If we accept the theory which says that before the Big Bang there existed a 50 percent probability that nothing will come into existence, and an equal 50 percent probability that something like the universe will come into existence—and then did, we begin to understand that while we had the power to accomplish the equivalent of self-creation by natural means and do so out of nothing, we cannot repeat the feat by duplicating ourselves artificially, doing it in the form of a conscious robot, even though we have the wealth of resources which are available to us now. Why so?
It is so because to be like us, a robot will need to
develop consciousness — and to do that, it will have to undergo an evolutionary
process that will stand as a solid legacy on top of a creation that’s comprehensive.
This is what happened at the time of the Big Bang, a moment when no detail was
left out of the accomplishment or the universe would have disappeared as soon
as it appeared.
Nothing was
left out means, among other things, that our evolutionary legacy, written in
our DNA, was turned into the stuff that consciousness is made of. Inf act, as Rene
Descartes asserted: “I think therefore I am,” he spoke for all of us,
acknowledging that the conscious act of thinking is intertwined with our
physical existence, so much so that we cannot separate the moment of creation
and its evolution from the act of human thinking. We may not be conscious of it
but the chain of our evolution, as recorded in our DNA, links our brain to the
first moment of the universe’s creation, and the promise of intelligent life
rising to wonder and puzzle about it al.
Lacking that kind of legacy, the robot shall remain
just another glorified computer that can be programed, only to see it respond
according to the saying: “Garbage in, garbage out.” But as history shows, the
garbage may be harmless at times, but will be deadly at other times. Unfortunately
tragic occurrences may happen inadvertently by people who do not know what they
are doing, or may happen deliberately by people who know what they are doing,
yet relish doing it for fun or by malice.
Incapable of giving the robot a spontaneous
self-creation or an organic evolution in the hope that it will develop a level
of humanity that would counter our moments of inhumanity, we stand as the
species that cannot create its own clone or artificial rival. But because we
can build robots that will simulate all aspects of our good, bad and ugly
thoughts and sentiments, we should be careful not to repeat the mistakes we
have been making since the time when we discovered that deadly weapons can be
made with every new invention we come up with. In short, let us not employ the
superior abilities of the robot and use that in the invention or the production
of still more devastating weapons of war.
In fact, this has been the ongoing tragedy of our
species; most likely the reason why we did not advance as far as we should have
or could have in response to our eternal quest for exploration and discovery. To
be sure, the universe has been begging to give everyone of us the material
riches and territorial expanses we’ve been killing each other to take
possession of and hoard rapaciously. It is that we chose to grab from each
other what does not belong to us rather than take what was made available to all
of us free of charge, free of sweat and free of spilled blood.
And so, I offer a suggestion that, if implemented,
will reduce or eliminate the self-destructive tendencies which continue to
linger in our DNA programing—that which maintains us in a state that remains as
primitive emotionally as we were in ancient times, and doing so while advancing
intellectually as we have proven capable of doing in science and mathematics but
also in the invention of deadly weapons which comes to our unfortunate
detriment.
I say let us create an institution that will produce a program to be included in every robot that’s made by any and every company in the world. The institution will also oversee and regulate the production of the robots, making sure that when the program is installed in them, it will function in such a way as to protect human life and will never disrupt the peaceful coexistence of communities that simply mind their own business and choose to live and let live.