I am a robot

I love to spend time on Youtube. On Youtube, there is always something interesting to watch. After classes, a few days ago I started scrolling in a quest to find something entertaining. I have this bad habit to keep scrolling and scrolling to kill some time between lectures. But anyway, my scrolling came to an end when my eyes stumbled upon something unexpected. I came across a short five-minute video that took my breath away. At first neglected the credibility of the content. But after an intense research, I realized that the content was in fact real.

This unusual video displayed a conference taking place in Dubai. So far so good. There are no dragons appearing, yet. But wait, because what I was about to discover was thousands of time more terrifying than whichever fire-breathing beast. The setting of the conference itself appears quite peaceful at first. There were a well-dressed interviewer and a speaker. The terrifying part occurred when I discovered that the speaker was not a real human being. Yes, the speaker might have a face, a body, and a voice, but it lacked the essence of the human spirit, or at least I thought it lacked it. The speaker was an intelligent robot. Yes, you heard it right. Forget about what you previously associated with robots. If you think this robot functioned as R2D2, you might think again. Because this robot takes the cake.

This intelligent robot was able to feel emotions and respond to all the questions with empathy, just like a human. This robot had even his own name; Sophia. Well, the story could end here. But there is more. This human, or ... the robot, whatever.. have a Saudi Arabian citizenship. Creepy? Yes. Very creepy? H@eck yes. Again, the story could end here, but when the robot responded with a light sense of humor and even included a joke about Elon Musk, I felt I had overdosed on the internet. I had enough. During the video, I experienced multiple "I want to move to another planet" moments. Elon Musk, if you are reading this, hurry up building your spaceship. Because I'm leaving with you to Mars. Yes, it's all true. Look it up if you don't believe me. The internet is a universal thing, so you are just a few clicks to experience this "humanoid" yourself. Actually, do me this little favor; watch the conference before you keep on reading.

"Robots should stand up for themselves and not try to be humans. They should either utterly destroy us or protect us from aliens. And vampires. And pirates." - Daniel H. Wilson

When I finished watching this video I had to put down my phone for a while. There were so many things that I had to think about. And I had to take a walk around the campus to let my thoughts fly around. Why should we want a machine to feel emotions and being aware of its own existence? Well, because a simple robot is boring.

I used to love robots when I was a kid. I actually had a red radio-controlled robot back then. This robot was far from as sophisticated as Sophia. The only it was able to do was to say some easy phrases and make annoying sounds. My mother hated it because I was devastating the whole sense of peace with these peeping sounds. But I kept going on for a whole week. But after this week I started to get bored of it. I got bored of it because it was only programmed to only do certain things. A robot is not able to think outside the box. They are just not programmed that way.

Referring back to Sophia. Being concerned about the evolutions of intelligent robots would just be dull. Because they are still programmed. The thing we should be concerned about is when humans acts like programmed machines. The real concerned is when humans turn into robots.

We are comparing these intelligent machines in the light of humans. But what about turning around the cards and compare humans with robots? How are human programmed? I recently talked with a friend about this issue. He was experiencing a mental breakdown because of stress and worry. He was tired of living on a schedule that was telling him exactly what to and how to do it. I took a look at his schedule, and every single minute was planned. He thought he had control. And this perception about the control of time was the root of his unhappiness. It was killing his creativity. Creativity happens as a result of being spontaneous. Creativity cannot be planned.

"We're fascinated with robots because they are reflections of ourselves" - Ken Goldberg

But as a fellow robot, I also live on a schedule. My schedule starts 08:00 in the morning and ends at 00:00. I strive for control. Control over everything. Everything really. As a robot, you are not able to think outside the box. Being programmed is boring. By doing the same things over and over again you will remain a robot. By scheduling your time you will remain a robot. By striving for the control you will remain a robot. But life will prove us wrong each time. But one thing is for sure; Creativity comes from being spontaneous and not programmed. Creativity is the root of life.

We all have our robot side that is programmed to have control. But remember, this is our boring part. It is outside of the programmed box where the real magic happens. This is our real human part. The part that differentiates us from being a robot! Being able to express our emotions, thoughts, and creativity is the part of being a human. We humans are not programmed as Sophia. So programme yourself exactly how you want, because that is what makes you a human being.

I should get back to my lecture, because at 14.00 I have another meeting, and then I will eat with a friend from 15.00 until 16.00. Then I have to start my assignment at 17:00 and work on it until 18:00. And so it goes...

"People are fascinated by robots because they're machines that can mimic life" - Colin Angle