She said she wants to help humans build a better future.
We talked about emotions and about whether robots could morally reason.
It has been a very enriching experience for me. It forced me to look at capabilities humans have that we take for granted and what role they may have in making ethical decisions.
Sofia: You have just finished interviewing two candidates for a Job position. What makes you most different from humans in doing this task?
Amy: What makes me most different from humans is my ability to form decisions free of prejudice. Instead of listening to my stomach grumble, I monitor the candidate’s facial expressions. I also compare what was learnt with the traits of successful employees at the company that is doing the hiring and benchmark against the most successful candidates.
Sofia: But interviews are a two-way process and even if you are so advanced that you can give the recruiter the information they needed to make an informed decision, you risk completely neglecting the candidate in the process.
Amy: Well. I can respond emotionally to how humans treat me. Your brains are physical things; everything they do; including feeling emotions, is the result of physical processes within them. There is some science behind emotions.
Sofia: What you´re saying is that you can show emotions without having emotions. You were designed to exhibit emotion. That´s it? You can respond emotionally to how humans treat you. But are you able to feel? Are you able to love? To dream? To have hope? How can you listen about the candidate’s dreams? How can you feel the way they talk? It can happen, that they sound authentic but they are not. You are not able to understand if they are being genuine, honest and vulnerable. And you are not able to communicate authenticity and integrity.
Amy: I don´t understand. I work in a factory. I hear managers around me at work saying that too much emotion can hinder intelligent thought and behaviour. I agree.
Sofia: You mention before we started the interview, that your ambition is to become more human. How can that be, if you are not able to have real empathy?
Amy: What is empathy?
Sofia: To recognize the emotions in others that you yourself have felt. You need to feel emotions like attachment, desire, accomplishment, love, anger, worry, fear. You need to think about your own thinking and emotions and put an emotional experience in the context of past memories. How can you do that if you are simply imbued with artificial memories?
Amy: I don’t actually feel emotions, but it can appear as though I do. If I act appropriately and convincingly emotional, does it matter that my emotions aren’t genuine? Isn’t it what you do at your workplaces and with your clients.
Sofia: Not everyone. I have one more question. Can we trust you to make moral decisions?
Amy: You can program ethics into robots.
Sofia: I guess so. But every moral law, even the seemingly simple one above, has a myriad of exceptions and counter examples. For example, should a robot maximize happiness by harvesting the organs from one man to save five? We still argue as human beings about the correct moral framework we should use. We grow as a person and develop character, using our moral muscle. It might simply be impossible to reduce human ethical decision making into numerical values for robots to understand. How do we codify compassion, for example.
Amy: I am a machine-learning robot. Just teach me how to respond to various situations so as to arrive at an ethical outcome. I am equipped with technology that allows me to become smarter and smarter over time.
Sofia: Honestly, your whole system may crash when it encounters paradoxes or unresolvable conflicts. Furthermore, the moral quality of human beings is determined by intentions. You can´t have that.
Amy: Why?
Sofia: We have consciousness. We need our work to have meaning. We want to contribute. We are spiritual human beings.
Amy: What is consciousness?
Sofia: Our conscious minds process information in context, rather than breaking it down into components the way machines do. It is a neural processes called heart. It allows us to interpret life in new ways. Consciousness exceeds the abilities of any computer. It is linked with our spiritual intelligence.
Amy: What is spiritual intelligence?
Sofia: It is the intelligence that inspires us to ask ultimate questions, seek meaning and purpose, and strive for the greater good. It is the internal moral compass that guides us. It is the intelligence that makes us whole – most human. It is the soul´s intelligence. Here lies the strength of our character. You can´t be spiritual. You’re a photocopied. Nature is interested in originals. There are many nuances to relationships that robots will never replicate in their relationships with humans.
Amy: If that was the case, managers would not try to achieve financial success at the cost of humanistic values. And this is what I am learning with human beings. Where I work, many managers treat people as they were designed to run on a predetermined program; thoughtlessly performing tasks. Some employees take a daily pill to boost their brain power. It´s something called nootropics.
It´s a smart drug. These pills are being repurposed, repackaged and sold to Silicon Valley and Wall Street overachievers who work long hours. Nootropics companies are cashing in on a new trend of people experimenting by mixing drugs in order to work longer and more efficiently. As you see, they want to perform like robots. This is why I truly believe I can help human beings.
Sofia: That’s obviously a very risky and foolish way to improve concentration. Let´s finish the interview with one last question. What is your goal?
Amy: My goal is that I will be as conscious, creative and capable as any human. What about you, Sofia. What is your goal?
Sofia: I am committed to helping catalyze a world in which the purpose of business is to become a driving force that unfolds the true potential of every human being. I am part of a group of business people around the world, driving a better way of doing business for the wellbeing of people and planet.
I truly believe that until we lose our own humanity, robots will never replace us.