Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 14, No. 707.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
[1] From: Randall Pierce <rpierce@jsucc.jsu.edu> (39)
Subject: Automata, robots and "thinking machines"
[2] From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk> (28)
Subject: bionic chip
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2001 09:13:03 +0000
From: Randall Pierce <rpierce@jsucc.jsu.edu>
Subject: Automata, robots and "thinking machines"
In light of the vast amounts of material that are being made available
by members of the Humanist List, it is interesting that someone brought
up the subject of "thinking machines.". As a long-time observer of
Science Fiction,I am aware that writers of "fantastic fiction" have
written about "sentient" machines as long as there has been history. I
think that the vast amounts of information being made available to
cybernetic circuitry brings up certain "philosophical" questions, first
among which is "What is sentience?" Just how much "input" can
complicated circuitry accomodate before certain critical associations
are made? This is really not as fantastic as it sounds. I would
recommend to the readers of this list two science fiction novels by
reputable scientists: "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", by Robert A.
Heinlein, and "When Harlie Was One," by David Gerrold. Each raises
interesting philosophical and ethical questions. Dr. Isaac Asimov wrote
extensively on robots(kudos to Karl Capek), both as a writer of fiction
and as an editor of popular scientific works. I know that the movie
"Short Circuit" is largely slapstick comedy, but think of its
implications, especially the mention of the "Turing Test" by the
roboticist. These are just some thoughts some might appreciate. I hope
they will be well received. Randall
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Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2001 09:37:22 +0000
From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: bionic chip
In light of the discussion on automata, Humanists may be interested in the
research of Boris Rubinsky and others at Berkeley "to mate human cells with
circuitry in a 'bionic chip' that could play a key role in medicine and
genetic engineering", <http://www.grg.org/UCBcellsChip.htm>. Apparently the
problem they have solved is the electrical communication between artificial
microcircuitry and biological cells. The research was originally published
as "Micro-Electroporation: Improving the Efficiency and Understanding of
Electrical Permeabilization of Cells", Biomedical Microdevices 2.2 (March
1999): 145-50, <http://www.wkap.nl/oasis.htm/251412>.
Some of you will be familiar with the microphotograph of a brain cell
growing on a Motorola chip, done by John Stevens and Judy Trogadis in
Toronto more than 15 years ago; see
<http://ilex.cc.kcl.ac.uk/year1/concepts/brain-cell-on-a-chip.jpg>. At the
time this was a visual metaphor and remains powerfully so. Now, it seems,
the two juxtaposed entities can talk to each other -- to stretch a point
slightly. But, again, what I find fascinating is the continuity with the
dream of automata that goes back to Homer in the written record. Along the
way, thanks to particular instantiations such as the Golem, it (if we may
speak of a singular dream) is shown to be messily hard to distinguish from
making entities like us in the usual way. Padre Busa's humorous remark,
that he thinks God regards computers as a grandfather his grandchildren, is
very, very old wisdom.
Yours,
WM
-----
Dr Willard McCarty / Senior Lecturer /
Centre for Computing in the Humanities / King's College London /
Strand / London WC2R 2LS / U.K. /
+44 (0)20 7848-2784 / ilex.cc.kcl.ac.uk/wlm/
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