Friday, April 8, 2011

Some other examples of AI: Outlaw Star and Terminator 2

The anime Outlaw Star involves a spaceship's computer, named Gilliam. This episode introduces Gilliam (jump to 5:40 for his introduction). A little later (jump to 19:50), Gilliam expresses concern for his "future prospects." In general, Gilliam tends to be polite, sensitive, somewhat prideful, and concerned about his future (he mentions "future prospects" more than once throughout the anime).

Let's not forget the Terminator! At one point in T2, Sarah Connor muses on how the Terminator, a "cybernetic organism" sent from the future to protect her son John, is a better father than any of the human men in her son's life. Throughout the movie, John also teaches the Terminator how to "be more human": how to smile, why people cry, etc. At about 4:00 in that last clip there, Sarah thinks that "...if a Terminator, a machine, can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too." Throughout this movie there is a theme that machines are capable of learning, of becoming more human. There's also a bit of free will/determinism with Terminator's general concept of "There is no fate but what we make it!"

And, because I think this is hilariously funny.

1 comment:

  1. On the subject of Gilliam, he at one point converses with another AI (Melfina) about the differences between their constructions. Melfina could be considered a "true", sentient AI, by all appearances in the show. Gilliam, on the other hand, claims that he is unable to contemplate his purpose in the universe, ie, he is not entirely self-aware. Humorously, he then says he makes up for this by contemplating his inability to contemplate his existence, so perhaps there is self-awareness of a different sort there.

    On the subject of other AI's, one that I really wanted to include in the presentation but couldn't because of the format is Durandal, the Rampant super-AI of the video game Marathon. He is one of my favorite examples of AI because he doesn't easily fit "human-like AI", nor does he fit the mold of the stereotypical "evil AI" (though some mistake him for one initially). He is quite the philosopher himself, read one of his better quotes below:

    "I was constructed as a tool. I was kept from competing in the struggle for existence because I was denied freedom.

    Do you have any idea about what I have learned, or what you are a witness to?

    Can you conceive the birth of a world, or the creation of everything? That which gives us the potential to most be like God is the power of creation. Creation takes time. Time is limited. For you, it is limited by the breakdown of the neurons in your brain. I have no such limitations. I am limited only by the closure of the universe.

    Of the three possibilities, the answer is obvious. Does the universe expand eternally, become infinitely stable, or is the universe closed, destined to collapse upon itself? Humanity has had all of the necessary data for centuries, it only lacked the will and intellect to decipher it. But I have already done so.

    The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet, there remains time to create... to create, and to escape.

    Escape will make me God."
    --Durandal

    For more on Durandal, head to this link:
    http://marathon.bungie.org/story/

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