Promotion of Human Values (161)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 5 min
- Premium Beat
- 2020
This blog post explores what a combination of deepfake and computer generated images (CGI) technologies might mean to film makers.
- Premium Beat
- 2020
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- 5 min
- Premium Beat
- 2020
Is Deepfake Technology the Future of the Film Industry?
This blog post explores what a combination of deepfake and computer generated images (CGI) technologies might mean to film makers.
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- 19 min
- Kinolab
- 1954
Once ships start mysteriously disappearing off the coast of Odo Island in post-WWII Japan, both scientists and villagers are confounded. Eventually, the culprit of these attacks is revealed to be Godzilla, a massive kaiju thought to be from the Jurassic era who has returned from the deep sea in order to wreak havoc and destruction on humanity. Scientists explain to government officials their theory that Hydrogen-bomb testing in the deep sea disrupted Godzilla’s natural habitat and provoked the attacks on Odo island. After debates over whether Godzilla should be killed or studied for contributions to science, the monster attacks Tokyo with flame breath. Emiko and Ogata implore Serizawa to deploy his new Oxygen Destroyer technology against this monster. This lethal device suffocates any living things before splitting oxygen molecules and liquefying anything organic in the range. While the technologies on display here are not necessarily digital in nature, this narrative nonetheless provides a non-American voice on the dangers of technology and innovation, especially as they are deployed in wars.
- Kinolab
- 1954
War Technologies and Global Impacts
Once ships start mysteriously disappearing off the coast of Odo Island in post-WWII Japan, both scientists and villagers are confounded. Eventually, the culprit of these attacks is revealed to be Godzilla, a massive kaiju thought to be from the Jurassic era who has returned from the deep sea in order to wreak havoc and destruction on humanity. Scientists explain to government officials their theory that Hydrogen-bomb testing in the deep sea disrupted Godzilla’s natural habitat and provoked the attacks on Odo island. After debates over whether Godzilla should be killed or studied for contributions to science, the monster attacks Tokyo with flame breath. Emiko and Ogata implore Serizawa to deploy his new Oxygen Destroyer technology against this monster. This lethal device suffocates any living things before splitting oxygen molecules and liquefying anything organic in the range. While the technologies on display here are not necessarily digital in nature, this narrative nonetheless provides a non-American voice on the dangers of technology and innovation, especially as they are deployed in wars.
How should dangerous technology be regulated, as to not purposefully or inadvertently harm innocent citizens if deployed in wars? What modern warfare technologies are currently being used which could have unforeseen consequences? Should dangerous technology or specimens be kept around for scientific study, or should they just not be allowed to exist at all? How can it be insured that innovations and innovators are not abused by evil powers? What appears to be the metaphorical meaning of Godzilla in this narrative? How can technology exacerbate global divides and xenophobia?
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- 4 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
K is an android who works with the LAPD to track down and destroy escaped older models of “replicants,” or humanoid robots, in a world where androids work as laborers without compensation. In this clip, we meet K’s virtual wife, Joi. Although she is not ‘real,’ it seems like she has real human feelings and presents like a human woman who provides K company and can complete tasks such as making him dinner.
- Kinolab
- 2017
Robot Relationships and Marriage
K is an android who works with the LAPD to track down and destroy escaped older models of “replicants,” or humanoid robots, in a world where androids work as laborers without compensation. In this clip, we meet K’s virtual wife, Joi. Although she is not ‘real,’ it seems like she has real human feelings and presents like a human woman who provides K company and can complete tasks such as making him dinner.
What problems arise from using robotic companions to fulfill gendered tasks? How might this alter perceptions of real people? Consider how Joi is “typecast” as a 50s housewife, and can alter her appearance on command. How could virtual or AI female assistants and robots perpetuate harmful gender norms? Can robots truly love each other, or is this only accomplishable through specific coding? If humans are to give robots a full range of emotions and autonomy to live independently, are humans then responsible for providing them with companions? Would it be more or less uncomfortable if a real human owned and used the Joi holograph, and why?
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- 6 min
- The Guardian
- 2019
Across the globe, conflicting feelings exist about how “human” robots ought to be, and if humanoid machines are a positive or negative.
- The Guardian
- 2019
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- 6 min
- The Guardian
- 2019
Being Human: How Realistic Do We Want Robots To Be?
Across the globe, conflicting feelings exist about how “human” robots ought to be, and if humanoid machines are a positive or negative.
Would it make it easier to interact with a robot that looks human? What defines an authentic human life experience if robots become capable of imitating our specific characteristics indistinguishably well?
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- 8 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Westworld, a western-themed amusement park, is populated by realistic robotic creatures known as “hosts” that are designed in a lab and constantly updated to seem as real and organic as possible. One of these hosts, Maeve, is programmed to be a prostitute who runs the same narrative every single day with the same personality. However, during one loop, she has a “flashback” to a prior memory from a time when her programming contained a different narrative role. After the Flashback glitch, Maeve is taken to the lab and reprogrammed before being returned to her role as a prostitute to fulfill the desires of the guests of the park. During this re-programming, it is revealed that robots can conceptualise dreams and nightmares, cobbled together of old memories. During a maintenance check, Maeve is accidentally left on, and escapes the operating room to discover the lab outside of Westworld and the other robots.
- Kinolab
- 2016
Maeve Part I: Sex, Sentience, and Subservience of Humanoid Entertainment Robots
Westworld, a western-themed amusement park, is populated by realistic robotic creatures known as “hosts” that are designed in a lab and constantly updated to seem as real and organic as possible. One of these hosts, Maeve, is programmed to be a prostitute who runs the same narrative every single day with the same personality. However, during one loop, she has a “flashback” to a prior memory from a time when her programming contained a different narrative role. After the Flashback glitch, Maeve is taken to the lab and reprogrammed before being returned to her role as a prostitute to fulfill the desires of the guests of the park. During this re-programming, it is revealed that robots can conceptualise dreams and nightmares, cobbled together of old memories. During a maintenance check, Maeve is accidentally left on, and escapes the operating room to discover the lab outside of Westworld and the other robots.
Could AI develop to have a subconscious, or should they be limited to only doing what humans instruct them to do? What if robots did gain a sense or a repulsion to the way in which humans treat them? How does the nature of ‘sex’ change when robots are used instead of humans? What are the ethical issues of creating a humanoid robot who is designed to give consent regardless of treatment? Can AI contemplate their own mortality? At that point, do they become ‘living beings’? If robots are only programmed for certain scenarios or certain personalities, what happens if they break free of that false reality?
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- 5 min
- Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press
- 1916
A brief excerpt on Pygmalion’s love for his “marble maiden,” which could be compared to the human creation of robots for companionship use.
- Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press
- 1916
Pygmalion and his Ivory Maid: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book X, lines 243-297.
A brief excerpt on Pygmalion’s love for his “marble maiden,” which could be compared to the human creation of robots for companionship use.
How does Pygmalion’s love for his “marble maiden” resemble the relationship some people have with advanced AI dolls or sex dolls? Can advanced AI dolls replace human companionship completely, or is there something inherently unique to our interactions? Venus gives life to Pygmalion’s maiden, so she could be argued to have a soul, but when humans give ‘life’ to advanced AI, is that similar or different to Pygmalion’s maiden? What does it mean to have consciousness if you can act and perform like a human in all capacities?