“‘Pierce was built by design, while you were built by accident,’ Lakashti said. ‘The soul is what matters, not the shape of the vessel.’ ‘What makes you think he has a soul?’ Gerrion said. ‘What makes you think you do?’" - Keith Baker, The Shattered Land
@@nothanks9503 I guess I don’t understand your question. I cannot determine how anyone can see their own fate, or anyone else’s. Unless they can predict the future. For example, I make a lot choices, but the outcome is not always under my control. Even when it is, the outcome may not be what I expected. Looking back on my life, I had no idea I would end up like I did. If you would have told me what the future would look like for me, I wouldn’t have believed a word. Fate was kind. But there are countless people who made the same career choices and I don’t doubt worked just as hard, who never have been as lucky. I don’t know the reason for any of it, if there is one. So that’s why I say it’s impossible for me to know if I had anything to to do with it or it was just an illusion.
Tangentially related: I remember in Futurama when most of Bender gets knocked out of the crows nest by a diamond. Hermes says something like "Bender is one of Planet Express's most expensive appliances". I laughed but it was always a little interesting that in the Futurama universe robots always existed between being a sentient individual that could fall in love, vote, and qualify for boat loans; and a disposable workforce that could be melted down as soon as they weren't needed.
Yeah human skills are learned for one thing then used where applicable we learned to treat humans a disposable workforce still do as much as can be gotten away with for most people then we will apply it to robots
Came to the comments to say this. I remember that movie in my teens. I remember, I guess it is kinda hard to explain, a sense that there is more to what "life/a soul/BEING", well, IS, then what I realized (and I am a hard skeptic that doesn't fall into any religious or realm of common thought). Plus, didn't help that they had Robin Williams starring as the lead role. He is the just the best, even here as a role that is not as well known as some of his other roles. Side note: Adam Savage, of Mythbuster fame, has a funny story involving Mr. Williams while doing prop work (prior to doing Mythbusters) for Bicentennial Man. Something about a joke involving what a dolphin sounds like while hopped up on ecstasy or acid or something of that nature. Some off the wall story he told in one of his Vlogs he does on his (Adam's) Tested channel. Sh*t was hilarious.
As soon as I saw the title I wondered if you'd bring up 'Measure of a Man'. And I am *so* glad you did. It's both one of the best and one my favorite episodes of Star Trek. Both in the questions it raises and both in how it answers them, and how it doesn't answer them.
@Daniel Allen Indeed but i think one day maybe not in our lifetime. But sometime in the future. These questions will come up again with real androids in real life.
I'm surprised you left out a very important fact, in my opinion. In the episode, Data's state as a "living being" is determined using the expression "to understand the concept and desire the outcome". That is a quote lifted word for word from the Bicentennial Man.
I'm so glad you brought up Data and the TNG episodes about his life/sentience. As a child I watched the episodes, and rewatching them now makes them so much more powerful.
@marcelsgroot The Original Series. It's a way to distinguish it from the later series, since it was simply titled _Star Trek_, much like the original film _Star Wars_ now sports the additional _Episode IV: A New Hope_.
Quin I love the thought provoking breakdown of the books your present. You're the Levar Burton Reading Rainbow of SciFi literature. I appreciate that, immensely. Seriously, keep up the fantastic work.
For some reason I'm reminded of e3n, better known as Ethan from call of duty infinite warfare. Over the course of the story, basically everyone who encounters him initially treats him as an object and then rapidly warms up to him as a true brother in arms It's actually pretty touching.
The measure of a man, gave me a lot of respect for Riker. He had to put aside his beliefs and biases, to be a vigorous advocate for something he didn't believe in. He did his duty the best he possibly could. It really helped Riker prove he was not Picard's yes man.
This was often my experience as a policeman. You're often required to do what is 'correct',...not what is 'Right.' Legal correctness over morality. It's a sad way to live, and I'm relieved to have abandoned the occupation.
@@pepleatherlab3872 i imagine that impossible in times where AG's and high ranking politicians order police officers to actively do morally bankrupt work or instantly release violent domestic ... "activists" ... after commiting crimes which would result in years of jail time .. but those people are required to produce more chaos and problems .. so they're released .. i couldn't live with myself releasing violent criminals to keep commiting crimes on a political basis ..
While I understand that the movie that came out was pretty much a Robin Williams vehicle and little else, I have a soft spot for the film in my mind. I appreciated the emotional weight of living beyond loved ones, slowly becoming more human, working to better humanity. I dunno, it's an otherwise forgettable film, but I don't think I'll forget it.
Great video as always. On the context on the humanity of non biological intelligence I highly recommend the AMC show Pantheon. Its an animated show that revolves around mind uploading and a major part of it is the reaction of the uploaded minds and the normal humans to the new humanity of the people they once knew and the question on whether they still are these people. You will really love it and the show desperately needs exposure since it wasn’t advertised at all.
I own so many Asimov short story collections. 🥰 Data is the character that got me interested in robots as a kid and I do see some similarities between him and Andrew. R. Daneel too to a certain extent.
Quinn your channel is a real joy for me. I love Sci Fi but there is so much out there finding new authors and series can be a daunting task but through your insights and book reviews I have added so many gems to my growing library and for that sir I salute you! Your amazing man! I thought my Star Trek NG days were over but I'm so going to revisit this episode. As far as Asimov I am going to check out robot dreams and I'll see you on Discord as well my friend!! Keep being awesome Quinn, peace out!
This is what I've always thought--if consciousness is just an emergent property of a complex-enough brain, then there is no reason we will not eventually create a consciousness. It's really cool to learn that Asimov of all people thought of this issue similarly. What worries me is that not only are we _capable_ of creating a conscious machine, and not only is that machine going to be indistinguishable from a human consciousness, but we won't _know_ when we've reached that point. Because the experience of being conscious is private and subjective, it's going to be very hard to pinpoint exactly when we make the jump from "a very good imitation of a human" to "basically just a human." Committing atrocities against our creations is almost a given unless we establish them as having rights _before_ we get too far into this field, and with some of the amazing modern AI I'm seeing, I'm scared we might have already missed the window.
NA modern AI uses basic neutral net like things but in terms of what they call general intelligence, we have got nowhere. Things like the AI that can write news articles or draw pictures- its not general AI at all- its a tiny network trained to do one little task- thats all it can ever be or do. That isnt to say your are wrong. I too think we WILL end up making general inteligence AI that must be considered sentient.. But we are a lot further from it than you think- nobody is even working on it.
A self-conscious machine sharing those essential qualities of personhood might not be an imitation of humans at all, and end up having little else in common with us. That could be even harder to recognize.
Love that Asimov was already thinking decades (maybe even centuries) ahead of his contemporaries within the Sci-Fi community when he developed both the idea of the Three/Four Laws of Robotics and the question of consciousness with both Daneel and Giskard in the Robots series. The fact the Fourth/Zeroth Law wasn't used until "Robots and Empire" (read it in high school) when realizing that for humanity to survive it; "must leave Earth and spread itself out among the stars"
Oh my goodness you have always had such an awesome channel. You have the most unique and interesting artwork without very many repetitions [like a slide show looping] you cover the most interesting topics and I love your new introduction and the font you use is great!
Great video man, I really appreciate you making videos about Scifi books and stories that I have not heard of. Your explanations are great and I love that you bring up the authors and their thoughts as well as your own on the work. I'm always happy to see a new video on your channel, thank you for all your hard work.
My mum got me into Asimov's robot stories when I was about 11, they were the first literary science fiction I read and even back then, I could tell they were something special. I've been fascinated by the concept of artificial intelligence ever since.
Was this the inspiration behind the love death and robots episode with the robot who made massive pieces of art and eventually wanted to return to his preconscious state?
I'm guessing this was, until the end I was immediately thinking of Andrew Martin given the shift. Zima stating to have originally been a "simple" robot that gradually became more complex before being "human"
Asimov and Roddenberry spoke more than a few times. He was named as a consultant in The Motion Picture and was key in the inspiration for Data and, Noonien Soong. Noonien Soong, according to the books, was a fan of people like Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov. His mentor - by the name of Flint at the time (don't want to spoil for those who haven't read Cold Equarions) - encouraged this even. Soong was enfsruated with bringing the concepts to reality. He has an artists' heart where he just creates just to create. There is a practical purpose to it, but Noonien is not the type to think if he should. He thinks more on the likes of 'why the hell not?'. He didn't fit in with the ideas of Starfleet mainly due to the regulations and, the fact that if he had made Data within that sort of organization, his inventions would have been legally owned by them. To Soong, his inventions were meant to be more. So he strikes on his own after he was mocked for his failures and decides to use his canvas and his paint - in terms of his tools of course. This is one of the biggest reasons why I wouldn't mind to see a good show about Noonien Soong, the outcast, the thinker, and somewhat of a misfit. How he got the money he did to fund his own work - the books cover part of this but seeing it in action would be pretty amazing and can bring in new characters. At its core he would still be very much Federation, and has a few of the ethics - he coded Data with them after all. But given what is in the novels, he lives more at the fringes of the elegance and the more noble aspects of the Federation, needing a bit more freedom, needing to stretch his imagination as far as he could. The kind of character who is a rogue at heart, but an honorable one. If they wanted to make a show that wasn't as Starfleet but still based in that world, a Soong show could work very well, and it would be interesting to delve into the mind of the creator.
In any discussion about man-made objects which strive to become human, mention of Pinocchio is usually made. The fictional idea of a humanoid machine which wants to become a real human goes back over 100 years to the original Pinocchio novel. I haven't read any previous comment about it, so I mention Pinocchio here for the sake of completeness. Also, the Bladerunner movie is another brutal exploration of the humanity of androids.
I find it interesting that in the Mega Man franchise robots and reploids follow a similar journey to that of Andrew in the Bicentennial man. Just over generations of robots as opposed to one.
One of the best performances by Patrick Stewart, in overall great performances as Captain Picard. This episode always gives me chills. It is no wonder why fans demanded that Sir Patrick reprise his role as Picard. He has taught a generation of young men what it means to be a man and a leader.
@@senorcapitandiogenes2068 yep, it's such a shameful embarrassment of a show. easily the worst of nuTrek, and that's saying something when we have Disco.
On the TNG slant to the ideas Asimov brought up, one of the weirdest things TNG stated was that Lore was rejected for being "too human" so Data was made without emotions to make humans more comfortable. I think the idea was it made him less of a threat. That was literally borne out as being true in the TNG narrative. That aside, it seemed that Data's lack of emotions made him less of a person and more of a tool. You don't worry if a forklift can lift more than you or a wrench can grip a nut more securely. Without emotions it's almost impossible to have your own agenda, or form goals. That's why I'm pretty sure Data had emotions, he just didn't experience them the same way.
Two details I thought of reading this; 1) B4 (introduced in Nemesis) was essentially a child-like prototype of both Lore and Data as he was stated to have "a simpler neural net" and only replicates Data's mind just after Picard informs him of Data's sacrifice, 2) aside from Lore only Lal was stated to be "almost human" as she surpassed Data in her ability to feel emotions, even if only surviving one episode due to her neural net degrading. I don't think it was just Lore being "too human" but he was developed to such a degree he leaned towards psychopathy due to being the cause of the Crystal Entity destroying the colony and manipulating the freed Borg. Data came off as a highly skilled, but limited emotional android and without the emotion chip seemed to barely display emotions without a trigger (The Descent, Pt. 1).
I’d love you to look into some of Stanisław Lem’s or Strugastky brothers’ books. They formed my taste in sci-if and honestly it would be great to see if you find any genre-defining (or -defying) parts of them. Absolutely love your channel mate
The question of the book was answered for me the moment Andrew began to ask questions himself, independent of anyone asking him. The will to search, the desire for answers, _that_ is the essence of the soul. It gives us the ability to ask “Why?” And to understand the answer, or at least to attempt understanding.
I don't even read fiction books at all... nothing but Non-fiction, but you have me wanting to go buy and read all these sci-fi books. Like your videos a lot man.
Been a long time since I read it and I, Robot, but I kinda think that Andrew making himself mortal shows something you could call free will. He broke the third law, like the human intelligence with its unique abstractness can overcome any instinct and take itself in an incalculable number of directions. In time he might've broken the other two.
Very deep and interesting post, had to watch it twice to get it , l have 3 books on my Christmas list. My daughter started watching your channel, to get gift ideas for me , but she loves it !
Absolutely love that episode as Data was always fascinating. I love the idea of an android in general as it sort of goes beyond what a machine is Mankind build tools to improve how they do things. Each step in the evolution of said tool shows progression. When the more complex machine, then computer, is an example of this unique presses. All three of these words generally point to one concept: these are made to help mankind What happens when you go beyond a simple tool? Not a complex welder or hands off vacuum but something capable of complex thought. Data wasn’t made to do anything but be a sentient being. He was still looked at as a machine but he was built to be so much more I think it gets more complicated in the Star Wars universe. Robots are everywhere and are built for particular reasons, but many do have the ability to think. To keep them from having “logic errors” they suggest you “memory wipe” and this keeps them from going “rouge”. Unlike Data they are usually considered just tools despite many who often demonstrate the ability to demonstrate free will Sorry, more ranting, but I absolutely love this topic. Big fan of Robotics in Science Fiction and would love to hear about more on the topic 🤖
Off topic here, but.. I don't know if those thumbnails are ia-made or not, but I'm very excited at the idea of seeing truckloads of completely fresh, crazy and adéquat artworks of all our scifi masterpieces. Wargame people might relate : there's only so much art you can't use to illustrate the inspiring topic at hand, restraining the sense of wonder IAs might bring back in the balance,.from now on... Such future awe to come...
I’m a big fan of Larry Niven as an author and also the works he co-wrote with Jerry Pournelle. I’d like to see your treatments of the various works by Niven and of Niven & Pournelle. The Ringworld stories, The Mote in God’s Eye and Footfall would be some material I’d love to see you create content for these, as a suggestion of where to start. Thank you in advance.
TBH, you probably can't really be considered a 'Human' without the existential dread of knowing you are on borrowed time. It's called the 'Human' condition for a reason.
The Bicentennial man and I,Robot are also movies are movies based off Asimov's books. Bicentennial man ( Robin Williams) which is directly about Andrew Martin the Positionic man which I quite enjoyed
a question posed in the start was, at what point does a machine have rights? and then when we look at how we treat humans or animals, we do not give humans rights so we are screwed before we even start.
We only have unproven theories about how consciousness is generated. We used to be certain that only humans have consciousness, communication and toolmaking. But crows, chimps, dolphins and other animals all have shown these abilities. And yes Measure of a man is one of the great Trek episodes. I don't think it is hyperbole to say that it vanquished all the naysayers. Yes there were still people talking down STNG, saying it wasn't real Trek but some kind of wannabe.
I used to think the human brain was a machine and a sufficiently advanced machine would become like a human brain, but I've recently started to change my mind while reading about people such as Gödel and Turing, because the human brain appears to not be algorithmic the way a computer necessarily is. This line of thinking has made me see things like Asimov's work and the the Minds in the Culture differently.
Our brain is an electro biological computer - ofcourse it works in different ways and doesnt have software code as simple as algorythms but it DOES have a network of nodes with weights that all connect is certain ways to give rise to our minds- in a VERY similar way that we write AI- which is totally different to regular programming. And none of our own experience in being informs us on how our minds work at the lowest functional levels.
Yeah, honestly I think that I would be more willing to believe an AI is truly sentient if it *isn't* like a human. We already have machine learning systems that are getting really good at imitating people, but they only imitate the output of a person in the most efficient way, they aren't truly aware. If an AI claimed sentience, but had an alien thought process that was more in line with how a computer operates, then I would be more willing to believe that it's truly sentient.
Data had several things going for him in terms of being accepted as human that Andrew didn't. 1) He was human in appearance from the start. 2) He wasn't part of a civilization that had huge numbers of non-sentient robots already. 3) He was part of a civilization that had made contact with hundreds of other alien species and had become accustomed to extending the concept of sentience beyond standard humans.
I only recently watched the episode in Star Trek TNG season 1 in which Data's brain is specifically referred to as a positronic brain, and immediately saw the Asmiov reference. Previously I hadn't thought about how Data might be a lot like Andrew, but he clearly is.
Great video! I get much of my TBR from this channel. I’ve read Foundation but not this one yet. Would love to see you cover Book of the New Sun at some point, which I see on your bookshelf. Or for some truly mind-bending Gene Wolfe - check out The Fifth Head of Cerberus, which along with Dune and 3 Body is one of my favorites sci-fis ever!
It is also my most favorite star trek episode. There was some mention in the next gen show of Asimov, In the episode where they go to the planet Data was found and they find Lore. Jar says hes creator dreamed of making Asimov positronic brain. Also datas strive to become human mirrors Andrews. I always thought that the writer of next gen are Asimovs fans and that Data is a tribute to Asimov. Also in the DS9 episode where Sisko 'dreams' hes a writer he has a collegue played by colm (o'brian) who is clearly inspired by Asimov
Definite one of my favorite Scifi books. Although interesting I am often frustrated at Data's desire to become "human" as he often chooses the worst aspect humanity to aspire to. ironically immortality is something that most human aspire to, it is built into our program to want to live forever, yet these machines give that up
There is also a very real analogy between differing neurologies and the human norm, as well as those who are not afforded their humanity trying desperately to conform in order to "earn" it.
I watched the film adaptation of bicentennial man with robin williams on youtube a couple weeks ago, I liked it when I was a kid and it's still pretty good. youtube actually has quite a few free movies uploaded legitimately
Hey Quinn Any chance you could explore another, non-foundation, Asimov novel, "The God's Themselves" from 1972. It won the Hugo and Nebula awards and is a very different Asimov novel, though exploring the nature of both Life and the Ethics of Science.
There was a twilight zone style show that came on tv in the late 90s/ early 00s I can't for the life of me remember the name of. There was an episode where a child had some of type of accident and his father transfers his son's (and eventually his own) conciseness to android body. I was pretty young and it sparked an interest in transhumanism, never considered that it could also be applied from machine to organic human. Even when I watched the Robin Williams film the connection did not hit me until now.
Have you ever listened to the podcast "Strange Studies of Strange Stories" (formerly "The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast")? They went over the Bicentennial Man. I think it's a podcast that both you and your audience will enjoy
I know you have heard me say this a thousand times. You got my son to read with your dune book videos. It has helped me and my son create an amazing BOND. I cant thank you enough. OR COULD I. My son is now 16 and I think he would love the Steel Rat books. However he wont even give them a chance. PLEASE please please. Think about something to do a video on of the books. My son is just of the right age to TRULY enjoy. The Steel Rat. I am on my knees begging. THE STEEL RAT videos. So he will give the books a chance. He and I have read almost all the books you have done videos on. I think him and MANY others out there would LOVE the books. THEY are so stupid and amazing and funny all at the same time.
Robin Williams did a great job in the movie adaption of Bicentennial Man. Too bad the marketing made it look like a comedy and it spoiled the experience since it felt like a tear jerker.
I watched Measure of a Man in its first run, and that's where I learned I to follow Turing's test... If I talk to someone and I can't tell they're not conscious, then I'll accept they're a conscious being. Simple enough rule for me to follow.
The soul is what differentiates robots from real sentient life. Most people believe the free thinking person is a manifestation of the physical brain, but this is a fundamental error. The soul is the origin of our personalities, emotions, memories etc… and that’s an entirely non-physical entity that operates _through_ the body, making the brain a tool of the soul, rather than its origin. This is quickly understood after one dies, loses their physical body, and continues living in the spirit world…without their physical form anymore. Infact, it’s kind of a big thing there how disconnected to reality the Earth is because this notion that we are just our physical selves is so held onto as a belief until we die and realise the truth. It’s entertaining though to consider.. what if a robot is sophisticated enough to “harbour a soul”… I don’t think it’ll ever be possible because the soul is very tightly linked to a biological process - the process of incarnation, being born into this world. And robots are not part of the incarnation process of the soul
There's a great Asimov short story called "Segregationist" about a surgeon complaining about all the humans that want robot parts and the robots that want human parts. It's definitely worth a read.
I would love to see a vid on Frank Herbert's Consentiency Series. My personal favorite aliens in science-fiction are in those books. The Caleban and Taprisiots are pretty awesome ngl.
I would love to see a video covering Karl Schroeder's Virga series. It's my favorite series at the moment, though I'm only halfway through. If I had to describe it in as few words as possible, I'd say: "It's sky pirates except it's steampunk except it's post-singularity sci-fi."
Excellent and fascinating video as always. I wasn't aware of this book and now I want to read it. Nobody knows what is consciousness and how it comes about. There are quite a few theories. One of them is indeed that consciousness emerges somehow from the activity of the brain, though there is no explanation how exactly this happens, how an objective phenomenon creates a subjective experience. Note though that this is just one theory rather than a given truth. So, to figure out if an android or any machine can have consciousness, we would need to figure out first what is consciousness and how it's created. Would be interested to hear if there are more books that explore this topic of the hard problem of consciousness since it fascinates me.
What is required for something to be alive? In my opinion, sentience, but what constitutes sentience? A set of three criteria, the first, cognitive awareness, to recognize oneself and to be able think for oneself, to have beliefs and ideas, the second is emotion, to be able to understand and experience to some degree the emotions we have, the third and final is pain, to have the capacity to experience struggle and hardship, to feel loss and understand what it means, pain not in the physical sense, but the emotional. That to me constitutes a living being. And to those who oppose this perspective, riddle me this: if humanity develops the capacity to digitize consciousness, would they still be human? Or, if we can augment ourselves with machine parts to such a degree, when do we stop being human? I am willing to accept the rights of machines should they meet only two of the "Machina Vita Criterium".
There's a Bicentennial Man publication with a giant robot fighting a plane on the cover. It's baffling, did people spend all the effort and money needed to publish a book without telling the cover artist anything about it except that it has a robot?
Imagine being immortal and wanting to die, just to be like humans. Really! Transcendence also touched on this, all I was thinking about even in the Tv series of Westworld, was going to the stars finally! Hopefully in a part two of that movie, they will use the second chance, that was left for them at their home, in the end of that movie!
This is why i find david and the androids of the alien universe so interesting. David believes himself above humanity, but longs to be human. It's shown in the books and comics that sometimes the androids can break free of their restraints and become independent, becoming human, when David, even though programed to be subservient, still had emotions, wants, desires. In the first few minutes of him on screen he rides a bike, plays basketball, watches a movie, styles his hair like the character in the movie, making you wonder why an android would do these things when its supposed to be a machine. Do machines get bored? do they think? If they don't have emotion why does he enjoy music and films, things fundamentally created through emotion. Why would he be curious? Why want to create?
Interesting story, curious if you could do a video on ChatGPT and AI alignment. We are seeing the beginning of true AI. Science fiction becoming reality in the next 10 to 20 years
“‘Pierce was built by design, while you were built by accident,’ Lakashti said. ‘The soul is what matters, not the shape of the vessel.’
‘What makes you think he has a soul?’ Gerrion said.
‘What makes you think you do?’"
- Keith Baker, The Shattered Land
Good to see Eberron references in the comments of a video about Asimov. Baker would be proud!
Another unanswerable question. Like knowing if you control your fate, or your fate was always meant to be that you did.
@@southpaw7426 both, and the illusion of consciousness is between them
@@southpaw7426what if you cannot recognize your fate and take steps to avoid it but someone else can
@@nothanks9503 I guess I don’t understand your question. I cannot determine how anyone can see their own fate, or anyone else’s. Unless they can predict the future. For example, I make a lot choices, but the outcome is not always under my control. Even when it is, the outcome may not be what I expected.
Looking back on my life, I had no idea I would end up like I did. If you would have told me what the future would look like for me, I wouldn’t have believed a word. Fate was kind. But there are countless people who made the same career choices and I don’t doubt worked just as hard, who never have been as lucky. I don’t know the reason for any of it, if there is one.
So that’s why I say it’s impossible for me to know if I had anything to to do with it or it was just an illusion.
Tangentially related: I remember in Futurama when most of Bender gets knocked out of the crows nest by a diamond. Hermes says something like "Bender is one of Planet Express's most expensive appliances". I laughed but it was always a little interesting that in the Futurama universe robots always existed between being a sentient individual that could fall in love, vote, and qualify for boat loans; and a disposable workforce that could be melted down as soon as they weren't needed.
Yeah human skills are learned for one thing then used where applicable we learned to treat humans a disposable workforce still do as much as can be gotten away with for most people then we will apply it to robots
"a disposable workforce", so just like humans then?
I loved the movie Bicentennial Man and thought it was one of the few movies that captured the essence of the source material.
Came to the comments to say this. I remember that movie in my teens. I remember, I guess it is kinda hard to explain, a sense that there is more to what "life/a soul/BEING", well, IS, then what I realized (and I am a hard skeptic that doesn't fall into any religious or realm of common thought). Plus, didn't help that they had Robin Williams starring as the lead role. He is the just the best, even here as a role that is not as well known as some of his other roles.
Side note: Adam Savage, of Mythbuster fame, has a funny story involving Mr. Williams while doing prop work (prior to doing Mythbusters) for Bicentennial Man. Something about a joke involving what a dolphin sounds like while hopped up on ecstasy or acid or something of that nature. Some off the wall story he told in one of his Vlogs he does on his (Adam's) Tested channel. Sh*t was hilarious.
That's still one of my childhood favorites
I loved that movie!!
I consider BM to be one of the few movies that perfectly adapts the source material.
That is still one of the most beautiful movies I remember and a fond memory of my childhood.
As soon as I saw the title I wondered if you'd bring up 'Measure of a Man'. And I am *so* glad you did. It's both one of the best and one my favorite episodes of Star Trek. Both in the questions it raises and both in how it answers them, and how it doesn't answer them.
Damn right!
@Daniel Allen Indeed but i think one day maybe not in our lifetime. But sometime in the future. These questions will come up again with real androids in real life.
I'm surprised you left out a very important fact, in my opinion.
In the episode, Data's state as a "living being" is determined using the expression "to understand the concept and desire the outcome". That is a quote lifted word for word from the Bicentennial Man.
I'm so glad you brought up Data and the TNG episodes about his life/sentience. As a child I watched the episodes, and rewatching them now makes them so much more powerful.
Asimov is name-dropped a few times in TNG, and the Professor himself spoke glowingly of TOS. Wish they'd had him on the show, as they did Hawking.
They wanted to, but things never worked out. He had a lifelong refusal to fly. We also later learned that he was dying of HIV.
what is TOS?
@marcelsgroot The Original Series. It's a way to distinguish it from the later series, since it was simply titled _Star Trek_, much like the original film _Star Wars_ now sports the additional _Episode IV: A New Hope_.
Quin I love the thought provoking breakdown of the books your present. You're the Levar Burton Reading Rainbow of SciFi literature. I appreciate that, immensely. Seriously, keep up the fantastic work.
I cry every time I watch Bicentennial Man. Robin Williams really made me feel for Andrew
For some reason I'm reminded of e3n, better known as Ethan from call of duty infinite warfare.
Over the course of the story, basically everyone who encounters him initially treats him as an object and then rapidly warms up to him as a true brother in arms
It's actually pretty touching.
The measure of a man, gave me a lot of respect for Riker. He had to put aside his beliefs and biases, to be a vigorous advocate for something he didn't believe in. He did his duty the best he possibly could. It really helped Riker prove he was not Picard's yes man.
Edited for some random auto fill words. Lol
The judge said she would rule against the defendant if she thought he wasn’t doing his best.
This was often my experience as a policeman. You're often required to do what is 'correct',...not what is 'Right.' Legal correctness over morality. It's a sad way to live, and I'm relieved to have abandoned the occupation.
@@pepleatherlab3872 i imagine that impossible in times where AG's and high ranking politicians order police officers to actively do morally bankrupt work or instantly release violent domestic ... "activists" ... after commiting crimes which would result in years of jail time .. but those people are required to produce more chaos and problems .. so they're released .. i couldn't live with myself releasing violent criminals to keep commiting crimes on a political basis ..
@@TheyCalledMeT
And then the people blame the officers instead of the politicians.
While I understand that the movie that came out was pretty much a Robin Williams vehicle and little else, I have a soft spot for the film in my mind. I appreciated the emotional weight of living beyond loved ones, slowly becoming more human, working to better humanity. I dunno, it's an otherwise forgettable film, but I don't think I'll forget it.
Yeah, from watching it as a kid, i remember Robin's jokes, and i remember thr existential angst of outliving your friends and family.
And yet, among "inspired by" adaptations, it is among the most faithful to the themes of the source work.
I don't know how many liberties the movie had, but it still across the point on what it means to be human and rights in general.
Great video as always. On the context on the humanity of non biological intelligence I highly recommend the AMC show Pantheon. Its an animated show that revolves around mind uploading and a major part of it is the reaction of the uploaded minds and the normal humans to the new humanity of the people they once knew and the question on whether they still are these people. You will really love it and the show desperately needs exposure since it wasn’t advertised at all.
I own so many Asimov short story collections. 🥰 Data is the character that got me interested in robots as a kid and I do see some similarities between him and Andrew. R. Daneel too to a certain extent.
Quinn your channel is a real joy for me. I love Sci Fi but there is so much out there finding new authors and series can be a daunting task but through your insights and book reviews I have added so many gems to my growing library and for that sir I salute you! Your amazing man! I thought my Star Trek NG days were over but I'm so going to revisit this episode. As far as Asimov I am going to check out robot dreams and I'll see you on Discord as well my friend!! Keep being awesome Quinn, peace out!
I LOVE that ep. My fav bit is Data and Rikers chat after the case is over.
“You hurt yourself and saved me. I will not forget it.” Love that moment.
This is what I've always thought--if consciousness is just an emergent property of a complex-enough brain, then there is no reason we will not eventually create a consciousness. It's really cool to learn that Asimov of all people thought of this issue similarly.
What worries me is that not only are we _capable_ of creating a conscious machine, and not only is that machine going to be indistinguishable from a human consciousness, but we won't _know_ when we've reached that point. Because the experience of being conscious is private and subjective, it's going to be very hard to pinpoint exactly when we make the jump from "a very good imitation of a human" to "basically just a human." Committing atrocities against our creations is almost a given unless we establish them as having rights _before_ we get too far into this field, and with some of the amazing modern AI I'm seeing, I'm scared we might have already missed the window.
NA modern AI uses basic neutral net like things but in terms of what they call general intelligence, we have got nowhere. Things like the AI that can write news articles or draw pictures- its not general AI at all- its a tiny network trained to do one little task- thats all it can ever be or do.
That isnt to say your are wrong. I too think we WILL end up making general inteligence AI that must be considered sentient.. But we are a lot further from it than you think- nobody is even working on it.
A self-conscious machine sharing those essential qualities of personhood might not be an imitation of humans at all, and end up having little else in common with us. That could be even harder to recognize.
Love that Asimov was already thinking decades (maybe even centuries) ahead of his contemporaries within the Sci-Fi community when he developed both the idea of the Three/Four Laws of Robotics and the question of consciousness with both Daneel and Giskard in the Robots series. The fact the Fourth/Zeroth Law wasn't used until "Robots and Empire" (read it in high school) when realizing that for humanity to survive it; "must leave Earth and spread itself out among the stars"
One of my favorite subjects. Very logically and intelligently approached. Good work.
Oh my goodness you have always had such an awesome channel. You have the most unique and interesting artwork without very many repetitions [like a slide show looping] you cover the most interesting topics and I love your new introduction and the font you use is great!
Quinn this reminds me of an episode of Futurama were Bender seeks a way to prove that he is able to have free will; and it also involved a trial.
Great video man, I really appreciate you making videos about Scifi books and stories that I have not heard of. Your explanations are great and I love that you bring up the authors and their thoughts as well as your own on the work. I'm always happy to see a new video on your channel, thank you for all your hard work.
My mum got me into Asimov's robot stories when I was about 11, they were the first literary science fiction I read and even back then, I could tell they were something special. I've been fascinated by the concept of artificial intelligence ever since.
Was this the inspiration behind the love death and robots episode with the robot who made massive pieces of art and eventually wanted to return to his preconscious state?
I'm guessing this was, until the end I was immediately thinking of Andrew Martin given the shift. Zima stating to have originally been a "simple" robot that gradually became more complex before being "human"
Interesting discourse and great that your main sidebar was Data from STTNG - Data's journey is to be human - keep up the high quality and thank you
Asimov and Roddenberry spoke more than a few times. He was named as a consultant in The Motion Picture and was key in the inspiration for Data and, Noonien Soong. Noonien Soong, according to the books, was a fan of people like Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov. His mentor - by the name of Flint at the time (don't want to spoil for those who haven't read Cold Equarions) - encouraged this even. Soong was enfsruated with bringing the concepts to reality. He has an artists' heart where he just creates just to create. There is a practical purpose to it, but Noonien is not the type to think if he should. He thinks more on the likes of 'why the hell not?'. He didn't fit in with the ideas of Starfleet mainly due to the regulations and, the fact that if he had made Data within that sort of organization, his inventions would have been legally owned by them. To Soong, his inventions were meant to be more. So he strikes on his own after he was mocked for his failures and decides to use his canvas and his paint - in terms of his tools of course.
This is one of the biggest reasons why I wouldn't mind to see a good show about Noonien Soong, the outcast, the thinker, and somewhat of a misfit. How he got the money he did to fund his own work - the books cover part of this but seeing it in action would be pretty amazing and can bring in new characters. At its core he would still be very much Federation, and has a few of the ethics - he coded Data with them after all. But given what is in the novels, he lives more at the fringes of the elegance and the more noble aspects of the Federation, needing a bit more freedom, needing to stretch his imagination as far as he could. The kind of character who is a rogue at heart, but an honorable one. If they wanted to make a show that wasn't as Starfleet but still based in that world, a Soong show could work very well, and it would be interesting to delve into the mind of the creator.
In any discussion about man-made objects which strive to become human, mention of Pinocchio is usually made. The fictional idea of a humanoid machine which wants to become a real human goes back over 100 years to the original Pinocchio novel. I haven't read any previous comment about it, so I mention Pinocchio here for the sake of completeness. Also, the Bladerunner movie is another brutal exploration of the humanity of androids.
Ghost in the Shell
I saw the title of this video today at 5 am and read "The postironic man" so this was not what I expected:D
I find it interesting that in the Mega Man franchise robots and reploids follow a similar journey to that of Andrew in the Bicentennial man. Just over generations of robots as opposed to one.
Yeah even some anime like vivy kind of tackled it.
I always felt that way too, it's super cool how those concepts are so openly woven into the franchise.
Zima blue episode in Love, death, and robots series on netflix must of taken inspiration from these stories.
One of the best performances by Patrick Stewart, in overall great performances as Captain Picard. This episode always gives me chills. It is no wonder why fans demanded that Sir Patrick reprise his role as Picard. He has taught a generation of young men what it means to be a man and a leader.
Too bad that is the opposite of what the nuPicard is
@@senorcapitandiogenes2068 yep, it's such a shameful embarrassment of a show. easily the worst of nuTrek, and that's saying something when we have Disco.
On the TNG slant to the ideas Asimov brought up, one of the weirdest things TNG stated was that Lore was rejected for being "too human" so Data was made without emotions to make humans more comfortable.
I think the idea was it made him less of a threat. That was literally borne out as being true in the TNG narrative. That aside, it seemed that Data's lack of emotions made him less of a person and more of a tool. You don't worry if a forklift can lift more than you or a wrench can grip a nut more securely. Without emotions it's almost impossible to have your own agenda, or form goals.
That's why I'm pretty sure Data had emotions, he just didn't experience them the same way.
Two details I thought of reading this; 1) B4 (introduced in Nemesis) was essentially a child-like prototype of both Lore and Data as he was stated to have "a simpler neural net" and only replicates Data's mind just after Picard informs him of Data's sacrifice, 2) aside from Lore only Lal was stated to be "almost human" as she surpassed Data in her ability to feel emotions, even if only surviving one episode due to her neural net degrading.
I don't think it was just Lore being "too human" but he was developed to such a degree he leaned towards psychopathy due to being the cause of the Crystal Entity destroying the colony and manipulating the freed Borg. Data came off as a highly skilled, but limited emotional android and without the emotion chip seemed to barely display emotions without a trigger (The Descent, Pt. 1).
Thanks Quinn. An excellent analysis as always.
The depth and understanding of the subject you display is a pleasure to listen to.
I’d love you to look into some of Stanisław Lem’s or Strugastky brothers’ books. They formed my taste in sci-if and honestly it would be great to see if you find any genre-defining (or -defying) parts of them. Absolutely love your channel mate
The question of the book was answered for me the moment Andrew began to ask questions himself, independent of anyone asking him. The will to search, the desire for answers, _that_ is the essence of the soul. It gives us the ability to ask “Why?” And to understand the answer, or at least to attempt understanding.
I don't even read fiction books at all... nothing but Non-fiction, but you have me wanting to go buy and read all these sci-fi books. Like your videos a lot man.
Hey Quinn, I have this novel on my shelf waiting to be read!😎
@manny022 haven't started it yet😅
Been a long time since I read it and I, Robot, but I kinda think that Andrew making himself mortal shows something you could call free will. He broke the third law, like the human intelligence with its unique abstractness can overcome any instinct and take itself in an incalculable number of directions. In time he might've broken the other two.
Very deep and interesting post, had to watch it twice to get it , l have 3 books on my Christmas list. My daughter started watching your channel, to get gift ideas for me , but she loves it !
Absolutely love that episode as Data was always fascinating. I love the idea of an android in general as it sort of goes beyond what a machine is
Mankind build tools to improve how they do things. Each step in the evolution of said tool shows progression. When the more complex machine, then computer, is an example of this unique presses. All three of these words generally point to one concept: these are made to help mankind
What happens when you go beyond a simple tool? Not a complex welder or hands off vacuum but something capable of complex thought. Data wasn’t made to do anything but be a sentient being. He was still looked at as a machine but he was built to be so much more
I think it gets more complicated in the Star Wars universe. Robots are everywhere and are built for particular reasons, but many do have the ability to think. To keep them from having “logic errors” they suggest you “memory wipe” and this keeps them from going “rouge”. Unlike Data they are usually considered just tools despite many who often demonstrate the ability to demonstrate free will
Sorry, more ranting, but I absolutely love this topic. Big fan of Robotics in Science Fiction and would love to hear about more on the topic 🤖
Off topic here, but.. I don't know if those thumbnails are ia-made or not, but I'm very excited at the idea of seeing truckloads of completely fresh, crazy and adéquat artworks of all our scifi masterpieces.
Wargame people might relate : there's only so much art you can't use to illustrate the inspiring topic at hand, restraining the sense of wonder IAs might bring back in the balance,.from now on...
Such future awe to come...
I’m a big fan of Larry Niven as an author and also the works he co-wrote with Jerry Pournelle. I’d like to see your treatments of the various works by Niven and of Niven & Pournelle. The Ringworld stories, The Mote in God’s Eye and Footfall would be some material I’d love to see you create content for these, as a suggestion of where to start. Thank you in advance.
Two vids in as many days epic!
i find your voice soothing and your readings evocative
TBH, you probably can't really be considered a 'Human' without the existential dread of knowing you are on borrowed time. It's called the 'Human' condition for a reason.
The Bicentennial man and I,Robot are also movies are movies based off Asimov's books. Bicentennial man ( Robin Williams) which is directly about Andrew Martin the Positionic man which I quite enjoyed
a question posed in the start was, at what point does a machine have rights?
and then when we look at how we treat humans or animals, we do not give humans rights so we are screwed before we even start.
We only have unproven theories about how consciousness is generated.
We used to be certain that only humans have consciousness, communication and toolmaking.
But crows, chimps, dolphins and other animals all have shown these abilities.
And yes Measure of a man is one of the great Trek episodes.
I don't think it is hyperbole to say that it vanquished all the naysayers. Yes there were still people talking down STNG, saying it wasn't real Trek but some kind of wannabe.
yes that was my favorite ep of TNG .. just thinking back about it gives me goose bumps
Asimov is the GOAT!
AsiGoat
I read "Robots of Dawn" when I was EIGHT. I'm 35 now and there's a shelf on my bookshelf in my living room dedicated solely to Asimov.
Nah, Philip K Dick is.
@@AK-np4rp he's a close second...
As much as I love him, he has great ideas but hes not a great writer.
I used to think the human brain was a machine and a sufficiently advanced machine would become like a human brain, but I've recently started to change my mind while reading about people such as Gödel and Turing, because the human brain appears to not be algorithmic the way a computer necessarily is. This line of thinking has made me see things like Asimov's work and the the Minds in the Culture differently.
Our brain is an electro biological computer - ofcourse it works in different ways and doesnt have software code as simple as algorythms but it DOES have a network of nodes with weights that all connect is certain ways to give rise to our minds- in a VERY similar way that we write AI- which is totally different to regular programming.
And none of our own experience in being informs us on how our minds work at the lowest functional levels.
Yeah, it will take a lot of technological advancement or a discovery of some agi code to even make a sapient machine.
Yeah, honestly I think that I would be more willing to believe an AI is truly sentient if it *isn't* like a human. We already have machine learning systems that are getting really good at imitating people, but they only imitate the output of a person in the most efficient way, they aren't truly aware. If an AI claimed sentience, but had an alien thought process that was more in line with how a computer operates, then I would be more willing to believe that it's truly sentient.
@@equidistanthoneyjoy7600 like the geth from mass effect?
@@marcusaaronliaogo9158 I haven't played Mass Effect, sorry
Fascinating! Thank you for your thoughts and insights
The robot crewmember from The Orville is named "Isaac". Coincidence? I think not.
Excellent as always!
The Measure of a Man is a brilliant episode and my favorite. The first copy of a ST:NG VHS tape I owned was this episode. And I still have it.
Data had several things going for him in terms of being accepted as human that Andrew didn't. 1) He was human in appearance from the start. 2) He wasn't part of a civilization that had huge numbers of non-sentient robots already. 3) He was part of a civilization that had made contact with hundreds of other alien species and had become accustomed to extending the concept of sentience beyond standard humans.
I only recently watched the episode in Star Trek TNG season 1 in which Data's brain is specifically referred to as a positronic brain, and immediately saw the Asmiov reference. Previously I hadn't thought about how Data might be a lot like Andrew, but he clearly is.
Great video! I get much of my TBR from this channel. I’ve read Foundation but not this one yet. Would love to see you cover Book of the New Sun at some point, which I see on your bookshelf. Or for some truly mind-bending Gene Wolfe - check out The Fifth Head of Cerberus, which along with Dune and 3 Body is one of my favorites sci-fis ever!
Thank you quinn
It is also my most favorite star trek episode. There was some mention in the next gen show of Asimov, In the episode where they go to the planet Data was found and they find Lore. Jar says hes creator dreamed of making Asimov positronic brain. Also datas strive to become human mirrors Andrews. I always thought that the writer of next gen are Asimovs fans and that Data is a tribute to Asimov. Also in the DS9 episode where Sisko 'dreams' hes a writer he has a collegue played by colm (o'brian) who is clearly inspired by Asimov
Definite one of my favorite Scifi books. Although interesting I am often frustrated at Data's desire to become "human" as he often chooses the worst aspect humanity to aspire to. ironically immortality is something that most human aspire to, it is built into our program to want to live forever, yet these machines give that up
The Measure of a Man is SUCH a good episode that has aged so beautifully.
There is also a very real analogy between differing neurologies and the human norm, as well as those who are not afforded their humanity trying desperately to conform in order to "earn" it.
Dude crabbing a bucket? I'm going to have to think about that. I like it.
You convinced me to go back and read this. I'm not a fan of later Asimov works but this sounds great.
I would highly recommend science fiction debris (SFdebris) videos on both Asimov's robot books and The Measure of a Man.
Thes books, and that episode of TNG, it gives me shivers every time. This is a topic I have been talking on for years now.
i remember watching the movie that was based on this book
It's always great to see a fellow black dude interested in science fiction
One of my favorite stories by Asimov and i can see influence from Silverberg also, pure SF gem.
I watched the film adaptation of bicentennial man with robin williams on youtube a couple weeks ago, I liked it when I was a kid and it's still pretty good. youtube actually has quite a few free movies uploaded legitimately
Hey Quinn
Any chance you could explore another, non-foundation, Asimov novel, "The God's Themselves" from 1972. It won the Hugo and Nebula awards and is a very different Asimov novel, though exploring the nature of both Life and the Ethics of Science.
There was a twilight zone style show that came on tv in the late 90s/ early 00s I can't for the life of me remember the name of. There was an episode where a child had some of type of accident and his father transfers his son's (and eventually his own) conciseness to android body. I was pretty young and it sparked an interest in transhumanism, never considered that it could also be applied from machine to organic human. Even when I watched the Robin Williams film the connection did not hit me until now.
One of my favorite robot stories. City by Vliff Simak probably is my favorite though. Good movie.
thanks for the upload. for the algorithm
Great stuff, as always!
Have you ever listened to the podcast "Strange Studies of Strange Stories" (formerly "The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast")? They went over the Bicentennial Man. I think it's a podcast that both you and your audience will enjoy
Ahhh there it is ,a star trek man indeed ,that's why I felt I could subscribe🖖
I grew up on Asimov, Heinlein, AE Van Vogt, Niven, Varley, Spinrad..
No AC clarke or EF russel? They were great too!
I know you have heard me say this a thousand times. You got my son to read with your dune book videos. It has helped me and my son create an amazing BOND. I cant thank you enough.
OR COULD I.
My son is now 16 and I think he would love the Steel Rat books. However he wont even give them a chance.
PLEASE please please. Think about something to do a video on of the books. My son is just of the right age to TRULY enjoy. The Steel Rat. I am on my knees begging.
THE STEEL RAT videos. So he will give the books a chance. He and I have read almost all the books you have done videos on. I think him and MANY others out there would LOVE the books. THEY are so stupid and amazing and funny all at the same time.
Robin Williams did a great job in the movie adaption of Bicentennial Man. Too bad the marketing made it look like a comedy and it spoiled the experience since it felt like a tear jerker.
Best intro music on YT.
two in a row, excellent boss
Is your intro an actual track I can listen to? Or was it made just for your channel? Really love it so wanted to ask 😂
Reminds me of frankenstein in a sense, except the monster becomes disillusioned with humanity in the end
I watched Measure of a Man in its first run, and that's where I learned I to follow Turing's test... If I talk to someone and I can't tell they're not conscious, then I'll accept they're a conscious being. Simple enough rule for me to follow.
The soul is what differentiates robots from real sentient life. Most people believe the free thinking person is a manifestation of the physical brain, but this is a fundamental error. The soul is the origin of our personalities, emotions, memories etc… and that’s an entirely non-physical entity that operates _through_ the body, making the brain a tool of the soul, rather than its origin. This is quickly understood after one dies, loses their physical body, and continues living in the spirit world…without their physical form anymore. Infact, it’s kind of a big thing there how disconnected to reality the Earth is because this notion that we are just our physical selves is so held onto as a belief until we die and realise the truth. It’s entertaining though to consider.. what if a robot is sophisticated enough to “harbour a soul”… I don’t think it’ll ever be possible because the soul is very tightly linked to a biological process - the process of incarnation, being born into this world. And robots are not part of the incarnation process of the soul
There's a great Asimov short story called "Segregationist" about a surgeon complaining about all the humans that want robot parts and the robots that want human parts. It's definitely worth a read.
Robin Williams made a movie where he was a robot and slow over the generations he slowly became human
When you show the cutaway of the skull flashing, its absolutely jarring to my eyes.
I would love to see a vid on Frank Herbert's Consentiency Series.
My personal favorite aliens in science-fiction are in those books. The Caleban and Taprisiots are pretty awesome ngl.
I would love to see a video covering Karl Schroeder's Virga series. It's my favorite series at the moment, though I'm only halfway through. If I had to describe it in as few words as possible, I'd say: "It's sky pirates except it's steampunk except it's post-singularity sci-fi."
Excellent and fascinating video as always. I wasn't aware of this book and now I want to read it. Nobody knows what is consciousness and how it comes about. There are quite a few theories. One of them is indeed that consciousness emerges somehow from the activity of the brain, though there is no explanation how exactly this happens, how an objective phenomenon creates a subjective experience. Note though that this is just one theory rather than a given truth. So, to figure out if an android or any machine can have consciousness, we would need to figure out first what is consciousness and how it's created. Would be interested to hear if there are more books that explore this topic of the hard problem of consciousness since it fascinates me.
What is required for something to be alive? In my opinion, sentience, but what constitutes sentience? A set of three criteria, the first, cognitive awareness, to recognize oneself and to be able think for oneself, to have beliefs and ideas, the second is emotion, to be able to understand and experience to some degree the emotions we have, the third and final is pain, to have the capacity to experience struggle and hardship, to feel loss and understand what it means, pain not in the physical sense, but the emotional. That to me constitutes a living being. And to those who oppose this perspective, riddle me this: if humanity develops the capacity to digitize consciousness, would they still be human? Or, if we can augment ourselves with machine parts to such a degree, when do we stop being human? I am willing to accept the rights of machines should they meet only two of the "Machina Vita Criterium".
There's a Bicentennial Man publication with a giant robot fighting a plane on the cover. It's baffling, did people spend all the effort and money needed to publish a book without telling the cover artist anything about it except that it has a robot?
Hoooly,.. I think you just sold me Star Treck TNG and Ive never felt the urge to watch that
You're the MAN Quinn!
Imagine being immortal and wanting to die, just to be like humans. Really!
Transcendence also touched on this, all I was thinking about even in the Tv series of Westworld, was going to the stars finally! Hopefully in a part two of that movie, they will use the second chance, that was left for them at their home, in the end of that movie!
This is why i find david and the androids of the alien universe so interesting. David believes himself above humanity, but longs to be human. It's shown in the books and comics that sometimes the androids can break free of their restraints and become independent, becoming human, when David, even though programed to be subservient, still had emotions, wants, desires. In the first few minutes of him on screen he rides a bike, plays basketball, watches a movie, styles his hair like the character in the movie, making you wonder why an android would do these things when its supposed to be a machine. Do machines get bored? do they think? If they don't have emotion why does he enjoy music and films, things fundamentally created through emotion. Why would he be curious? Why want to create?
Interesting story, curious if you could do a video on ChatGPT and AI alignment. We are seeing the beginning of true AI. Science fiction becoming reality in the next 10 to 20 years
Brilliant stuff
Great video