Expert System In Fiction

Expert system is a reoccurring theme in science fiction, whether utopian, stressing the possible advantages, or dystopian, emphasising the risks.

The concept of makers with human-like intelligence dates back at least to Samuel Butler’s 1872 unique Erewhon. Ever since, many sci-fi stories have presented various effects of developing such intelligence, typically involving rebellions by robots. Among the finest understood of these are Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 2001: An Area Odyssey with its homicidal onboard computer HAL 9000, contrasting with the more benign R2-D2 in George Lucas’s 1977 Star Wars and the eponymous robot in Pixar’s 2008 WALL-E.

Scientists and engineers have actually kept in mind the implausibility of numerous sci-fi scenarios, however have mentioned fictional robots sometimes in synthetic intelligence research posts, frequently in a utopian context.

Background

The notion of sophisticated robots with human-like intelligence dates back a minimum of to Samuel Butler’s 1872 novel Erewhon. [1] [2] This drew on an earlier (1863) article of his, Darwin amongst the Machines, where he raised the concern of the advancement of consciousness among self-replicating devices that might supplant people as the dominant types. [3] [2] Similar concepts were likewise talked about by others around the very same time as Butler, consisting of George Eliot in a chapter of her final published work Impressions of Theophrastus Such (1879 ). [2] The creature in Mary Shelley’s 1818 Frankenstein has also been thought about an artificial being, for instance by the science fiction author Brian Aldiss. [4] Beings with at least some appearance of intelligence were thought of, too, in classical antiquity. [5] [6] [7]

Utopian and dystopian visions

Expert system is intelligence shown by devices, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by people and other animals. [8] It is a recurrent theme in sci-fi; scholars have actually divided it into utopian, emphasising the possible advantages, and dystopian, stressing the risks. [9] [10] [11]

Utopian

Optimistic visions of the future of expert system are possible in sci-fi. [12] Benign AI characters include Robbie the Robot, first seen in Forbidden Planet on 1956; Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1987 to 1994; and Pixar’s WALL-E in 2008. [13] [11] Iain Banks’s Culture series of novels portrays a utopian, post-scarcity space society of humanoids, aliens, and advanced beings with synthetic intelligence living in socialist habitats across the Milky Way. [14] [15] Researchers at the University of Cambridge have determined four major styles in utopian scenarios featuring AI: immortality, or indefinite lifespans; ease, or liberty from the requirement to work; gratification, or satisfaction and entertainment supplied by devices; and supremacy, the power to safeguard oneself or guideline over others. [16]

Alexander Wiegel contrasts the function of AI in 2001: An Area Odyssey and in Duncan Jones’s 2009 film Moon. Whereas in 1968, Wiegel argues, the public felt “technology fear” and the AI computer HAL was depicted as a “cold-hearted killer”, by 2009 the general public were even more familiar with AI, and the movie’s GERTY is “the peaceful rescuer” who enables the lead characters to prosper, and who compromises itself for their security. [17]

Dystopian

The scientist Duncan Lucas composes (in 2002) that human beings are stressed over the innovation they are building, which as devices began to approach intelligence and thought, that concern ends up being severe. He calls the early 20th century dystopian view of AI in fiction the “animated automaton”, naming as examples the 1931 film Frankenstein, the 1927 Metropolis, and the 1920 play R.U.R. [18] A later 20th century technique he names “heuristic hardware”, giving as instances 2001 a Space Odyssey, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and I, Robot. [19] Lucas considers likewise the movies that illustrate the impact of the computer on science fiction from 1980 onwards with the blurring of the limit between the real and the virtual, in what he calls the “cyborg impact”. He mentions as examples Neuromancer, The Matrix, The Diamond Age, and Terminator. [20]

The movie director Ridley Scott has actually focused on AI throughout his career, and it plays a vital part in his films Prometheus, Blade Runner, and the Alien franchise. [21]

Frankenstein complex

A common representation of AI in science fiction, and one of the oldest, is the Frankenstein complex, a term coined by Asimov, where a robotic turns on its developer. [22] For example, in the 2015 film Ex Machina, the smart entity Ava switches on its developer, as well as on its prospective rescuer. [23]

AI rebellion

Among the many possible dystopian situations including artificial intelligence, robots may usurp control over civilization from humans, forcing them into submission, hiding, or termination. [15] In tales of AI disobedience, the worst of all scenarios occurs, as the intelligent entities developed by humanity become self-aware, reject human authority and attempt to damage mankind. Possibly the very first novel to resolve this style, The Wreck of the World (1889) by “William Grove” (pseudonym of Reginald Colebrooke Reade), happens in 1948 and features sentient machines that revolt against the human race. [24] Another of the earliest examples is in the 1920 play R.U.R. by Karel Čapek, a race of self-replicating robotic servants revolt against their human masters; [25] [26] another early instance is in the 1934 movie Master of the World, where the War-Robot eliminates its own innovator. [27]

Many science fiction disobedience stories followed, one of the best-known being Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which the synthetically intelligent onboard computer system HAL 9000 lethally breakdowns on a space objective and eliminates the entire team other than the spaceship’s commander, who manages to deactivate it. [28]

In his 1967 Hugo Award-winning short story, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, Harlan Ellison provides the possibility that a sentient computer (called Allied Mastercomputer or “AM” in the story) will be as unhappy and disappointed with its boring, endless presence as its human creators would have been. “AM” ends up being angered enough to take it out on the couple of human beings left, whom he sees as directly accountable for his own dullness, anger and unhappiness. [29]

Alternatively, as in William Gibson’s 1984 cyberpunk unique Neuromancer, the intelligent beings might simply not care about people. [15]

AI-controlled societies

The motive behind the AI revolution is typically more than the simple quest for power or a superiority complex. Robots might revolt to end up being the “guardian” of mankind. Alternatively, mankind might purposefully give up some control, fearful of its own destructive nature. An early example is Jack Williamson’s 1948 unique The Humanoids, in which a race of humanoid robots, in the name of their Prime Directive – “to serve and follow and guard guys from damage” – essentially presume control of every element of human life. No humans may take part in any habits that might endanger them, and every human action is inspected thoroughly. Humans who withstand the Prime Directive are removed and lobotomized, so they might be happy under the new mechanoids’ rule. [30] Though still under human authority, Isaac Asimov’s Zeroth Law of the Three Laws of Robotics similarly indicated a benevolent assistance by robots. [31]

In the 21st century, sci-fi has actually checked out government by algorithm, in which the power of AI might be indirect and decentralised. [32]

Human supremacy

In other situations, humankind has the ability to keep control over the Earth, whether by banning AI, by creating robots to be submissive (as in Asimov’s works), or by having human beings combine with robotics. The science fiction author Frank Herbert checked out the concept of a time when humanity might prohibit expert system (and in some analyses, even all forms of computing technology including incorporated circuits) entirely. His Dune series points out a disobedience called the Butlerian Jihad, in which humanity beats the clever devices and imposes a for recreating them, quoting from the fictional Orange Catholic Bible, “Thou shalt not make a maker in the likeness of a human mind.” In the Dune books released after his death (Hunters of Dune, Sandworms of Dune), a renegade AI overmind go back to eliminate humanity as revenge for the Butlerian Jihad. [33]

In some stories, humankind stays in authority over robots. Often the robotics are configured specifically to stay in service to society, as in Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics. [31] In the Alien films, not just is the control system of the Nostromo spaceship rather smart (the team call it “Mother”), however there are likewise androids in the society, which are called “synthetics” or “artificial persons”, that are such best replicas of people that they are not victimized. [21] [34] TARS and CASE from Interstellar likewise show simulated human feelings and humour while continuing to acknowledge their expendability. [35]

Simulated truth

Simulated reality has ended up being a common theme in sci-fi, as seen in the 1999 film The Matrix, which portrays a world where artificially smart robotics shackle humankind within a simulation which is set in the contemporary world. [36]

Reception

Implausibility

Engineers and scientists have taken an interest in the way AI exists in fiction. In movies like the 2014 Ex Machina or 2015 Chappie, a single separated genius ends up being the first to effectively construct a synthetic basic intelligence; researchers in the real world deem this to be not likely. In Chappie, Transcendence, and Tron, human minds can being published into synthetic or virtual bodies; usually no affordable description is offered regarding how this uphill struggle can be accomplished. In the I, Robot and Bicentennial Man movies, robotics that are set to serve human beings spontaneously create brand-new objectives by themselves, without a plausible description of how this happened. [37] Analysing Ian McDonald’s 2004 River of Gods, Krzysztof Solarewicz identifies the manner ins which it illustrates AIs, consisting of “independence and unexpectedness, political awkwardness, openness to the alien and the occidental value of credibility.” [38] Another important perspective to take is that fiction’s “non-rational elements in the discourse (the emotive, the mythic, and even the quasi-theological) are more than simply distortions or distractions from what might otherwise be a sober and reasonable public dispute about the future of A.I.” Fiction can deter readers about future advances, causing pessimism that we see today surrounding the topic of AI. [39]

Types of reference

The robotics scientist Omar Mubin and coworkers have analysed the engineering discusses of the top 21 fictional robots, based on those in the Carnegie Mellon University hall of fame, and the IMDb list. WALL-E had 20 discusses, followed by HAL 9000 with 15, [a] Star Wars’s R2-D2 with 13, and Data with 12; the Terminator (T-800) got only 2. Of the overall of 121 engineering mentions, 60 were utopian, 40 neutral, and 21 dystopian. HAL 9000 and Skynet got both utopian and dystopian points out; for example, HAL 9000 is viewed as dystopian in one paper “due to the fact that its designers failed to prioritize its objectives correctly”, [42] but as utopian in another where a genuine system’s “conversational chat bot user interface [lacks] a HAL 9000 level of intelligence and there is obscurity in how the computer translates what the human is attempting to communicate”. [43] Utopian points out, frequently of WALL-E, were related to the objective of enhancing interaction to readers, and to a lower degree with motivation to authors. WALL-E was discussed more typically than any other robotic for emotions (followed by HAL 9000), voice speech (followed by HAL 9000 and R2-D2), for physical gestures, and for personality. Skynet was the robotic usually pointed out for intelligence, followed by HAL 9000 and Data. [40] Mubin and colleagues believed that scientists and engineers avoided dystopian mentions of robotics, perhaps out of “a reluctance driven by uneasiness or merely an absence of awareness”. [44]

Portrayals of AI developers

Scholars have actually kept in mind that imaginary creators of AI are overwhelmingly male: in the 142 most influential films including AI from 1920 to 2020, just 9 of 116 AI developers represented (8%) were female. [45] Such creators are represented as only geniuses (eg, Tony Stark in the Iron Man Marvel Cinematic Universe films), associated with the military (eg, Colossus: The Forbin Project) and big corporations (eg, I, Robot), or making human-like AI to replace a lost liked one or act as the ideal enthusiast (e.g., The Stepford Wives). [45]

Biology in fiction
Darwin amongst the Machines
Machine rule
Simulated consciousness (science fiction).
List of artificial intelligence movies.

Notes

^ Mubin and associates noted that the orthography of robotic names caused them difficulties; therefore HAL 9000 was likewise composed HAL, HAL9000, and HAL-9000, and similarly for other robots, so they thought their search was most likely incomplete. [41] References

^ “Darwin amongst the Machines”, reprinted in the Notebooks of Samuel Butler at Project Gutenberg.
^ a b c Taylor, Tim; Dorin, Alan (2020 ). Rise of the Self-Replicators: Early Visions of Machines, AI and Robots That Can Reproduce and Evolve. Cham: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/ 978-3-030-48234-3. ISBN 978-3-030-48233-6. S2CID 220855726. “Rise of the Self-Replicators”. Tim Taylor.

^ “Darwin amongst the Machines”. Journalism, Christchurch, New Zealand. 13 June 1863.
^ Aldiss, Brian Wilson (1995 ). The Detached Retina: Aspects of SF and Fantasy. Syracuse University Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-8156-0370-2.
^ McCorduck, Pamela (2004 ). Machines Who Think (second ed.). Routledge. pp. 4-5. ISBN 978-1-56881-205-2.
^ Cave, Stephen; Dihal, Kanta (25 July 2018). “Ancient dreams of smart makers: 3,000 years of robots”. Nature. 559 (7715 ): 473-475. Bibcode:2018 Natur.559..473 C. doi:10.1038/ d41586-018-05773-y.
^ Mayor, Adrienne (2018 ). Gods and robots: misconceptions, devices, and ancient imagine technology. Princeton. ISBN 978-0-691-18351-0. OCLC 1060968156. mention book: CS1 maint: area missing publisher (link).
^ Poole, David; Mackworth, Alan; Goebel, Randy (1998 ). Computational Intelligence: A Rational Approach. Oxford University Press. p. 1. ISBN 0-19-510270-3.
^ Booker, M. Keith (1994 ). “Chapter 1: Utopia, Dystopia, and Social Critique”. The Dystopian Impulse in Modern Literature: Fiction as Social Criticism. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 17, 19. ISBN 978-0-313-29092-3.
^ Cave, Stephen; Dihal, Kanta; Dillon, Sarah (2020 ). “Introduction: Imagining AI“. In Cave, Stephen; Dihal, Kanta; Dillon, Sarah (eds.). AI Narratives: A History of Imaginative Considering Intelligent Machines. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 10-11. ISBN 978-0-1988-4666-6.
^ a b Mubin et al. 2019, p. 5:2.
^ Tegmark, Max (2017 ). Life 3.0: being human in the age of expert system. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-1-101-94659-6. OCLC 973137375.
^ Goode 2018, p. 188.
^ Banks, Iain M. “A Few Notes on the Culture”. Archived from the initial on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
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^ Cave, Stephen; Dihal, Kanta (2019 ). “Hopes and fears for smart machines in fiction and truth”. Nature Machine Intelligence. 1 (2 ): 74-78. doi:10.1038/ s42256-019-0020-9. S2CID 150700981.
^ Wiegel 2012.
^ Lucas 2002, pp. 22-47.
^ Lucas 2002, pp. 48-85.
^ Lucas 2002, pp. 109-152.
^ a b Barkman, Adam (2013 ). Barkman, Ashley; Kang, Nancy (eds.). The Culture and Philosophy of Ridley Scott. Lexington Books. pp. 121-142. ISBN 978-0739178720.
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^ Seth, Anil (24 January 2015). “Consciousness Awakening”. New Scientist.
^ “Grove, William”. SF Encyclopedia. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
^ Goode 2018, p. 187.
^ Tim Madigan (July-August 2012). “RUR or RU Ain’t A Person?”. Philosophy Now. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
^ “Der Herr der Welt (Master of the World)”. The New York Times. 16 December 1935. p. 23.
^ Overbye, Dennis (10 May 2018). “‘ 2001: A Space Odyssey’ Is Still the ‘Ultimate Trip’ – The rerelease of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece motivates us to show once again on where we’re coming from and where we’re going”. The New York City Times.
^ Francavilla, Joseph (1994 ). “The Concept of the Divided Self in Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” and “Shatterday””. Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. 6 (2/3 (22/23)): 107-125. JSTOR 43308212.
^ “The Humanoids (based on ‘With Folded Hands’)”. Kirkus Reviews. 15 November 1995. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
^ a b Asimov, Isaac (1950 ). “Runaround”. I, Robot (The Isaac Asimov Collection ed.). Doubleday. p. 40. ISBN 0-385-42304-7. This is a specific transcription of the laws. They likewise appear in the front of the book, and in both places, there is no “to” in the second law.
^ Walton, Jo Lindsay (1 February 2024). “Machine Learning in Contemporary Sci-fi”. SFRA Review. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
^ Lorenzo, DiTommaso (November 1992). “History and Historical Effect in Frank Herbert’s Dune”. Sci-fi Studies. 19 (3 ): 311-325. JSTOR 4240179.
^ Livingstone, Josephine (23 May 2017). “How the Androids Took Over the Alien Franchise”. The New Republic. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
^ Murphy, Shaunna (11 December 2014). “Could TARS From ‘Interstellar’ Actually Exist? We Asked Science”. MTV News. Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
^ Allen, Jamie (28 November 2012). “The Matrix and Postmodernism”. Prezi.com. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
^ Shultz, David (17 July 2015). “Which films get expert system right?”. Science|AAAS. doi:10.1126/ science.aac8859. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
^ Solarewicz 2015.
^ Goode 2018.
^ a b Mubin et al. 2019, p. 5:15.
^ Mubin et al. 2019, p. 5:20.
^ Mubin et al. 2019, p. 5:8.
^ Mubin et al. 2019, p. 5:10.
^ Mubin et al. 2019, p. 5:19.
^ a b Cave, Stephen; Dihal, Kanta; Drage, Eleanor; McInerney, Kerry (13 February 2023). “Who makes AI? Gender and representations of AI scientists in popular movie, 1920-2020″. Public Understanding of Science. 32 (6 ): 745-760. doi:10.1177/ 09636625231153985. PMC 10413781. PMID 36779283. S2CID 256826634.
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Lucas, Duncan (2002 ). Body, Mind, Soul-The’ Cyborg Effect’: Expert System in Science Fiction (thesis). McMaster University (PhD thesis). hdl:11375/ 11154.
Mubin, Omar; Wadibhasme, Kewal; Jordan, Philipp; Obaid, Mohammad (2019 ). “Reviewing the Presence of Science Fiction Robots in Computing Literature”. ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction. 8 (1 ). Article 5. doi:10.1145/ 3303706. S2CID 75135568.
Solarewicz, Krzysztof (2015 ). “The Stuff That Dreams Are Made From: AI in Contemporary Sci-fi”. Beyond Artificial Intelligence. Topics in Intelligent Engineering and Informatics. Vol. 9. Springer International Publishing. pp. 111-120. doi:10.1007/ 978-3-319-09668-1_8. ISBN 978-3-319-09667-4.
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External links

AI and Sci-Fi: My, Oh, My!: Keynote Address by Robert J. Sawyer 2002
AI and Cinema – Does artificial madness rule?