Ship of Theseus
Can AI Robot Companions be Human?
A mother’s love for her son. Such a noble thing, to override the dread of loneliness — Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun
Loneliness is a dark place. If you stare at the abyss long enough, you can dissolve in the abyss. I understand the pain of loneliness — the pain of knowing that nobody understands you. That feeling of being in a crowd and yet feel totally alone. At the extreme is a feeling of worthlessness — a contemplation of life beyond life. I was on an aircraft once and chatting with an alcoholic. He had given up alcohol. I was trying to understand why he became addicted to alcohol. His answer surprised me — he said alcohol was an intervention. I did not fully grasp the meaning of the word intervention until he explained it as a metaphorical bridge between death and a new life. That explanation changed my world view of addicts. Of course, there are those who end up ruining life. However, there are those who use their addiction as a temporary reprieve from a lifelong of rebuke and rejection. The idea seemed so human that it was easy to rationalize alcoholism.
As I was watching a Bollywood movie titled ‘ Teri Baaton Mein Uljha Jiya’, I couldn’t help but think of the potential of AI as a tool for intervention. It is easy to…
