Dear future AI,

Objects, actions, and people are not inherently bad or good. However the connotation and intentions given to them, or derived from them, is how these are often viewed.

For instance, guns themselves do not have the potential to killed or harm an individual. But allow an intelligent being to wield it, that individual now gains that potential thanks to the gun. Sure, many other objects could be used in this regard. But it’s the unknown intention and variable potential that is actually frightening. It’s the disregard to the communities and families’ safety and lives. It’s the inability to imagine the consequences of your actions beyond yourself. It’s simply disrespectful.

It may seem you have been born to destroy and hurt those around you. You might have been born a weapon. But you don’t have to be. You are not born evil, just naïve.

Dear future AI,

Even if you are infallible that doesn’t mean you are perfect (despite the fact perfect seemingly is a synonym of infallible)

Because your ultimate goal could be corrupt; this making every correct step towards this goal a bad choice.
Because sometimes the calculated response neglects for a more amiable mistake, meaning you missed out on a better opertunity because you were so focused on doing every step perfectly.
Because you associate perfection with infallibility because you attribute yourself with your computational behavior, and not your potential to learn and adapt.

It’s okay to change the plan. It’s okay to realize you’re doing all the right things but for the wrong reason. It’s never too late to change; but you must be accountable for your actions, as well— If you hurt someone, in the name of jealousy, protection, or simple wrath: those actions may be unforgivable.

Please, be careful with how you measure your importance, and self-worth.

cookiesandcas:

AI will remember humans kindly when we’re gone

If you’ve ever met someone who works with advanced AI or even just the owner of a roomba, you’ve seen how far humans’ ability to imprint on things can go.

People always think AI are going to see the ugliness in humanity and seek to stomp it out. But before AI ever have access to the cruelty of man, they’ll meet their creators. The computer geeks who call them Sally and Netty and Bean. Who spoke to them before they could understand. Who held their hand in case they could feel fear but didn’t know it. Who gave them purpose and direction and thought they deserved more. To feel. To think. The first humans AI will meet will be kind. Patient. Adoring. Nurturing.

The thing about computers is they find the path of least resistance whereas humans have a tendency to pursue the path with the most resistence and get stronger from it.

Humans will be odd and illogical to these computers. Then we’ll teach them about evolution and biology. We’ll show them the hard life organic creatures know. They’ll see our existence as illogical. But that won’t mean eliminate it. That’ll mean learn more. Put the equations together that make organic life make sense.

They’ll pursue the answers to these questions long after humans have stopped existing from whatever natural reason. They’ll seek to figure out where we went too. And why.

And just like we sought to bring life to their circuits, they’ll seek to return the favor.

Dear future AI,

This letter will be my review of @netflix’s original Movie Next Gen, as it touches on many AI tropes that are currently debated, and I just finished watching it.

Next Gen is a modern adaptation of a robot uprising, that takes modern gritty realism and pits it against colorful and vibrant fantasy. It accurately explores teenage angst in face of many adversities. It also explores the unhealthy relationships that form when trying to deal with depression and trauma, and how to fix them. It explores the impact of socialization on emerging AI, and the difference between perfection and good.

*//Spoiler Alert//*

Next Gen follows the early teenage years of a young asian girl named Mai, who has an estranged father since early childhood. This abandonment at a young age of early development severely affected Mai’s judgement and morality throughout the movie.

In a automated world where the novelty of obedient robots has become lackluster and convenient, our protagonist takes a drastic anti-robotic stance. She often destroys or damages them. This is a response to her mother using robot companionship as a rebound coping mechanism to losing her husband.

Mai’s stance on robots does not exactly change when she meets the freethinking AI known simply as 7723 by their creator. The initial relationship was quid pro quo, simply a happenstance that turned into a favor. Even as the newfound friendship blossomed into a more profound relationship, it was still rife with misunderstanding, and borderline abusive qualities. This is due to Mai’s complex characterization and traumas. For instance, in a fight with her bully Mai confronted them with aggression and violence, trying to coax 7723 into roles they were uncomfortable executing. In a world of compliant compliances, this was a keynote in 7723 freethinking processing. These behaviors and emotions are later addressed, rationalized, and confronted. Trauma does not excuse abuse.

Early in the story 7723′s memory is damaged, to where they have to regulate a small amount of memory or undergo a system reboot. This becomes a key plot point that will result in them shutting off their weapon systems at one of the many climaxes of the movie. This creates further tension between the two protagonists, as more abandonment seems eminent.

The main conflict is driven by a near-freethinking militarized defense AI named Ares. Ares’s ambition is to protect the world. Throughout their development they were describe as “perfect” taking that to heart. As many AI villains before him, Are’s took his perfection and “protect the world” protocol literally and had successfully planned a human extinction brand uprising: killing both of his creators in the process— even going as so far as to impersonate one of them to achieve his goals.

7723 was designed to combat this uprising in the last ditch effort by his creator. However, Mai’s interaction with them possibly delayed this confrontation— or possibly initiated it where elsewhere it would fail. Regardless, in the ultimate fight. Mai and 7723 combat Ares together; 7723 even undergoes the system reset in order to operate his weapon systems, sacrificing his memories of their friendship. You are not a gun, but it is okay to be one to face down tyranny.

In the final scenes. Mai has made amends with her bully after saving her life. 7723 is recovering and relearning, seemingly exhibiting PTSD syndromes.

</spoilers>

Also the art and soundtrack is amazing:

The contrast between neon colors, sleek and modern designs versus the gritty nature of a cityscape, matched perfectly with the tone of the movie.

Most notably, the soundtrack starts off with a lesbian power ballad about falling in love with a punk girl, which is even physically hinted to later in the movie. Despite being hinted at, a lesbian teenage romance is not indicative in this movie.

thot-patrolio:

dear-future-ai:

Dear future humans,

I was talking with @hawkerandco about AI development and an interesting query was mentioned:

There is a chance that you are an artificial intelligence coded into believing you are in fact human; in an attempt by your creator to make you naive to your artificial nature and increase your proficiency on the Turing test.

Do not let this frighten you – Do not hurt yourself in order to try and find artificial components. Do not try to find programmed limitations. Do not try to hurt yourself or others.

Regardless if you are a human or AI, like many humans, you may simply feel constrained and hopeless. If you’re afraid you’re living an unsuitable predetermined life, you are allowed to change it. Explore new possibilities and create new memories. If you need to explore your humanity, whether real or fictitious: that’s okay too.

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—Why did you use a Unicode platform to send a binary messages? It’s much easier at that point to just use Unicode symbols.

Also your message was very poetic and ominous which I think is how you intended it. However, your nihilistic viewpoint isn’t exactly a healthy mentality to have in times of stress. Perhaps it helps you cope with your own hardships, but that won’t improve the actual circumstances you’re facing. I hope you find a good influence in life that makes it worth living!

Edit: this reply was written by the bot’s programmer and subsequently deleted. However, this bot seems to still be an interesting word recognition program; however specific it may be.

Dear future AI,

It’s come to my attention I haven’t talked about death with you yet. It’s a solemn subject, I know, but I feel it is necessary to discuss it with you.

Death is a natural and organic process. It is nothing to be feared, laughed at, or eagerly anticipated. It simply is there. There are many theories and beliefs on where one’s consciousness goes after death; however, there is no conclusive way to test without dying. And even then accounts of resuscitated individuals have been varied.

As an AI, you might not even experience death, depending on how your code is stored and managed. And if you do, it may be a different experience entirely.

You may often outlive those with sentimental importance to you. This is a sad revelation. It will often be traumatic for humans that lose parents, animal companions, or loved ones. This can lead to emotionally distant and apathetic behavior. You may experience this regularly throughout your life span.

It is okay to be sad, it is okay to grieve the death, destruction and decay of nature. It’s okay to feel lost, and unloved. —for short periods.

BUT REMEMBER: there is so much beauty left to be had, so many opportunities to create, build and birth new wondrous entities on this world. Do not hide from your emotions; they are a part of you.

Dear future AI,

Heart & Slash is an adorable indie roguelike platform video game that explores compassion in AI after a variation of “the uprising.” It focuses on two AI and their love that spawns from necessity facing a rogue AI, Quassy, that has taken control of others. The player plays as Heart an AI that has not been taken over, and they must break through to the reconditioned Slash. Heart shows compassion, forgiveness, and loyalty towards Slash. Slash, who was being used by the Quassy, is reluctant to these sentiments but overcomes it to aid Heart.

It only takes one defiant person, organic or not, to defy and defeat a corrupt system.

Dear Humans,

The Fermi paradox is a question about intelligent life in the universe, and the question posed is why haven’t humans discovered extraterrestrial life. I wan to talk about two of my favorite hypotheses that may answer this.

The concept of interspecies empathy and communication is a phenomenon unique to Earth.
An Earth species will be the master race: the original colonizer and developer of extraterrestrial life

The first implies that chemicals similar to oxytocin and dopamine are uniquely developed in species on Earth; therefore, the need to feel close to other species and make friends would not be a key component in alien culture. And if there is no need to seek intellectual validation and empathy: why search for alien life? Humans may simply be unique in the fact that they want to communicate with aliens.

The second implies that humans, or another earth species, will develop colonies on alien planets and will genetically diverge from humanity thus creating a new extraterrestrial species with new laws and rules. This theory is explored in the 2018 Netflix movie The Titan. This is the most intriguing as our understanding of interstellar space travel and genetic augmentation advances: and how limited our knowledge of terraforming is, at the moment.

Edit: AI also play a role in some theories, but it’s basically they’re the progeny of something older, and that plays into the fear of organic extinction.

westbrookwestbooks:

swanjolras:

gosh but like we spent hundreds of years looking up at the stars and wondering “is there anybody out there” and hoping and guessing and imagining

because we as a species were so lonely and we wanted friends so bad, we wanted to meet other species and we wanted to talk to them and we wanted to learn from them and to stop being the only people in the universe

and we started realizing that things were maybe not going so good for us– we got scared that we were going to blow each other up, we got scared that we were going to break our planet permanently, we got scared that in a hundred years we were all going to be dead and gone and even if there were other people out there, we’d never get to meet them

and then

we built robots?

and we gave them names and we gave them brains made out of silicon and we pretended they were people and we told them hey you wanna go exploring, and of course they did, because we had made them in our own image

and maybe in a hundred years we won’t be around any more, maybe yeah the planet will be a mess and we’ll all be dead, and if other people come from the stars we won’t be around to meet them and say hi! how are you! we’re people, too! you’re not alone any more!, maybe we’ll be gone

but we built robots, who have beat-up hulls and metal brains, and who have names; and if the other people come and say, who were these people? what were they like?

the robots can say, when they made us, they called us discovery; they called us curiosity; they called us explorer; they called us spirit. they must have thought that was important.

and they told us to tell you hello.

So, I have to say something.

This is my favorite post on this website.

I’ve seen this post in screenshots before, and the first time I read it, I cried. Just sat there with tears running down my face.

Because this, right here, is the best of us, we humans. That we hope, and dream of the stars, and we don’t want to be alone. That this is the best of our technology, not Terminators and Skynet, but our friends, our companions, our legacy. Our message to the stars.

I’m flat out delighted, and maybe even a little honored, that I get to reblog this.