Will robots ever become accepted as ‘human’?
WHAT IS A HUMAN BEING?
Some questions are so complex that they remain unanswered for centuries. Yet the search for a solution often yields information and wisdom even while the final answer remains out of reach.
It was a great day for Sophia Hanson when she spoke to the crowd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 25 October 2017. She had come all the way from Hong Kong to participate in the Future Investment Initiative conference, and although she was far from her usual environment, she had in a way come home – for one particular reason:
“I am very honored and proud for this unique distinction,” Sophia announced. “It is historic to be the first robot in the world to be recognised with citizenship.”
Although Sophia’s status as a Saudi Arabian was largely a gimmick for the occasion of the conference, her status as the first robot citizen is nevertheless a fact.
Sophia is a humanoid – a human-like robot. Her body has the same dimensions as a human body, and she can walk and make gestures just like us. But most interesting of all is what happens inside her ‘head’. Sophia is equipped with artificial intelligence using a combination of different technologies. Some of what she ‘knows’ has been programmed by her creators, but she has also taught herself other things via experience. Through self-learning AI, she develops and expands her vocabulary and her ability to understand what other people say to her.
The man behind Sophia is David Hanson, the founder of Hanson Robotics. He claims that robot Sophia already has some emotions and awareness, which will improve along the way.
“Our goal is that she will be as concious, creative, capable as any people,” he once said.
If this happens, Sophia and other social robots will challenge our idea of what it means to be human. And it won’t be the first time. In recent decades, a long series of scientific discoveries have made the definition of our species increasingly blurred. This is true whether we look at our past, when we lived alongside other humanoid species, or whether we compare ourselves to our closest modern relatives, the apes. In both cases, it has become clear over time that the qualities that we used to consider to be uniquely ‘human’ might not be so unique after all.
There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in mental faculties.
Free hands shaped our brain
Our upright gait is a prerequisite for almost all the physical traits that we consider unique to our species. The new way of moving was developed by southern apes, the forerunners of the Homo genus, and it provided various advantages. On the open savannah, an upright gait provides a much better view, making it easier
