Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Memory Implantation and Robots


The most unsettling aspect of the readings was the potential realness. The thought that what is occurring within these stories could essentially be the world we live in is quite disturbing, specifically in We Remember It For Your Wholesale. As a sentimental human being, I am extremely dependent on the memories I hold and the impact they have had on my development. This strong reliance on the past is an indicator that much of what we are is what has happened to us. Memories are what we know to be real, without any question or doubt. The idea of extracting what we know to be true and implanting artificial information is extremely disturbing, for a person could be entirely altered with the simplest alteration of their memory.

The idea of artificial knowledge or intelligence relates directly to the construction of robots, for we essentially implant a memory system within an imitation of a human. What is it exactly that makes a human a human? Is it the blood flowing through our veins? Is it the skin on our backs? Through the exploration of memory implantation, it seems that memory and intelligence are not what separate us from robots and do not define us as humans. 

No comments:

Post a Comment