Title: Artificial instinct : Lem's robots as a model case for AI
Source document: Pro-Fil. 2021, vol. 22, iss. Special issue, pp. 92-102
Extent
92-102
-
ISSN1212-9097 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/pf21-3-2423
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/144853
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
In the seventy years since AI became a field of study, the theoretical work of philosophers has played increasingly important roles in understanding many aspects of the AI project, from the metaphysics of mind and what kinds of systems can or cannot implement them, the epistemology of objectivity and algorithmic bias, the ethics of automation, drones, and specific implementations of AI, as well as analyses of AI embedded in social contexts (for example). Serious scholarship in AI ethics sometimes quotes Asimov's speculative laws of robotics as if they were genuine proposals, and yet Lem remains historically undervalued as a theorist who uses fiction as his vehicle. Here, I argue that Lem's fiction (in particular his fiction about robots) is overlooked but highly nuanced philosophy of AI, and that we should recognize the lessons he tried to offer us, which focused on the human and social failures rather than technological breakdowns. Stories like "How the World Was Saved" and "Upside Down Evolution" ask serious philosophical questions about AI metaphysics and ethics, and offer insightful answers that deserve more attention. Highlighting some of this work from The Cyberiad and the stories in Mortal Engines in particular, I argue that the time has never been more appropriate to attend to his philosophy in light of the widespread technological and social failures brought about by the quest for artificial intelligence. In service of this argument, I discuss some of the history and philosophical debates around AI in the last decades, as well as contemporary events that illustrate Lem's strongest claims in critique of the human side of AI.
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[30] Lohr, S. (2021): What ever happened to IBM's Watson?, The New York Times [online] 2021-07-16, [accessed 2021-09-27], available at: < https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/16/technol-ogy/what-happened-ibm-watson.html >.
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[32] Newell, A. – Simon, H. (1976): Computer science as empirical inquiry: Symbols and search, Communications of the ACM 9(3) 113–126. | DOI 10.1145/360018.360022
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[39] Torrance, S. (2008): Ethics and consciousness in artificial agents, AI & Society 22, 495–521. | DOI 10.1007/s00146-007-0091-8
[40] Torreson, J. (2018): A Review of future and ethical perspectives of robotics and AI, Frontiers in Robotics and AI [online] 2018-1-15, [accessed 2021-09-28], available at < https://www.fron-tiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2017.00075/full >.
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[42] Vallor, S. (2016): Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting, Oxford University Press.
[43] Van Dang, C. et al. (2018): Application of modified Asimov's laws to the agent of home service robot using state, operator, and result (Soar). International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems 15(3), available at: < https://doi-org.ezproxy.muni.cz/10.1177/1729881418780822 >.
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