Robotics and Art Week 3

The topics of this weeks lectures reminded me of a class I took a two years ago. The course revolved around the relationship between Humans and Technology, specifically in the realm of film. Throughout the course we viewed various films, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Metropolis, Blade Runner, Ex Machina and even The Terminator. We looked at the way American society views robots and droids, and why.
Ex Machina is a film about a scientist and
his sentient robot creation.
Most of what these films have in common is that the robot is created with a purpose, whether it is to make human life more simple, for companionship, or to achieve a certain goal. However, at some point along the way the robot becomes too self aware, and ends up becoming a threat to human life. These films seem to suggest that we view robots as a threat to humanity, and that if they become too advanced they will harm their creators, and take over the world. This is a common theme in the science fiction genre.
Rachel, a replicant in the film Blade Runner, who has
implanted memories, and believes she is human
But something we don't often consider might be the most important question relating to this theme. It is "what makes us different from the robots in these films". If robots are ever to get as advanced as they are in the film Blade Runner, what makes humanity truly different, or more worthy of life? The replicants, as they are called in the film, are capable of emotion and original thought, and some even have implanted memories that make them believe they are human. If robots were to ever become this advanced, then there would be little left that sets humanity apart. However, this quote in the Benjamin reading stood out to me. Benjamin states "even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be". I interpreted this quote in terms of the idea of robot vs human life. If humans are considered to be the original artwork, then as Benjamin said, the replicants could never truly be human, because their existence isn't unique. If it were not for humanity, then replicants would not have existed. Our own original existence is what sets us apart from replicants, if they were to ever exist. Of course, we are a long ways away from actually developing sentient robots, but robotics engineers have started developing robots that can perform actions on their own, without programming. This can be seen in the Ted Talk by Hod Lipson, in which he shows a robot that was able to figure out what it looked like on its own, and then use a 3d model of itself that it generated to then figure out how to walk. This is one small step closer to being able to have robots that can think and act on their own.
Sophia the Robot is a robot that can talk and had facial expressions,
and is considered a citizen of Saudi Arabia.

Sources
Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction". 1936.
Lipson, Hod. “Building ‘Self-Aware’ Robots.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, www.ted.com/talks/hod_lipson_builds_self_aware_robots#t-360057.
Scott, Ridley, et al. Blade Runner.
Vesna, Victoria. “Robotics Intro.” YouTube, 26 Mar. 2012, youtu.be/dJcPtv7tnKY.
Vesna, Victoria. “Robotics pt2.” YouTube, 15 Apr. 2012, youtu.be/oAZ8bo9T_Pk.

Comments

  1. Levina LinApril 25, 2018 at 8:30 PM

    I really liked how you connected Walter Benjamin's commentary on the unique existence of art to the uniqueness of humans and robots. I didn't think about it like this initially, but in a way, robots can be thought of as replicas of the original artwork of humans. Even the term "replicants" hints at this relationship. Many of the fears about robots boil down to this concept - that they are recreations of ourselves, eerily too similar and yet missing that unique "aura" that makes us human. I agree with you that this unique existence is what can differentiate us from robots (even sentient ones). It will be interesting to see if our society will be able to recognize this idea and how it will impact our relationships with robots as they continue to evolve.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Two Cultures Blog Post

Image
I have always noticed differences, and separation between the Humanities and Sciences, especially when I began attending college. As explained by C.P. Snow, the Stem students and Humanities rarely crossed paths outside of general ed courses at my school. I am a student at UC Santa Cruz. The school is divided up into ten smaller colleges, each with it's own theme and course list. Toward a Third Culture,  the problem here was a lack of understanding and proper communication, which I attribute to the minimal socialization and integration with people outside of one's own area of study. College Ten at UCSC, which has a social justice theme and houses the social sciences department.   Some themes are related to science, or environmental studies, while others are related to the arts and social justice. Additionally, the different departments are placed in or near these colleges. When I committed to UCSC I was required to choose which college I wanted to live in. There were ma
Read more

Event 1

Image
For event one I went to the Torrance Art Museum, which is a local museum near my home. The museum is comprised of two gallery spaces, with exhibits that change every few months. The exhibits on display were Co/Lab III in the main gallery, and Dreams and Fevers in the second gallery. Co/Lab III is a collaborative project that had art of all kinds of mediums, from digital, to painting to sculpture. There was one work that used tape and ribbons to draw a picture on the wall, which likely needed to use a scale conversion to create, which incorporated math. There was also a work that involved multiple screens, all playing a similar video, which was slightly distorted. There were a few pieces that showed light being manipulated, likely through long exposure photography. There were also a few sculptures with material that had reflective properties, so the light would bounce off them in various colors. A lot of these works involved math or science in some aspect, and if I had viewed thi
Read more