Quote:
Originally Posted by Lychee  "I, Robot" was a futuristic movie of robots who were able to quantify such things. If you haven't seen it, Will Smith was drowning in a car along with a girl after the both were involved in a car accident. The robot that was around made a calculation which resulted in a greater probability of Smith's survival versus the little girl's. The robot decided to save Smith only. Humans will never be able to do that. Humans, unlike planets, have emotions. Humans can be irrational, humans have choice. Law has none of these things because it cannot choose. |
First, regarding "I, Robot".
"Quantify such things"? Wasn't the entire point of the movie that they could
not quantify such things?
Next, Smith had survivor's guilt. His prejudice against robots, which is transformed into the audience's prejudice against robots, is based on an unthinking dislike of something that had forced him to survive in lieu of others. Smith's preference would have been that they both drown. Thus extrapolating, you are saying that it is better than the entire human race die out than some surviving, because it would be too rational that survivors exist. Thanks, but no thanks.
Second, choice is not analogous to predictability. Simply because I can predict your action does not mean you didn't choose to take it. Similarly, simply because an outcome is unpredictable does not mean you had a choice in the matter.
Illustrating part a, we have a person walking down the street. He comes to an intersection, stops and waits for the traffic signal, then continues. Three blocks later, we predict that he will stop and wait for the traffic signal again. He might, he might not: he has a choice.
Illustrating part b, we have a simple, unweighted dice. Toss it, and it generates an unpredictable result. You had no choice in which number came up.
My personal belief is in what I call determinism, but which seems to be different from others' notion of determinism. I believe that every action a person takes can be predicted, given sufficient knowledge. Thus, it is possible for an observer to predict choice without removing it.
Third, emotions are rational. They are extremely rational. It is blindingly easy to predict and manipulate emotions if you know what you want and how to accomplish it, mostly because people generally aren't aware of the methods or their countermeasures nor do they generally have the discipline to make such choices despite such manipulation. Study art sometime. Especially the design of soap operas and "chick flicks". That's a good starting point. Move on to, say, "I, Robot" when you're more advanced to see what emotions it stirs.
Simply because
you cannot predict something does not mean it can't be predicted. Simply because we can't predict something
yet does not mean it can never be predicted.
And again, prediction does not negate choice: knowledge enables choice; it does not destroy it.