Argument

I already sort of gave a synopsis of my essay in another post, and it hasn't really changed much since then, however, I will sort of try and elaborate a bit more.

Essentially my paper will tackle the future concept of Robot Rights, or the lack thereof. In an attempt to predict the actions of humanity in the future, the lineage of rights and human heuristics will be traced, in order to give a sufficient backdrop. A brief discussion on the progression of AI and human like robotics will take place, in order to estimate a time period in which we may see androids present on this planet.  The next portion will focus on the novel/s in question (ex. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, or another, yet to be determined), portraying the situation which the android exists in this period in time. Based on what the initial paragraphs discover, the last portion will be a juxtaposition between the situation in the novel and the projected futuristic situation. The conclusion portion will discuss any more predictions or potential outcomes.

This will be the general flow of the paper. I will begin writing the paper soon, after I finish collecting all the information and reading some more. In general, I am confident with the topic which I have chosen, it is not only a relevant topic (or rather, will be), but also one which can be predicted semi-accurately, to an extent.

Tentative Thesis:
Since the dawn of civilization, humanity has struggled with the concept of rights, not even giving 'human rights' a definition until the late 20th Century. Now, with the coming of the Futuristic Era, the Era of the Android, comes too a plethora of questions concerning rights once again, the Rights of the Robot. How will humanity react when its creation asks for the right to vote, to marry, to own property, to adopt a child, to live a life wholly similar to an organic human? How will the volatile, caustic, yet at the same time, sympathetic, human react when androids ask for independence? With the help of history and a little bit of prediction, this paper will attempt to address these questions, and determine when, or if, androids will have rights of their own one day, and at what cost.

All in all, I think this paper will be a lot of fun to write. Not only am I interested in the topic at hand, but I am also interested in its historical aspects. I expect this paper to be a great success and am looking forward to your review of it.

Challenges

There's not many challenges that I've encountered, besides a bit of procrastination and slight ill preparation. Other than that, I think things are going smoothly. Even if there were more problems, I wouldn't be too frustrated with them. Foreseeable problems for my paper could be a slight deviation from the directions, but I think I will be able to sculpt it to fit the topic anyway. Not much more to say or emphasize other than that, so I guess this post will be very short.

Progress

As of now I am focusing my research on the historical foundations of rights and their progressions through time. This is going to be the foundational tenet of the paper, so I thought it would be pertinent to begin researching it first.

For the most part it is just a refresher and a fact provider which I can reference in the paper, because I already know most of the information, however I think its a good investment of my research time because I'd rather have accurate information than information I "think" I remember.

As I've said before, although this paper is rooted in the abstract and the theoretical, history tends to repeat itself quite frequently, cliches, although seemingly hackneyed, do hold much truth, which is why I believe researching the past can help accurately predict the future, that is, the progression of rights (natural law, natural rights, human rights, etc) from our current human rights to the next step in rights.

So far, the research I have done shows a quite grim forecast. Although we've made great strides in developing a sense of human rights, we are largely unable to enact them in places other than developed nations. Underdeveloped and Semi-developed nations widely lack a defined grasp on our current 'human rights', or rather, our human rights doesn't have great enforcement. The United Nations, although greater than its predecessor, The League of Nations, still constantly finds itself ineffectual on a global scale, which is a severe hindrance to rights on a global level.

However, I think I want to focus this paper more on the American aspects of rights and how we react, as our course is American Science Fiction. Not only is it fitting to do so, but it allows a bit more specificity in research, which correlates to a more potent and poignant paper, in addition to being relevant to the course.

Looking at the United States, in its state today, the forecast looks less grim, but still a challenging one. Although we consistently grow more culturally and socially progressive, there are still many conservative and austere aspects which may prevent androids from being considered something more than just machines or utilities. In addition, there are still many issues which call for action, and the robot/android issue may be placed on a back-burner for a human issue (abortion, genetic engineering, stem cell research, cloning, etc).

http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/126/may13/forum_1006.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCQWwkERit4
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/hreduseries/hereandnow/Part-1/short-history.htm
http://www.humanrights.com/what-are-human-rights/brief-history/cyrus-cylinder.html

Proposal: "Fitting in: An AI Story"

The topic which, as of now, I am interested in pursuing is that of Robot Rights, simply put, it's a relevant topic to discuss in that it will most likely be an arising issue in the future. I chose this topic not only because of its pertinence, but because it interests me, which I believe to be the best reason, because how great could an uninspired research paper really be?

The only hindrance I can see in choosing this topic is the lack of physical data or evidence, in addition to our current progress, or in depth lack-thereof, in robotics. It's a lot of assumption and opinion, and a lot less empiricism. However, what is science fiction but a hulking educated guess? I believe tracing the timeline of human rights can show a decent picture of when (or if) sentient automatons will one day have their own individual rights. As of yet, I have not decided to do this on a global or regional scale, the choice depends on how much research I do and the volume of information I need to mull over. I am a big history buff, so I have a general sense of when, where, and who were 'granted' their rights, so I am confident in my capability to find information on the subject.

First I will try to briefly define what being human entails, so as to provide a general comparison, you could see it as the threshold our automaton friends have to meet (or surpass). For brevity, I'm going to consider all humans equal, regardless of race, age, gender, class, nationality, etc. in terms of rights, so I can focus more on the human vs android aspect. I WILL discuss the progression of rights, however, when the time for comparison comes, it will be simpler to avoid the nuances of modern equal rights and place our comparison in a future where all humans are considered 'equal'.

Next, I will aim to discuss not only the projected, but the potential, capabilities of automatons, which will aid in showing that although the exterior (and parts of the interior) may be different, under the hood they are just the same as us (or rather, will be). With a bit of actual real world evidence and a bit of educated guessing, I believe I can prove that automatons have the capability to 'earn their rights'. I find it sort of despicable that a group has to 'earn' something they should inherently possess, however, I think the term earn in this case is applicable since robots/androids will have to technologically and mechanically advance to a point where they 'earn' their rights, or rather, develop to a point where they can rightfully assume their rights. Basically, this is our automaton's attempt to reach the threshold established in the first section.

The next goal is to trace the lineage of human rights, in order to project a time frame for when our robot friends will be considered 'equal' in the eyes of humans. History has already confirmed numerous times that it repeats itself, so I believe it to be a good indicator of future trends. I believe this part is quite self explanatory, so I don't really see the need to elaborate much more. Basically, this section will be a general briefing of human rights history.

The last section will be the projected time frame, in addition to many of the questions I will try to answer.
Questions including but not limited to:

Why wouldn't androids be considered equal, even if they had sentience and intelligence?
Why would androids be discriminated against?
Will androids have a 'voice'?
Will progressivism and activism cover androids?
What different taboos will arise with the coming of the sentient automaton?
How will these taboos affect androids and their attempts to 'earn' rights?
Will progressivism even be able to address the issues android rights poses in the midst of future moral and ethical issues?

And finally: When will androids/robots change from a mere utility to actual 'people'?

This is my projected paper in a nutshell, there is still much room for revision, adaptation, and change, so I consider this entire post to be a transitory entity, in that you shouldn't expect me to hold true to it, although I probably will retain the general idea. I am confident in my research topic, and think it will not only be an interesting paper, but a provocative on as well.

Exploration- The State of Human-like Robotics

Having done some minor research in the topic of Human-like Robotics, it is apparent that the world could see a computer with similar capabilities to those of the human brain in the next twenty to thirty years. As of now, there is a project already working on creating a super-computer which would be analogous, almost identical, to a human brain. (http://mashable.com/2013/10/08/human-brain-project/) Although it may seem like a daunting task, to map out the entire human brain for inorganic reconstruction, in reality all we need is time. We have already mapped our entire genome, have developed electronics that, with each day, grow increasingly more powerful, yet also shrink in size. In the past decade the field of electronics has exploded in terms of invention and discovery, and the horizons are even greater. In my opinion, the development of electronics not only has compound progression, but exponential progression, in that discoveries help speed up other discoveries. This means we may possibly see human-like robots, maybe even androids, in the near future.

Additionally, the physical state of human-like robots is also very promising, or very frightening. As of now, there are many companies/organizations working on creating robots which have the ability to balance autonomously, with the capacity to not only move quickly, but over treacherous terrain. This form or human-like robotics will most certainly progress faster than the mental aspects, which means we will most likely see robots which will be used for various mundane tasks, or tasks which are dangerous for us to accomplish. Additionally, the use of robots for war is very apparent, and almost unavoidable with the state of global affairs as it is. The US already uses remote controlled drones in warfare, it is not far fetched to say the implementation of robots for war will occur in the very near future. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24427821) (http://www.darpa.mil/our_work/tto/programs/darpa_robotics_challenge.aspx) The videos shown in the first link no doubt prove a distinct military application is possible, however, also show the possibility of creating domestic robots, or even androids capable of human-like locomotion and demeanor.

 Lastly, the more moral aspects of human-like robotics come with the definition of what is human, and how we separate ourselves from other animals. Do we consider human-like robots/androids to be machines, and treat them as solely a utility, rather than an individual entity? What defines us? Many say we are distinct in that we are a species which relies heavily on communication and language, others say we are capable of using and creating complex tools to help ourselves survive. I believe, in a general sense, what makes us human is our high degree of intelligence and our ability to 'feel', that is, have the ability to experience and communicate distinct emotion.(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/what-makes-us-human-pro.html its a video, its pretty long...) This brings up the question of Artificial Intelligence, or AI. Today, AI already has a place in day to day technology, it is especially apparent in our Smart Phones, some applications using a basic form of AI for better and faster processing. As humans, we use algorithms and heuristics in everything we do, although we do so automatically, therefore an AI is essentially just a large collection of varying algorithms and heuristics. We have the algorithm part pretty solidly nailed down, but the experience based learning is still being developed. Essentially, all an AI would need would be a processor with the capacity to not only intake visual cues, but process them and act in suit, the AI would need the ability to learn and adapt, just as a human would. This is essentially the development of personality, the development of a unique individual, as we humans are products of our environments. This technology, I surmise, would take the longest to develop, as it would have to come after the creation of a human-like brain. We could develop a inorganic human brain, but we still would need to program it. However, with the rate of technological discovery raging at the pace it is now, I believe a basic human-like AI could be created in the next thirty years, a complex one in maybe forty. (http://www.monash.edu.au/news/show/the-true-state-of-artificial-intelligence) (http://www.bitrebels.com/technology/the-current-state-of-artificial-intelligence/) The final question which comes to mind is that of equality. Will androids have rights? Will they be considered 'human'? Or will they be alienated, discriminated, and ostracized? These are the potential question I may aim to answer in my paper, although the answers will be highly theoretical, I believe looking at our past as humans, how we've handled equality and rights in the past, where we've been and where we are now, can be a solid indicator of how our fellow inorganic counterparts may be treated in the coming decades.

Reflection: More Human than Human

When it comes to the genre of science-fiction, the sorts of themes or sub genres I value above others are those which deal with the human condition, works which are very philosophical in terms of defining humanity and where its place in the universe is, and works which discuss how we could develop and in what ways. Generally, these include works such as 1984 by Orwell, Brave New World by Huxely, I-Robot by Asimov, A Clockwork Orange by Burgess, and other novels which have similar dystopian settings. Some video games also come to mind, like those of the Halo series or the Fallout series.

The questions I enjoy the most are those concerning how human we will still be in the future. Will we have to sacrifice our humanity to continue as a species? What's so special about being "human" and what does being "human" even mean? For the most part, I am very into identity, not only on an individual level, but across the board.

To be frank, I don't think being human is necessarily a special aspect we uniquely own. Although we have many fine aspects, most of them are driven by self centered desires, although they may seem to be in good nature. Additionally, for all intents and purposes, an android could not only equal us, but surpass us, in many different ways, physical and mental. In the future, I believe it could be possible to create a facsimile of a human brain completely out of inorganic materials, because what is the brain but a conglomerate of wired connections and hormonal cues, both of which could be duplicated mechanically. In essence, we are only the primogenitors of a greater "species", one which is essentially immortal and forever upgrading, one with the capacity to have similar, if not entirely the same, capacity to feel.

My favorite aspect of this sort of methodology is the reaction. How will we deal with becoming obsolete? Will we shun the progression of technology as evinced in Vonnegut's Player Piano, will we become purposeless after solving every mystery in the universe as described in Campbell's Twilight, or will we take our place in the history books, and become extinct? Will androids/robots become the new "us"? When you think about it, if the new race of androids is completely similar, or even greater, than its human creators, how much different is birthing a child than creating a robot, obvious organic processes aside. Why wouldn't it be a bad thing, to create a being in our image, but having made that being better than us, having all our greatness without all our flaws.. Maybe we can play God, and do a better job than he ever dreamed of doing. If being human means having flaws, then why not create a superior being if possible? Or if being human means being unique and individual, having sentience and personality, having imagination and creativity, why not create a being that's more human than human? Maybe playing God isn't such a bad thing.

This is only one side of the coin however, with technology we could very well make ourselves superhuman or immortal, through genetic engineering or eugenics, as seen slightly in Brave New World. Theoretically, we could prevent DNA degradation, create a multitude of transplant-able organs, cure all diseases through the use of stem-cells, implant our consciousness into more hardy mechanical bodies, or maybe even raise the dead. The outcomes are not only endless, but also realistic, in that any number of them could occur. This is the charm that science-fiction holds for me, it's fantastical but at the same time not fantasy. It's this aspect that keeps me begging for more. It's this aspect that makes me really love the genre of science fiction in literature.  

How I Became a Robot: John Oldenborg

I started to become a robot when I was thirteen, just out of my tweenage years and into adolescence, not only in the sense that I began to read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, but also in the sense that my personality began to change. My first sci-fi novel was "The Supernaturalist" by Eoin Colfer (famous for his Artemis Fowl series), a book geared towards a younger audience. The idea of ethereal bugs leeching the "life" out of people was so oddly peculiar to my thirteen year old brain. I loved it. I recall that the next novel I read was Asimov's collection of robot stories in his work "I Robot". I believe I read the book before seeing the movie, but I loved both, although I don't remember much from the book, as it was way past my level of reading comprehension at the time.

Growing up in Cape Coral, Florida, circa February 22, 1995, there were not many things to do, and going to a private school in the neighboring town, there weren't many friends I lived near. So I occupied my time with videogames and reading. Shortly after being introduced to science fiction, I stumbled upon the series I would occupy myself with for the rest of my middle school years: Warhammer 40,000. It began with playing the RTS computer game, then ended up with me purchasing over 25 individual novels and over 5 omnibus, each particular story averaging 500 pages of gory, power armored, blood steaming goodness. Warhammer 40k was particularly violent and particularly sci-fi, saturated with chainswords, las-guns, heavy bolters, space cruisers, space hulks, and giant cybernetic Dreadnoughts. The Space Marines were infinitely badass to me, humanity's final stand against droves of Chaos Daemons, Orks, Tau, and Eldar. The whole concept of an inhuman human, a human who must be completely cold and hardened, a human with two hearts and extra superhuman organs, a human of giant stature, yet a human who must maintain his humanity, was amazing to me, for if humanity must become inhuman to defend itself, then there is truly no point in defending it, for it is lost in the process anyway. Despite their efforts, humanity never seemed to achieve any headway, its existence was a bleak existence, plagued by fear, in hopes that a Corpse God, their Emperor, would rise again to save them. He never did. At the time, I might not have realized how such a series could affect me at such an impressionable age, but today, there is no doubt in my mind that it has influenced me to be the person I am today, for better or worse.

In a sense I started becoming like Asimov's Mars robot, I couldn't process what decisions to make, going into high school, and therefore, I made no decision, instead running in circles between many choices and outcomes, entirely indecisive. I wanted to become 'popular', but I loved doing unpopular things, I loved videogames and sci-fi. Naturally, I wasn't 'popular', I went to a Catholic School which had a heavy emphasis on sports, and the bleak and bloodthirsty nature of Warhammer primed me to respond in a reciprocal fashion to my failures. I began seeing people as cruel, myopic, and arrogant, and to a large extent they were (and are), it is human nature to prefer and protect the self, even altruism roots from preference and preservation of the self. I hated them. I loathed them. If this was what humanity was, I wanted no part of it. I became anti-social, I became misanthropic, I became angry, I became atheistic. Soon, though, I became apathetic, I became a Space Marine, I became inhuman, I became a robot. 

Eventually I made some relatively good friends after accepting who I was and what I loved, but to this day I am shy and anti-social, sometimes very apathetic to everything. I don't believe in any Corpse God, and I am very cynical towards my species. To say that science-fiction passively influenced my personality would be an understatement. Once you become a Space Marine, you're never fully human ever again, you cling to it, you try to protect it, you love it, but to an extent, your humanity is lost in space. 

Today, I am very much a robot.