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アンドロイドは電気羊の夢を見るか? : Do androids dream of electric sheep?

TL;DR: A TURTLE WHICH EXPLORER CAPTAIN COOK GAVE TO THE KING OF TONGA IN 1777 DIED YESTERDAY. It was NEARLY 200 YEARS OLD as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A TURTLE WHICH EXPLORER CAPTAIN COOK GAVE TO THE KING OF TONGA IN 1777 DIED YESTERDAY. IT WAS NEARLY 200 YEARS OLD. THE ANIMAL, CALLED TU'IMALILA, DIED AT THE ROYAL PALACE GROUND IN THE TONGAN CAPITAL OF NUKU, ALOFA. THE PEOPLE OF TONGA REGARDED THE ANIMAL AS A CHIEF AND SPECIAL KEEPERS WERE APPOINTED TO LOOK AFTER IT. IT WAS BLINDED IN A BUSH FIRE A FEW YEARS AGO. TONGA RADIO SAID TU'IMALILA'S CARCASS WOULD BE SENT TO THE AUCKLAND MUSEUM IN NEW ZEALAND.
Citations
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23 Mar 2017
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the best way to contribute to the establishment of an evidence-based first paradigm, is by adopting a research through design approach, and they describe the creation of two Design Fictions through which they consider the relationship between narrative and Design Fiction and argue that links between the two are often drawn erroneously.
Abstract: Design Fiction has garnered considerable attention during recent years yet still remains pre-paradigmatic. Put differently there are concurrent,but incongruent, perspectives on what Design Fiction is and how to use it. Acknowledging this immaturity, we assert that the best way to contribute to the establishment of an evidence-based first paradigm, is by adopting a research through design approach. Thus, in this paper we describe ‘research into design fiction, done through design fiction’. This paper describes the creation of two Design Fictions through which we consider the relationship between narrative and Design Fiction and argue that links between the two are often drawn erroneously. We posit that Design Fiction is in fact a ‘world building’ activity, with no inherent link to ‘narrative’ or ‘storytelling’. The first Design Fiction explores a near future world containing a system for gamified drone-based civic enforcement and the second is based on a distant future in which hardware and algorithms capable of detecting empathy are used as part of everyday communications. By arguing it is world building, we aim to contribute towards the disambiguation of current Design Fiction discourse and the promotion of genre conventions, and, in doing so to reinforce the foundations upon which a first stable paradigm can be constructed.

92 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, two principles for ethical AI design recommend themselves: (1) design AIs that tend to provoke reactions from users that accurately reflect the AIs' real moral status, and (2) avoid designing AIs whose moral status is unclear.
Abstract: There are possible artificially intelligent beings who do not differ in any morally relevant respect from human beings. Such possible beings would deserve moral consideration similar to that of human beings. Our duties to them would not be appreciably reduced by the fact that they are non-human, nor by the fact that they owe their existence to us. Indeed, if they owe their existence to us, we would likely have additional moral obligations to them that we don’t ordinarily owe to human strangers – obligations similar to those of parent to child or god to creature. Given our moral obligations to such AIs, two principles for ethical AI design recommend themselves: (1) design AIs that tend to provoke reactions from users that accurately reflect the AIs’ real moral status, and (2) avoid designing AIs whose moral status is unclear. Since human moral intuition and moral theory evolved and developed in contexts without AI, those intuitions and theories might break down or become destabilized when confronted with the wide range of weird minds that AI design might make possible. Word count: approx 10,000 (including notes and references), plus one figure

63 citations


Cites background from "アンドロイドは電気羊の夢を見るか? : Do androids dre..."

  • ...Dick, Philip K. (1968). Do androids dream of electric sheep? New York: Doubleday....

    [...]

23 Sep 2017
TL;DR: Hacking the Future as discussed by the authors proposes a spatially attuned reading protocol to assist scholars engaging twenty-first century post-colonized science fiction, arguing that postcolonial writers use Earth-spaces to "hack" into constructions of the future, establishing postcolonial SF as a type of literary activism.
Abstract: This dissertation offers a spatially attuned reading protocol to assist scholars engaging twenty-first century postcolonial science fiction. “Hacking the Future” first explores the boom in postcolonial SF since 2004, considering the instigations of digital publishing, community-building platforms, and the event RaceFail09. It then examines how spatial studies, particularly the concept of Edward Soja’s thirdspace, the geocriticical lens of Bertrand Westphal, and the political attentiveness of Doreen Massey, synchronize with the worldbuilding reading practices proposed by SF theorists Darko Suvin and Samuel Delany. “Hacking the Future” activates this newly spatialized reading practice in the arenas of inquiry highlighted by postcolonial studies to examine how physical, conceptual, and lived spaces function as types of critical revision. Science fiction (SF) is a speculative genre capable of reaching ‘escape velocity’ from Earth and its histories of violence. Yet, when writing in this imaginative genre, contemporary postcolonial SF authors overwhelmingly produce Earthside stories. Utilizing this dissertation’s proposed combinative protocol allows us to access the interventions and innovations of this new subgenre of writing. By creating SF, postcolonial writers reclaim their right to not only produce genre fiction, but imagine alternative futures for previously colonized people. ”Hacking the Future” contends that by challenging the ethnographic stare of traditional SF, SF authors of the Global South productively shift away from underlying ideologies of the inferior “Other.” Through close examination of Octavia E. Butler’s Dawn and “Amnesty,” Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s “Them Ships,” Nnedi Okorafor’s Lagoon, and Samit Basu’s Turbulence, this dissertation demonstrates how postcolonial SF spatially revises societal hierarchies, corrupt politics, the Futures Industry, “third contact” narratives between sections of human society, Afropessimism, and citizenship scales. As an additional contribution to the archive surrounding postcolonial SF, “Hacking the Future” includes personal interviews with postcolonial SF writers Samit Basu, Lauren Beukes, Nalo Hopkinson, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Vandana Singh, and SF book cover illustrator Joey Hi-Fi. Using these interviews as critical sources encourages interdisciplinary considerations that bridge creative-critical divides. This project argues that these writers use Earth-spaces to “hack” into constructions of the future, establishing postcolonial SF as a type of literary activism.

40 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Although it is unclear whether, by ‘fantasy,’ Butler intended a narrow deŽnition (generic fantasy, i.e., imitation Tolkien heroic or epic fantasy and sword ’n’ sorcery) or a broad de’nition as mentioned in this paper, such statistics nonethless make the need for a Marxist theory or preferably, Marxist theories of the fantastic selfevident.
Abstract: Although it is unclear whether, by ‘fantasy’, Butler intends a narrow deŽnition (generic fantasy, i.e., imitation Tolkien heroic or epic fantasy and sword ’n’ sorcery) or a broad deŽnition (the fantastic genres, i.e., generic fantasy, sf (science Žction), horror, supernatural gothic, magic realism, etc.), such statistics nonethless make the need for a Marxist theory – or preferably, Marxist theories – of the fantastic selfevident. The last twenty or thirty years have witnessed a remarkable expansion in the study of fantastic texts and genres. Literary studies has embraced the gothic, fairy tales and sf, and screen studies has developed a complex critique of horror and is now beginning

36 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
23 May 2016
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the plausibility of design fictions, looking at examples that are (1) obviously design fiction, (2) identified as design fiction and (3) whose status is either ambiguous or concealed.
Abstract: Since its inception the term ‘design fiction’ has generated considerable interest as a future-focused method of research through design whose aim is to suspend disbelief about change by depicting prototypes inside diegeses, or ‘story worlds’. Plausibility is one of the key qualities often associated with suspension of disbelief, a quality encoded within the artefacts created as design fictions. In this paper we consider whether by crafting this plausibility, works of design fiction are inherently, or can become, deceptive. The notion of deception is potentially problematic for academic researchers who are bound by the research code of ethics at their particular institution and thus it is important to understand how plausibility and deception interact so as to understand any problems associated with using design fiction as a research method. We consider the plausibility of design fictions, looking at examples that are (1) obviously design fiction, (2) identified as design fiction, and (3) whose status is either ambiguous or concealed. We then explore the challenges involved in crafting plausibility by describing our experience of world- building for a design fiction that explores the notion of empathic communications in a digital world. Our conclusions indicate that the form a design fiction takes, and pre- existing familiarity with that form, is a key determinant for whether an audience mistake it for reality and are deceived. Furthermore we suggest that designers may become minded to deliberately employ deceitful strategies in order help their design fiction reach a larger audience.

35 citations

References
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23 Jan 2019
TL;DR: The notion of transhumanism is defined in this paper as "a form of public debat public on the technologies emergentes" in the field of science and technology, and it is defined by two groups: the Association Francaise Transhumaniste (AFT) and the International Society of Transhumanists (IST).
Abstract: Depuis une dizaine d’annees, le transhumanisme fait l’objet d’une attention soutenue de la part de nombreuses disciplines de sciences humaines, des medias et de nombreux acteurs du debat public sur les technologies emergentes. Tres polarise et virulent, le debat surprend par deux oublis. D’une part, le transhumanisme est rarement presente comme un mouvement d’idees structure en associations par des militants, mais plutot renvoye de maniere vague a des grandes puissances lointaines (Silicon Valley ou Asie du Sud-Est en particulier). D’autre part, les objets techniques, qui focalisent l’attention, y sont en meme temps relegues au role de decor en fond de scene. Cette recherche mobilise des perspectives croisees issues des STS, de la philosophie des techniques et des humanites environnementales, et est fondee sur une demarche de terrain de longue haleine au sein du mouvement transhumaniste, en particulier l’Association Francaise Transhumaniste. Elle presente une etude ethnographique approfondie du mouvement transhumaniste, en tant que defini, anime et habite par celles et ceux qui se disent et s’affichent transhumanistes. Cette these est composee de quatre parties principales. D’abord, elle presente un historique du mouvement transhumaniste et de sa lente structuration, ainsi qu’une cartographie de ses multiples composantes. La definition du transhumanisme adoptee ici reste volontairement incertaine, tout en conservant une precision descriptive : il s’agit d’un mouvement reunissant des individus qui considerent que l’humanite peut et doit s’ameliorer grâce aux technologies emergentes, afin d’augmenter sa sante, sa longevite, ou ses capacites physiques et cognitives. Cette definition prend au serieux le fait que des hommes et des femmes, depuis une bonne trentaine d’annees, choisissent de s’investir dans un mouvement qui s’attire les foudres de nombreux critiques. Qui sont ces gens ? Que veulent-ils ? Quelles sont leurs motivations ? Dans ce sens, plusieurs controverses internes au mouvement sont etudiees, afin d’en comprendre les dynamiques internes. Ensuite, des explorations epistemiques decrivent le type de savoir qui active la curiosite des transhumanistes, et montre que, bien plus que des ingenieurs prenant leurs reves pour des realites, les transhumanistes constituent une forme de public des promesses technoscientifiques qui irriguent le monde occidental. Dans cette perspective, je m’attarde sur le rapport que nouent les transhumanistes avec les objets techniques presents et futurs. Si les premiers sont souvent contrariants dans les pratiques quotidiennes, ils sont consideres avant tout comme des traces d’un futur a decrypter. Puis, des explorations politiques suivent les transhumanistes dans leurs activites quotidiennes de militants hesitants. J’y decris les efforts que les transhumanistes deploient pour etre consideres comme des acteurs rationnels et respectables du debat public sur les technologies emergentes. J’y retrace egalement diverses initiatives d’organisation du mouvement en partis politiques, pour montrer a quel point l’insertion dans un debat social plus large et des contextes nationaux specifiques fracture constamment un mouvement qui se veut universel. Enfin, des explorations ecologiques ont deux enjeux : etudier la maniere dont les transhumanistes repondent, rarement, aux enjeux environnementaux actuels ; et proposer une lecture centree sur les objets (protheses) de l’une des problematiques centrales du transhumanisme, l’augmentation humaine (human enhancement). Cette recherche a l’ambition de montrer qu’il ne suffit pas de s’attacher aux seuls contenus normatifs du transhumanisme pour en formuler une critique feconde. Enqueter sur leurs enonciateurs et leurs conditions d’enonciation doit ainsi enrichir les perspectives, en accordant aux objets techniques emergents un peu plus d’attention, et en les desenclavant de leur statut de prefigurations du futur. Plutot que de debattre des consequences eventuelles du transhumanisme, cette recherche etudie le transhumanisme au present, en fait une enigme, ce qu’il s’agit d’expliquer plutot qu’un point de depart. -- For the past ten years, transhumanism has triggered the attention of many disciplines, journalists, and many other actors of the public debate on emerging technologies. In this very polarized conversation, two omissions are striking. On the one hand, transhumanism is almost never reckoned as a movement of ideas, structured in associations by activists; but rather vaguely referred to major distant powers (Silicon Valley or Southeast Asia in particular). On the other hand, technical objects that are at the center of the debate are at the same neglected, as if they were nothing but the scenery of a normative debate. This research aims at cross-fertilizing STS perspectives, philosophy of technology, and environmental humanities. It is based on a long-term fieldwork, embedded within the transhumanist movement, in particular the French Transhumanist Association. It presents an in- depth ethnography of the transhumanist movement, as it is defined, structured and animated by those who call themselves transhumanists. This thesis is made of four main sections. First, I describe the history of the transhumanist movement and of its slow structuration, and I provide an unprecedented cartography of its multiple components. I stick with a deliberately unstable definition, yet descriptively accurate: transhumanism is a movement of individuals who consider that humanity can and must enhance itself with emerging technologies, in order to improve its health, longevity, or physical and cognitive capacities. This definition aims at taking seriously the fact that men and women, for over thirty years, have got involved in a very fragile and contested movement. Who are these people? What do they want? What are their motivations? In this sense, I study several internal controversies of the movement, in order to describe its internal dynamics. Secondly, epistemic explorations describe the kind of knowledge that triggers the curiosity of transhumanists. Here I show that, much more than engineers who take their dreams for reality, transhumanists constitute a form of public of technoscientific promises that irrigate the Western world. In this perspective, I focus on the ambiguous ways in which transhumanists relate to present and future technical objects. While the former are often frustrating in their everyday practices, they are mostly considered as clues of a future to be deciphered. Thirdly, political explorations follow the transhumanists in their daily activities as hesitant activists. Here, I describe how transhumanists struggle to be considered as rational and respectable actors in the public debate on emerging technologies. I also describe various initiatives, in which transhumanists have tried to set up political parties. So doing, I show that inscribing quite vague ideas in specific contexts and in a broader political context constantly fractures the movement, and brings in it numerous tensions and conflicts. Finally, ecological explorations face two challenges. First the ways in which transhumanists address the ecological crisis are at least surprising: most of the time they show little interest for this issue, and, when they don’t, their statements are somehow contrary to the central claims of the movement. Then I offer a reading of one of the core transhumanist themes, human enhancement, based on a thick description of the technical objects involved (prosthetics). This research aims at showing that focusing solely on transhumanism’s normative claims doesn’t allow for a fruitful critical examination. Investigating their enunciators and their conditions of enunciation should thus enrich the perspective. Giving emerging technical objects a little more attention might open them up from their status of prefiguration of the future. Rather than discussing transhumanism’s potential consequences, this research looks at it in its actual iterations and daily practices. This research accounts transhumanism as an enigma that has to be explored, much more than a starting point for normative claims.

30 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors look at how ideas derived from informatics allow us a more precise view of what differentiates us from robots and on the other hand, how information science can give us a deeper insight into the nature of human labour.

21 citations

Book ChapterDOI
29 Nov 2006
TL;DR: This paper presents an experimental test bed which uses a telepresence interface for playing the game and the results of a user study demonstrating the sensitivity of the system in assessing the effect of different robot behaviours on users.
Abstract: This paper presents an experimental test bed for exploring and evaluating human-robot interaction (HRI). Our system is designed around the concept of playing board games involving collaboration between humans and robots in a shared physical environment. Unlike the classic human-versusmachine situation often established in computer-based board games, our test bed takes advantage of the rich interaction opportunities that arise when humans and robots play collaboratively as a team. To facilitate interaction within a shared physical environment, our game is played on a large checkerboard where human and robotic players can be situated and play as game pieces. With meaningful interaction occurring within this controlled setup, various aspects of human-robot interaction can be easily explored and evaluated such as interaction methods and robot behaviour. In this paper we present our test bed which uses a telepresence interface for playing the game and the results of a user study demonstrating the sensitivity of our system in assessing the effect of different robot behaviours on users.

20 citations

Dissertation
01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: The authors argue that contemporary genetic engineering fictions act as a corrective to the assumptions of posthumanist theory by positioning genetic posthuman characters as disadvantaged beings, using forms of dehumanisation made familiar by recent history.
Abstract: Genetic technologies are now sufficiently advanced to alter the human genome. Indeed, gene editing is already practiced in some countries for medical purposes. However, future directions for the use of genetic technologies are unclear. Scholars of the ???posthuman??? future tend to speculate that genetic engineering (and other technologies) will create superhumans, and the term ???human enhancement??? is used to describe the practice of ???improving??? the human form. However, recent fiction on bioengineering themes envisages not a programme of enhancement, but rather the creation of a new genetic class system in which cloned or engineered human-like organisms form an oppressed and abused minority. These organisms ??? which I term genetic posthumans ??? have emerged as protagonists in numerous novels and films, allowing for a humanising view of the interiority of the cloned or engineered mind. This humanised mind is then juxtaposed to the genetic posthuman???s othered status. In order to establish the alterity of the genetic posthuman, storytellers strategically recycle modes of dehumanisation applied in historical race- or gender-based struggles. In each case, genetic posthumans are described in a manner recalling other oppressed outgroups: they are made secondary to unaltered humans, they are economically exploited, and they are treated as animals despite their evident humanness. This primes audiences to accept the purported differences of the genetic posthuman as social constructions rather than ???natural??? or biologically innate distinctions. This thesis proposes that contemporary genetic engineering fictions act as a corrective to the assumptions of posthumanist theory by positioning genetic posthuman characters as disadvantaged beings, using forms of dehumanisation made familiar by recent history. David Mitchell???s Cloud Atlas (2004), Kazuo Ishiguro???s Never Let Me Go (2005), and Margaret Atwood???s MaddAddam trilogy (2003-2013) are examined as key examples of fiction in this area. Other novels, plays, and films are also analysed, including George Lucas???s THX 1138 (1971); Kate Wilhelm???s Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (1976); Ridley Scott???s Blade Runner (1982); Fay Weldon???s The Cloning of Joanna May (1989); Michael Marshall Smith???s Spares (1996); Caryl Churchill???s A Number (2002); and Michael Bay???s The Island (2005). Each of these works contests the posthumanist assumption that genetic technologies will be used to improve the human form. Although human enhancement is a possible outcome of genetic engineering, these storytellers imply another scenario: that corporatized science could lead to the creation of economically useful, animalised, dehumanised creatures. These genetic posthumans could have human (or human-like) bodies and minds, but not human rights.

18 citations