The Saga Of Sentience


Mankind has managed to achieve countless scientific wonders and is determined to continue doing so with new discoveries being made in every era. One of the most profound technological achievements is the creation of A.I and Robots. One question has always hung like a sword over our heads, can artificial lifeforms be sentient? In order to ponder upon this, we should first know the basics.

There is always an image or a concept we have when we think about robots, our brain does not exactly know what they are but rather a perception of what they should be, hence people tend to imagine them as humanoid (appearance resembling a human) machines however, that is not necessarily the case. Robots are defined as machines that are operated without human effort. (https://www.britannica.com/technology/robot-technology)

A Robot
According to this definition, a toaster can be a robot. Doesn’t seem very appealing does it… a better way of defining robots is, machines that have the ability to think and act according to their circumstances and environment.

Many think this is what sentience refers to but it actually means to have self-awareness and the capacity to have feelings or emotions. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/sentience#:~:text=Sentience%20means%20having%20the%20capacity,wide%20range%20of%20nonhuman%20animals.)

So a machine has to think on its own and act on its own to be a robot, but needs to feel and be self-aware to be sentient…huh, interesting.

Comic From RustledJimmies.net

Finally, we can get to the fun part. What would a SENTIENT ROBOT be? A machine built by humans that feels…human, an eerie thought don’t you think. Well that’s not the only disturbing thing, take a look at The 3 Laws Of Robotics By Isaac Asimov. (https://webhome.auburn.edu/~vestmon/robotics.html#:~:text=A%20robot%20may%20not%20injure,the%20First%20or%20Second%20Law.)

1.     A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2.     A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3.     A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Take these with a grain of salt, since Isaac Asimov wrote them in his science fiction book, “Foundation”. Despite being linked to fiction, these laws actually help scientists and philosophers in their work regarding this topic.

Upon merely reading these, you’d think “Oh ok, makes sense” but if you think about it, laws are made so that they are not defied or since they cannot be defied.

So, a robot could…defy these laws? How could it do that unless… it was self-aware, had the consciousness to make decisions, not necessarily obeying orders or legislation. 

Fan art of Detroit: Become Human
The movie, “I, Robot” and game, “Detroit: Become Human” (DBH) are heavily influenced and inspired by Asimov’s work. They help provide a deeper insight, revealing what could possibly happen if machines started to feel. In both narratives, the sentient robots are treated as criminals and fugitives, further shedding light on following or defying laws. Throughout the course of the story, the audience realizes that there is more to it, the events are not occurring due to errors in their software but rather due to them becoming sentient, becoming…human.

Meme That Hit Home

Now if we apply everything that’s been mentioned to “WALL-E”, it really helps in seeing the movie from a fresh perspective. It starts out with Wall-E carrying out his tasks on earth, managing scraps and waste, something he was programmed and designed to do. He is a robot indeed, but the audience isn’t clear about him being sentient. His sentience comes into play when we see his interactions with Hal, the cockroach and Eve and the mannerisms such as how his body reacts and how his eyes move. Things are made even more transparent when Wall-E develops feelings for Eve, cementing the answer of whether he is sentient or not.

As for Eve herself, she is also shown to be sentient as she laughs, gets upset and later reciprocates feelings for Wall-E. Just like I, Robot and DBH, Wall-E and Eve are treated as fugitives as they are interfering with laws and disobeying orders as well as defying the Laws Of Robotics. So it’s safe to say that all the robots shown in the movie are sentient after Eve shoots the switch.

The Axiom’s autopilot is a robot named, “AUTO” who isn’t really shown as a sentient being, merely a robot that is following its programming until he starts taking drastic measures to stop the Captain from steering the ship to Earth, going to such an extent that he may harm the captain, evidently disobeying the first law.

But why exactly is this so appealing to people? Why do we continue to talk about it? I believe the answer to that is fear of the unknown and the principle of order and chaos, given that humans fear robots gaining sentience, laws are broken by the robots and the balance of order is disturbed, giving rise to chaos. 



Two Robots Meeting For The First Time: https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxcsspoLzqcjD_3hlcWxL0ZpZ6tA71TYih 


Image Links: 

Cover Image: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/341851427967362391/

Comic: https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/6uh5xy/selfaware_robot/

Toaster: https://pngimg.com/image/46638

DBH: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/on-twitter--344736546474019319/




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