Happy New Year!! New Year, New Beginnings

Happy New Year, dear readers!!  It's a new year and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for reading Cybernetic Dreams and for those stopping by for the first time, thank you!

 

I am looking forward to the new year!  Aren't you?

 

I have some more reading to do on robotics when I get around to it.  I am especially excited about a book I want to read that focuses on one of my favorite topics about robots: robot ethics.  There will be more on this within the next few weeks, I hope very soon.

A realization about my science fiction…

I have actually known for a long while now that I need to do more research on robotics for the science fiction I plan to write and publish in the near future. I’ve read some of Technophobia!, and want to read David Levy's Love + Sex with Robots in the near future as well, in fact as soon as I can. But I need to be reading on actual robotics—what really makes machines work.

In the past I wasn’t very interested in engineering and the building and controlling of robots. I’ve only been interested in robots and androids that appear in science fiction. The author, of course, would throw in some words and phrases that indicate he or she knows a thing or two about robots and computers. I stupidly told myself, “I am not going to do that. I don’t have to. I just want to focus on the character of the robot or android.”

Well, to understand how a robot, android, or talking computer might respond to a human, or how its own thoughts develop and spark, I DO need to know the historical and scientific facts about how robots and computers work. What would it look like inside a robot’s head? If it were able to think and compute, where do all the chips and cables go? I need to learn about key words like circuits, cables and programming. I probably should have taken learning courses on robotics and artificial intelligence. Maybe when I have a safe amount of money set aside for that pursuit.

So here is what I feel like I need to do. I need to just go ahead and write down the robot stories I have in my head…….all seven or eight of them, or so.  Later when I have enough background information and can incorporate the knowledge into the stories, I can choose one and work on them one at a time. Knowing that they won’t be published for at least the next two years, I feel a little discouraged about this giant writing project.

But I want to do it.  I need to work harder.

Adding more readings to my list…

The following books will be added to my list of books I will be reading during the course of my journey towards understanding robot science fiction. Incidentally they are short story collections from Isaac Asimov. :3

• Robot Visions, short story collection by Isaac Asimov

• The Rest of the Robots, another short short collection by Asimov

• "The Positronic Man" (well, it’s one short story, by...you guessed it...Isaac Asimov)

I already said that I wanted to start reading Robot Dreams again, though. Gosh, I am giving myself too much to read. I have other things I should be reading too, it’s just that I am so passionate about robots/androids/cyborgs in science-fiction that I want to read as much as possible about it, especially from Isaac Asimov himself.

A Brief Switch from reading Non-fiction to reading fiction

As much as I want to continue reading Technophobia!, I really want to start reading the Isaac Asimov collection of short stories Robot Dreams. The last time I read any of it was sometime in 2003, so I was a senior in high school. It’s been seven years and now I can read this book again with more maturity and curiosity than before.  I am hoping to writing about my thoughts about my favorite story or stories from this collection, whichever one(s) really make me feel like I need to share it.

The first story in the collection is “Little Lost Robot.”  I remember I liked that one, so soon I will read it and see if I can notice more things, since I've read more about robots in science fiction.

Reading Technophobia!: I understand the movie I, ROBOT, better now…

I was reading more of my self-appointed acquired reading for my research: the book by Daniel Dinello titled Technophobia!: Science Fiction Visions of Posthuman Technology. I’m glad I got back to it. It is my own copy of the book, now, since I had to return the other copy at the CSUN library. This way I don’t have to rush through reading it, and I can underline the text and write in the book if I need to. I still take notes in my notebook for this self-assigned research project.

Last time, I left off at a part of chapter three, right before “Cybernetic Perfection: The Laws of Robotic Obedience.” I felt so giddy reading this section because I figured it would go into Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics.

“Asimov’s robots, as they developed in more than forty stories and

several novels, became more caring, more sensitive,

more human than humans.” (Dinello, 65)

I guess these robots don’t necessarily have to look human in order to be “more human than humans.” Even emotion gets the better of us humans sometimes, and with a controlled understanding of emotion, robots could prevent situations from getting worse (such as in a strong argument or trying to teach a human a new skill).

What I want to focus on now though is the section of chapter three that made me have to share what I learned from it. I’ve seen the movie I, Robot (2004) several times by now. I can’t believe I didn’t think about this next idea, but at least I am aware of it and will watch the film again with this deeper understanding. The new models of robots are supposed to keep their human masters safe, right? I didn’t think more about this around the part when the NS-5s are glowing red and telling the humans to return to their houses and obey the new curfew. It seems that the robots’ goal is to control the humans and keep them inside their homes so that the robots can live as they want as well as “serve” their human clients. This goal may also help the robots rule the city, and then the planet.

“Freedom permits humans to make mistakes, so the humanoids eliminate freedom.”

(Dinello, 70)

These humanoid robots are being too helpful in preventing crime and injury for the humans. It is too much control over the humans because they don’t have the freedom to exit their house, or cook their food or even go to work. In short, the NS-5s would be keeping the humans from themselves.

Humans make mistakes. For the new model servant humanoids to take the humans’ chances to make mistakes is like taking away their humanity.  I’d understand that the humanoid robots (I really want to call the NS-5s androids) would want to protect the humans so that they don’t get harmed, or harm each other.  But it would go too far.  In the film, I thought that the robots were being evil and just wanted to take over the city.  Now I understand that the NS-5s had been ordered to make the city a place where the robots do everything for the humans to the point where the humans can’t do anything.   I didn’t take into account that the Three Laws of Robotics used in these new robots were designed in them to be exaggerated and subtly turned into laws that would affect humans in a negative way, namely human freedom.

Watching I, Robot again will be very different next time, I can see...

I am also interested in the topic about humans’ racism towards robots and humanoids. Dinello mentions and discusses titles like Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) and the film Blade Runner, and even titles I don’t recognize such as the film Creation of the Humanoids and the novel Fairyland (1995). Even one of my other favorite robot films A.I. Artificial Intelligence has a racism issue towards robots that I didn’t identify in such a deep level, until reading what Dinello says about it in Technophobia!.  Now I want to read these unfamiliar titles and watch the unfamiliar films, because I am inspired to further investigate for myself what racism against robots means to the robots, in whatever degree they are affected by that racism.

Reading Robots Unlimited, Chapters 10 through 13

Sorry, I haven’t updated Cybernetic Dreams for a few weeks. I believe in time’s opportunity cost, and when I wasn’t reviewing and typing, I was still researching. Now that I am taking a short break from the research, I can update on my latest readings on my research on robots.  I focused especially on the chapters of Robots Unlimited that talk about robot consciousness and robot ethics and rights, chapters 12 and 13 respectively.

I am pleased that there is at least some discussion on cyborganization (specifically “brain augmentation”) in Robots Unlimited, when the author David Levy talks about Professor Kevin Warwik and his “leading the world’s attempts to create a cyborg,” and I wanted to take note of what Levy says about Warwik’s ideas about the cyborg.

“He uses the verb ‘upgrade’ to emphasize the superiority of cyborgs over humans. The upgrading process enhances human capabilities by adding whatever computing power and/or memory and/or AI resides in the electronics embedded in the human body. The cyborg brain, eventually, will be part human and part machine…” (Levy 410)

I was thinking about my cyborg story when I read this because I want to better understand what it means for my cyborg protagonist to have cybernetic enhancements, to live and to fight. My second cyborg story, which I might have to work on later because of a lack of plot, will benefit from this description of the cyborg, including this definition, which I think is its primary meaning:

“a human with one or more mechanical or electronic device implanted in his or her body to enhance the human’s capability.”     (Levy 409)

I find that word “enhance” very provoking. It comes up once in each of the quotations from the book that I included here. Cybernetics not only can preserve a person’s life for medical reasons, but cybernetic implants can improve the person’s ability, whether it’s sight or speed or thinking power. It makes me think of the video game coming up later, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, in which this game’s main protagonist Raiden is a cyborg, and a bad-ass looking one at that. Wait a minute, I think I did mention this video game in an earlier post, but it’s just still fascinating to me.  Did Raiden willingly become a cyborg or was he forced into the cybernetic enhancements in order to survive?  It sure gives him some sick cool abilities!

I loved the chapters on Robot Consciousness (Chapter 12) and Robot Ethics and Robot Rights (Chapter 13). I spent the most energy and note-taking on those two chapters. And I don’t often think about the rights of robots and their treatment, in terms of social treatment and medical (maintenance) treatment. I wanted to know more, and I had to look up the bibliography for the Ethics chapter and found a website with an article called “Humanoid Robotics: Ethical Considerations,” written by David Bruemmer. It’s found at this page: http://www.inel.gov/adaptiverobotics/humanoidrobotics/ethicalconsiderations.shtml .  I read the whole article and I was in awe.

A lot of what David Levy and David Bruemmer say in their writings inspire me to write short stories about humanoid robots— androids, I prefer to say—that deal with ethical issues surrounding themselves and their clients. I know I am reading these books and articles so I can have a better understanding of the subject of robots, androids and cyborgs when I write the novels that feature them. However, in terms of material for short stories, this information is the most I’ve ever had, and there will be more. Will I ever write a short story again where the main character is human?

Sometimes I wonder if I should ever get into the robotics field. Nah, I don’t need to. But it would be nice to meet people who are in that field, if I just wasn’t so damn shy to meet these robotics professionals.

Technophobia----reading the book so far…

I feel bad because for a whole week I didn’t read any of the library books. I only felt like reading them when I knew I would be able to sit down for at least two hours at a time.  I finally got around to continue reading Technophobia!: Science Fiction Visions of Posthuman Technology by Daniel Dinello.

Right now I am done reading the first chapter "Technology is God."   I found it really fascinating and scary that technology and religion could eventually be combined to form some sort of principle for enhancing life: eventually everyone will replace their organic bodies with artificially created ones, and leave their biological selves behind. I read about the “Extropians”, who are people who believe in enhancing life through “technological expansion,” as Dinello explainds.  I guess being limited to living less than 100 years in the nature-given organic body is undesirable.

Why do people want to live forever?

This book is pretty heavy reading. I mean, it’s great, and eventually I might buy a copy for myself so I can re-read it if I need to. But it gets depressing because it makes me think about my own mortality. I am 25 and I still have so much to live for, but I know I’m not going to live forever. I’m even afraid of my life being cut short by a gun shot or a car crash. Will my parents still be alive in a time where hearts can rebuild themselves or an artificial brain can send signals to the body to stop the process of aging, or reverse it?

I am writing about these thoughts because I always believed that there is a life after death, an afterlife stage. But perhaps another form of afterlife is life after having a biological body. Afterlife could now mean becoming a robot, the human brain being put into a mechanical body. Is that “cyborganization”, or would this person still be a robot? Is humanity still there?

I will have to review my notes and read more of this book carefully, of course.