The robot dogs and pet dogs on the streets of Shanghai meet on the narrow road, the real dogs are blinded, and passers-by have also cast curious eyes. Some people say that such a scene seems to take place in the future world.
Robot dog meets pet dog Source: @I Su feature video screenshot
Tech companies and specialized rifle companies joined forces to install rifles on the backs of robotic dogs. The "killer robot dog" has made artificial intelligence experts lament that this brings us into a dark and dangerous world.
In 2021, many domestic technology companies have "raised dogs", Lei Jun pulled out the "iron egg", Yushu launched the companion bionic robot Go1, and Tencent's Max.
Lei Jun's annual speech, the robot dog iron egg debuted.
When the bionic robot dog comes to life, what ethical and legal controversies does it face? When it becomes more and more "true", will it replace the puppy that usually shakes its head and tail at you? Will it be smart enough to rule over humanity?
Yu Zhejun is an associate professor at the School of Philosophy and deputy director of the Department of Religious Studies of Fudan University, known as the "Little Prince of Philosophy" by Fudan students, and has shared lectures on topics such as "The Ethical Risks of Artificial Intelligence and Its Philosophical Reflections", and various reverie about robot dogs, and the surging news (www.thepaper.cn) reporter interviewed him.
Q1: In the future, can robot dogs replace live pets?
The current robot dog is still far from the "five senses", but some companies are trying to inject emotions into the robot dog, it is becoming more and more emotionally real, can it shake the status of pet dogs?
Yu Zhejun believes that unlike robot dogs, most pets have a growth cycle, with a process from birth, growth to death and changes in body shape, as well as living habits developed by people and pets, "Robot pets may be able to accompany, but the feeling of growing up with people and changing synchronously is gone." ”
It cannot be denied that in high-speed cities, human life is becoming increasingly atomized (interpersonal relationship alienation, personal and public world alienation), and according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the number of single adults is increasing. Paying for "loneliness" seems to make people see the potential of companion robots, will the bionic robot dog be a prelude to the future robot companion?
Yu Zhejun believed that this was inevitable, but there was still a long way to go. In science fiction works, one image of the mechanical companion is tangible, visible and tangible; the other is virtual companionship, which relies on the combination of brain-computer interfaces and metacosms.
He said that the progress of atomized society is faster than imagined, which is a by-product of modern life. People live and work far from home, lack family company, and social mobility is too strong, resulting in high costs for people to establish fixed relationships. But after a long period of evolution, man is essentially a group animal, and in the depths of the human heart, he is eager to "coexist" with man. The traditional family is a combination of husband and wife and children, and from the limited history of mankind, the family is the basic cell of society, the most stable form, although this form may be changing rapidly.
"More radically, if there is perfect mechanical companionship, perhaps it will become impossible for people to find a real person, will it make the proportion of traditional family forms lower and lower?" But in the short term, mechanical companionship is still a form of compensation or compensation. Yu Zhejun said.
Q2: Will robot dogs leak our privacy?
Gao Yue, an associate professor at the School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, is engaged in the research of multi-legged robots, and she does not think that the current multi-legged robots have sufficient conditions to take the to C (for ordinary users) route. Because privacy is also a big issue in the home environment. Once the robot dog equipped with the camera is "hacked", it is likely to show the privacy of the home at a "glance", "If there is no clear provision of the law, once an accident occurs, the manufacturer is actually quite responsible." ”
Xiaomi foot robot is authorized by the patent, and the patent abstract of the enterprise inspection shows that the user's status information is collected through the sensor component, which can enhance the perception of the foot robot to the user, thus providing a basis for the control of the foot robot. Patent Abstract drawings
Yu Zhejun mentioned in "50 Classic Philosophical Thinking Lessons" that we look forward to the development of artificial intelligence to bring a better future, and its development speed has exceeded our censorship and restrictions in the field of ethics and law.
"We need to plan ahead to barely keep up with the progress of science and technology, otherwise it will be too late to wait for technology to come out and then consider ethical issues." He said that ethical thinking about science and technology is necessary, and in reality, no country's legislation can catch up with the development of science and technology.
Yu Zhejun said that taking the cameras and receptors on the robot dog as an example, it constantly collects images and sounds, and this collection seems to make sense, in order to better serve customers. However, the relevant legislation is still not clear, and how to use the data after it is collected is also a problem.
Yu Zhejun believes that it is best to let the owner have a choice and let the owner grant the robot dog permission, "but in a way, you give more privacy, the robot dog can better serve you, which is a dilemma." ”
Q3: Will the appearance of sniper robot dogs pull us into the dark world?
At the 2021 U.S. Army Association Annual Meeting, technology company Ghost Robotics and professional rifle company WORD International jointly exhibited a robotic dog equipped with a sniper rifle that can accurately lock on to targets within 1.2 kilometers.
Toby Walsh, a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales Sydney, said in an interview with Futurism, "It crosses the moral, legal and technical boundaries and takes us into a dark and dangerous world."
Robotic dog carrying a rifle
This also casts a shadow over the bright future of robot dogs.
In Yu Zhejun's view, the "killer robot dog" only appears on the battlefield in the form of a "dog", and its essence is no different from the drone, both of which are unmanned combat platforms, and the real pulling of the deadly trigger is still the human operator.
But in the future, when the decision to kill is delegated to the "dog", the situation will be completely different. At that time, the robot dog will determine who is a friend, enemy, neutral target, and complete the autonomous killing, which will bring many uncertainties and risks. On the battlefield, drone operations have caused a lot of collateral damage – civilian casualties.
He mentioned that the military may be happy to see the application of such new technologies to reduce war damage, but battlefield ethics is a more complex issue, and some weapons, even if they are designed, are still internationally banned, such as poison gas bombs.
The combat form of robot dogs and drones is still regarded as a platform for weapons, and he believes that what should be vigilant is mini robots like killer bees, which have their own perception, reconnaissance, and are also lethal weapons. In his view, the military application of artificial intelligence technology changes rapidly, and the future form of war may be very different.
Q4: When the artificial intelligence behind the robot dog is developed to the extreme, will it dominate humans?
The scientific name of the robot dog is "four-legged robot", and some people worry that the future of humanity will not be dominated or even replaced by robots.
Wang Xingxing, one of the earliest companies in China to enter the field of four-legged robots and the founder of Hangzhou Yushu Technology (Unitree), told the surging news reporter that in order to improve product safety, the autonomy of the robot dog has been limited, and its movement is controlled by the owner, such as the "accompaniment" mode, "dog" closely follows the owner, and always maintains a certain distance and angle. Gao Yue also said that artificial intelligence technology is still in its infancy, like a rote child, who does not yet have the ability to reason emotionally, understand causality and human nature.
Screenshot of the latest robot dog launched by domestic startup Yushu On the website of Yushu
Regarding the ethical concerns of future robots, Zhao Mingguo, a professor in the Department of Automation at Tsinghua University, said in an interview with China News Weekly, "This is purely too much to think about." Now the technology of robots is completely out of the level that people think. ”
Yu Zhejun also does not agree with the "robot rule theory", in many science fiction films, once the robot awakens itself, it will kill people, he feels that this underlying logic does not make sense - the basic needs of robots are energy, as long as they maintain access to energy.
He believes that in the future, people and robots, including robot dogs, may have a good symbiosis. But beware of a small number of people using technological products to monitor and enslave another part of the people, this kind of slavery may not make people hungry and warm, but make people very comfortable, become unmotivated, to lie flat, this is the so-called gentle rule.
Q5: While machines become human-like, are people also longing for their own "mechanization"?
Humanity's desire for its own mechanization has been interpreted in many movies. In the Japanese anime Ghost in the Shell, the shape of the robot is infinitely close to that of humans, and humans strive to transform themselves into machines.
Yu Zhejun said that the technology of the robot dog may be turned into an exoskeleton, driven by a separate battery, that senses the movement of the legs and torso. Once people wear such a device, as long as they make movements, they can lift a weight that they cannot usually afford. As long as it is born of parents, people's physiological abilities will not be much different. But with the help of exoskeletons, the difference in human abilities will widen.
American political scientist Fukuyama worries that the emergence of transhumanism will affect social justice. Yu Zhejun explained that because any technology product has a price, not everyone can afford to consume it, so that the gap between people will be further widened.
Yuval Harari, author of A Brief History of Mankind, proposed that humanity would move toward divinity in the future, and Homo sapiens would upgrade and evolve himself step by step. Yu Zhejun's view may not be so radical, he believes that there may be many "subspecies" within humans.
He said that from the Neolithic era to the present, Homo sapiens is facing a major change that has not been seen in ten thousand years. Humanity has always wanted to change itself from the beginning of civilization, and now it is finally standing on the threshold, whether it is transformed into a cyborg like half flesh and half machine, or through genetic modification, now there is a feasible technology.
He felt that perhaps because of the different goals and ideas of human beings and the difference in economic bases, human beings have developed multiple cultural "subspecies" along different paths.