Machines – On the Human http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human a project of the National Humanities Center Thu, 14 Sep 2017 16:39:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 The Future of Moral Machines http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/12/the-future-of-moral-machines/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/12/the-future-of-moral-machines/#comments Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:09:42 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=3057 Continue reading The Future of Moral Machines

]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/12/the-future-of-moral-machines/feed/ 19 Challenges for a Humanoid Robot http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/06/challenges-for-a-humanoid-robot/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/06/challenges-for-a-humanoid-robot/#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2011 14:39:03 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=2455 Star Wars character C3PO is so convincingly depicted that we may have to remind ourselves that there was no real robot behind the elegant mannequin. The passage of time has not remedied this deficiency; nor, alas, have I a blueprint to offer. I do believe, however, that it will repay us to identify some attributes a robot would need in order to count as humanoid. By clearly distinguishing among such features, and considering what our attitudes toward such a device might be, we can enrich our understanding of what it is to be human.

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/06/challenges-for-a-humanoid-robot/feed/ 19 Enhancing Moral Status? http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/05/enhancing-moral-status/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/05/enhancing-moral-status/#comments Mon, 23 May 2011 16:47:52 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=2436 robust human enhancement—i.e. creation of people with highly augmented or highly novel capacities through technological modification of (or integration with) their biological systems. Robust human enhancement raises justice, equity and access issues; parental rights and child welfare issues; naturalness and species boundary issues; individual and social benefit and risk issues; personal choice and liberty issues; and public policy issues related to regulation and research funding.

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/05/enhancing-moral-status/feed/ 6 Doing, Feeling, Meaning and Explaining http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/04/doing-feeling-meaning-explaining/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/04/doing-feeling-meaning-explaining/#comments Sun, 17 Apr 2011 19:41:28 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=2235 Continue reading Doing, Feeling, Meaning and Explaining

]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/04/doing-feeling-meaning-explaining/feed/ 32 Temes: An Emerging Third Replicator http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/08/temes-an-emerging-third-replicator/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/08/temes-an-emerging-third-replicator/#comments Mon, 23 Aug 2010 05:25:46 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=1247 All around us information seems to be multiplying at an ever increasing pace. New books are published, new designs for toasters and i-gadgets appear, new music is composed or synthesised and, perhaps above all, new content is uploaded into cyberspace. This is rather strange. We know that matter and energy cannot increase but apparently information

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/08/temes-an-emerging-third-replicator/feed/ 37 Cultural Evolution: A Vehicle for Cooperative Interaction Between the Sciences and the Humanities http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/07/cultural-evolution-a-vehicle-for-cooperative-interaction-between-the-sciences-and-the-humanities/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/07/cultural-evolution-a-vehicle-for-cooperative-interaction-between-the-sciences-and-the-humanities/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:21:27 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=1149 Continue reading Cultural Evolution: A Vehicle for Cooperative Interaction Between the Sciences and the Humanities

]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/07/cultural-evolution-a-vehicle-for-cooperative-interaction-between-the-sciences-and-the-humanities/feed/ 19 Can computer models help us to understand human creativity? http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/05/can-computer-models-help-us-to-understand-human-creativity/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/05/can-computer-models-help-us-to-understand-human-creativity/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 04:44:06 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=1051 Creativity and computers: what could these possibly have to do with one another? “Nothing!,” many people would say. The two are simply incompatible.”

Well, I disagree. Computers and creativity make interesting partners with respect to two different projects. One, which interests me the most, is understanding human creativity. The other is trying to produce machine

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/05/can-computer-models-help-us-to-understand-human-creativity/feed/ 23 Qualitative Experience in Machines http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/10/qualitative-experience-in-machines/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/10/qualitative-experience-in-machines/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:51:16 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=538 Abstracted from ‘Qualitative experience in machines,’ The Digital Phoenix: How computers are changing philosophy.

1. Many people, perhaps most people, have the idea that, however problematic qualitative experience is for the case of human beings, it is a lot more so for that of machines constructed by human beings. Few philosophers doubt that human beings’

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/10/qualitative-experience-in-machines/feed/ 22 Contemplating Singularity http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/08/contemplating-singularity/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/08/contemplating-singularity/#comments Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:44:11 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/humannature/?p=290 Most researchers agree that there is no reason in principle why we will not eventually develop conscious machines that rival or surpass human intelligence. If we are crossing to a new era of the posthuman, how have we gotten here? And how should we understand the process?

Cultural theorists have addressed the topic of the

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/08/contemplating-singularity/feed/ 2 On Reading 300 Works of Electronic Literature: Preliminary Reflections http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/07/on-reading-300-works-of-electronic-literature-preliminary-reflections/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/07/on-reading-300-works-of-electronic-literature-preliminary-reflections/#comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:16:33 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/humannature/?p=281 In a panel discussion at the 1998 “Bookends” conference at SUNY Albany, Jacques Derrida spoke of Internet initiatives under way by his younger colleagues in France at the time. The first thing they would do, he said, is set up editorial boards, appoint in-house grant writers, and establish closed review processes – effectively replicating the

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