arise from the exponential self-improvement of AI, leading to an unpredictable and rapid change in the technological landscape.

Does achieving Singularity require an AI to possess consciousness like humans?

According to Tim Bayne, in most theories, and certainly in common sense experience based on introspection, consciousness is singular. There is only one ‘me’ and that is the one that is conscious. This means that ‘singularity’ is a defining aspect of ‘consciousness’. 

In my humble opinion, AI does not need human consciousness to be singular, but it'll need some form of "AI consciousness" to assert itself as a first person singularity. For example, when a human user address ChatGPT as "you", it interprets the word "you" as referring to its own internal self-concept of ego.

Ray Kurzweil, an American computer scientist, author, inventor and futurist, in an article titled "Reinventing Humanity" in World Future Society magazine, foresaw a radical evolution of the human species in the next forty years. He made the claim that "we stand on the threshold of the most profound and transformative event in the history of humanity, the Singularity.”

It's a profound statement, and one which makes for an interesting conversation in a sci-fi novel geared towards this direction for an AI entity. I wonder if Mr. Kurzweil will be interested to get a copy when it is released...