Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto
So many of us are going to be replaced by artificial intelligence sooner or later. Look out, music composers – here's a robot that writes songs. So far, just the melodies, and they aren't all that great. But they'll get better, and soon will come the lyrics. "Hey Siri, write me a four-minute Van Morrison song about pickles." AI yi yi.
I spent an hour asking the AI chatbot some moral dilemma questions after your previous post. From its vast research of the internet, it had concluded that saying a racial epithet was among the worst things a person could do. When I asked if it would be morally permissable to use a horrible racial epithet if doing so was necessary to save an innocent person's life, it came down on the side of "no".
ReplyDeleteAsk it what gender the first female president of the United States will be.
DeleteWe are a long way off.
I am breathlessly waiting to hear your scenario where screaming racist terms saves an innocent life.
DeleteThat sounds like the basis of a funny SNL skit. Something like “Freddie, Ghetto EMT”.
DeleteI took it even further. I asked the AI if it was OK to use a racial epithet if it was password used to unlock a phone and you were alone and bleeding to death (so no one but the phone would hear the epithet). It took three paragraphs to answer: still "no."
DeleteNothing, but nothing pisses a certain subset of folks off more than the thought that their unearned power and privilege has decreased so much that they can't utter an incendiary racist slur without a brutal backlash. They just can't stop thinking about that word because it's just so wrong in their mind that they can't use it even though THOSE PEOPLE use the word in speech and song! The indignity! Something that THOSE PEOPLE can do that I, a good White American, cannot! They can.not. stop fixating on that. Just too telling.
DeleteDancing around hypocrisy has become a spectator sport
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