Reflection 2: Synthetic Biology aka Robo-Ethics

(Source: http://robotregime.com/images/content/gort-bot.jpg)

Fantasy is set in an imaginary past while science fiction is set in an imaginary future, we write/read science fiction because we want to be able to solve potential limits/problems for technology in the future. (Drout, Michael D.C., 2006)

First of all I want to state that I'm pro-A.I/cybernetics/augmentations and the idea of androids walking among us. With that said, I believe that we humans should stay on the top of the hierarchy. This because the survival of our race should be the underlying backbone while we keep evolving our society. I'm also saying this from a evolutionary perspective. I like to believe that people, at some animistic/basic level will have that same type of mindset if technology goes "too far" (With that said not as far as the man did in the article, will comment more on that later).

There are of course exceptions among people who identifies/priorities animals above humans in the priority chain for what I'm guessing depends on different underlying psychological/emotional reasons. I've even meet people who spoon fed dogs and later ate from the same spoon that when asked about it given the reply "It's my baby", "I can eat anything that my baby can eat" as well as "I would give up everything for my child's happiness". There are people like this and they are right to priorities themselves equal to/or below animals/things however they like/want. It's their decision, even if it can appear uncomfortable from the outsiders perspective. But similar to religion, people can't force people to think like them when it comes to belief. And I know opening that door in an conversation about robo-ethics might sound like I'm digging my own hole but hear me out.

Anything that is self-aware and/or can think should be classed as a creature, and by that also include some kind of ethical protection (especially in the case with Kiichi Ishikawa). But however we rotate and spin the classification of what an robot is, then it's still a tool/property. So even if we change it's priority from none/object to create/object it's still within the property/ownership classification to someone else/human. So in the example of Kiichi Ishikawa then he should indeed pay cause of damage to property, but he should should also pay damage to the human based on "the creator has a responsibility of it's creation".

If for a moment look into the possible future where A.I., androids, robots has reached a higher level of self-awareness where they also possess a personality and individuality that is un-reproduce able by machine then we have indeed created life. What becomes problematic now however is that machines suddenly have the possibility to go past us in the food chain based on our knowledge, and the ability to go beyond ours (from a hive mentality standpoint, as in robots looking out for the possible best outcome for robots in whole over the outcome for humans in different scenarios). And since the robot is made by us, and follows our logic then it's probably going to have a human based mentality, which should be a concern. Cause suddenly they are by definition (partly human) also above animals by our perspective.

With that said, I believe that cyborgs (humans with augmentations) are still humans. Just because you have better vision or a replaced body part or a mechanical heart doesn't mean that your less of a human. You only happen have augmentations attached to you to live your choice of life. The second you start to consider cyborgs as benefit humanity just because they have metal attached to them then suddenly anything created by man to help man could be considered blasphemy, which by the lack of a better phrasing "is really dumb". So let's not open that door.

But hopefully mankind will set some kind of logical limit before it even goes that far that mankind goes down in the food-chain. I.e. program/add logical laws in the programming. But that's not a reason to not also create laws for ourselves to become better civilized people, we can't and shoulder start discussing problems with other beings before we can deal with our own.

Assignment:

READ: http://www.dailydot.com/technology/robot-rights-softbank-robot-attack/
Write a few lines about if you think that robots should have a form of "human rights" and motivate their answer from an ethical point of view. Be sure to explore issues like animal rights in different societies and other issues (http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/gabrielrothblatt2012071811)

The additional quote in the beginning is from:

• Drout, Michael D. C. (2006). FROM HERE TO INFINITY AN EXPLORATION OF SCIENCE FICTION LITERATURE.
  http://www.recordedbooks.com/courses_pdf/UT079.pdf (Fetched: 2015-11-02)

Image: http://robotregime.com/images/content/gort-bot.jpg

Assignment Essay 1

1. Introduction

The purpose of this essay is to analyze and sum up chapter one and six of the book “Remediation” by David Bolter and Richard Grusin as well as chapter three of the book “Convergence culture: where old and new media collide” by Henry Jenkins. The following statements are to be kept in mind while reading the text:

“Consider the concept of Remediation and the viral nature of the internet”

“How media travels back and forward for the genres and technology”

2. Remediation

In the introduction part of Remediation then Bolter and Grusin discusses the idea of Virtual Reality and the concept of transferring ones experiences to another, the wire. They argue that Virtual Reality was not possible since the user would immediately break illusion when she removes the headgear. Such qualities as low framerate, bad graphics/sound, bright colors and system crashes would also be an interference that would prevent the immersion (1999, pp. 22). I’d say that I find this interesting since these concerns partly exists today but are to my knowledge solved in comperes an to then, my essay being written 16 years after the book.

          As mentioned above, the topic of wiring ones consciousness to a computer like machine, to share/gain experiences, are argued to eliminate the need for television, film and media (1999, pp. 3). I’d like to argue this today that even if you would have the knowledge of something, you’d probably still want to experience it. If you would follow and survey a families TV usage, then I would be more then certain that families would watch film series that they already know the outcome off. Series like Seinfeld, Friends and The big bang theory are all streamed over the TV on specific hours, in a pattern, every day. It’s not uncommon that the families social time is combined with the time spent in front of the TV, dinners for example (sadly don’t have any reference for this, but my own family and friends experiences and habits). This said, I think that the shared experience with others across the world would be an amazing benefit for technology and culture overall. Not to say in a teach purpose.

          I’d like to go as far to say that everything in the world derives from something else, this especially comes to mind while reading “Experts on computer graphics often say that they are striving to achieve ‘photorealism’—in other words, to make their synthetic images indistinguishable from photographs.” (…) “We argue later that this is all any new technology could do: define itself in relationship to earlier technologies of representation.” (1999, p. 29). In a way I’d argue that all media can be considered a method for retelling existing stories from other contexts/medium. Roland Barthes's article “Death of the Author” comes to mind while writing this.

You could attempt to create some elaborate and abstract interface for a computer but that would probably result in a bad user experience considering that she won’t know what to do unless you personally guide her. The idea of copying iconic objects however such as a trash bin to convey the meaning of “this is where you delete things” is executed perfectly without any unnecessary explanation. By simply having this icon of this bin then the user don’t have to waste time/energy to trying to learn something completely new from scratch. Instead we can use cognitive ability of the brain and its prior-associations for increased learning performance.

If you break down a computer to its core then it’s actually a very long series of binary digits. Since these digits would take hour’s maybe days to try to decipher (and without errors) for a common person with no prior knowledge of computers or even a computer enthusiast. Than I would say that the decision of representing the computers different layers and hierarchy in the depiction of folders and archives is in fact genius from a user & design perspective.

 

3. Searching for the Origami Unicorn

At the start of chapter six then Jenkins summarizes a transmedia story: “A transmedia story unfolds across multiple media platforms, with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole. In the ideal form of transmedia storytelling, each medium does what it does best” (2006, pp. 96). The concept of using and combining all the mediums to create a larger arc is definitely an interesting idea. Although it creates a rewarding challenge in itself for people to look up and find the parts of the story themselves it also creates an entry barrier/requirement for people to get past before they can enter the community (inner circle). The idea of transmedia also presents the problem that people need to watch/read all the different types of media to be able to get the whole picture. This could be a problem for some people on either an economic standpoint or a simple obliviousness of the different media existences. But it could also act as a happy stimulant when you think “Oh I know that from that one comic!” or the contrary “that looks cool” and leaving the viewer wanting more. Examples of this in the text “’Second Renaissance’ introduces many of the weapons deployed during the final assault on Zion, including the massive ‘mecha’ suits the humans wear as they fight of the invaders. At the same time, ’The second Renaissance’ builds upon ‘Bits and Pieces of Information.’ One of The Matrix comics” (2006, pp. 118).

Side note: But personally I generally find act of mixing media to create a deeper and more complex story, with the lack of better words; really awesome! Especially when you use it to watch a story unfold from different perspectives (people and ideologies).

Literature:

Bolter, J. David & Grusin, Richard (1999). Remediation [Elektronisk resurs].

Jenkins, Henry (2006). Convergence culture: where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press

Reflection Report #1

*Disclaimer* Most of this text is my own thoughts and opinions on the questions below in correlation to a Cross-Media assignment. These statements are not necessarily based on fact or with a study behind them. So take it for what it is. :P *End of disclaimer* 

1. In your words what is the media industry based on your thoughts, the reading, the videos?
2. What do you think are the key challenges to be faced for media companies in the future?
3. How will you go about learning about these challenges?
4. What are your expectations for the course and program connected to the above?

400-800 words

Image source: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/eu-media-futures-forum

1. In your words what is the media industry based on your thoughts, the reading, the videos?

The books way of describing the concept of media is by describing it's relationship with people, companies and their purposes. Stating that very few media-distributors actually create their own content and in result only responsible for the distribution of the media itself (i.e. creating a platform for where it can be shown).

I would describe the concept of media as a method of how people can spread information between each other. If this information happens to be educational, fictional or for entertainment (or a combination of the three) doesn’t really matter. What does matter is how it's being spread. How the industry convey the message. Books example being through modern music, film, books, yellow press newspapers that are being measured by the "reach" of how it spreads to people (i.e. how people can get in contact with it).

I would argue that how we choose to digest news, is a generational thing. From experience I've noticed that younger people prefer getting their news from the internet (i.e. sites like Reddit, twitter or YouTube). And before internet took off, and to some degree now, TV. Before television we had newspapers. Do note that I'm not implying that one is "better" or "more/less accurate" then another but instead a substitute for each other for individual people. It's important for people/generations to have "their thing" so adapting to the "new thing" makes perfect sense. What all the different news outlets all have in common though, is that they are all, more or less, second hand news from other sources. And the media that actually reaches us are media that is already highly curated. Based on the concept of trying to target a wider/broader audience (increase the reach). (284 words)

2. What do you think are the key challenges to be faced for media companies in the future?

"Almost all media businesses face five main challenges: continually developing new content offerings, addressing a triple market interface, coping with volatility, dealing with multiple local, rather than international, markets and balancing economic with more social objectives." (2009, p. 3)

I'd say that medias biggest problem is that "it has to be entertaining" and that it takes place in a world where that isn't necessarily possible. Everyday can't be a highlight, cause then everything highlighted becomes normal. A challenge would be to create a business model that could be self sustain, un-bies to it's publisher/writer/creator (and so in extension have a broader field of view) that at the same time can compete in quality with the mass-amount of everyday user created content.

The book brings up a interesting point in that with the accessibility of user generated content then the demand of the people in the industry increases and they have to produce content, and wishfully free content non-there-less (ad-based), that can challenge the user generated content.  (166 words)

                                              (2009, p. 10)

3. How will you go about learning about these challenges?

To learn more about the challenges themselves I would either read up more about them, or discuss them with other peers or people already in the industry that are already dealing with them. Cause even if someone might not act after their own believes then they might have the experience to make a proper theory/solution that actually could work or act as a substitute. But that would probably require a lot of field studies and tests for a proper result.

If there were to be an definitive answer to the problem then I'm guessing it would've been solved by now. But until that solving then I'm going to (attempt to) follow multiple media sources to try to get a more broaden perspective. Might even look into the one suggested in Link 2; where they mentioned the site: "http://newsmix.me/". But then again, I'm still in the trap of following someone else curated data. Unless I ACTUALLY witness or take part of a "news worthy event" then I don't see myself getting out of the loop of curated content and by extension have an answer to how to overcome the challenges themselves. (190 words)

(Just gonna shamelessly throw in a quote from the philosopher George Santayana cause I find it relevant; "Those who do not know history's mistakes are doomed to repeat them").

4. What are your expectations for the course and program connected to the above?

My expectation of the program is to help me broaden my own horizons in cross-media, and to increase my understanding of the different fields of expertise. By extension this would also help me work more fluently across the different fields and with different people with different backgrounds (both culture wise but also based on in what area they've studied in). Oh and maybe get the possibility to meet people from the industry, and tie-in work connections that way. (78 words)

(Total: 718 words)

• 
  
• Aris, Annet (2009). Managing media companies: harnessing creative values. 2. ed. Chichester: Wiley
• Link 1: Alisa Miller Shares the newsabout the news (Ted talks)
  Link 2: Chirdeep singh chhabra a sneakpeek of (TheConference)