An AI in fiction class--what fun! Curious to know what else your students are reading in the course if you're interested in sharing your reading list/syllabus. And thanks for this post, Amy. As always, lots of good, meaty stuff to chew on.
Like any readings/viewings list it evolves -- next time I teach the course it will be changed a bit no doubt -- but this order basically uses Ererwhon as a conceptual and historical basis, then moves from the invention of the word "Robot" (RUR) forward through time looking at conceptions of androids, and culminating in the more recent Big Hero Six and Ron's Gone Wrong animated children's films, which position the robot as "big brother" and "little brother" respectively. (Among other differences -- BHS also positions the robot as unique product of the family's genius whereas RGW positions the robot as consumer product corrupted by a unique family's struggle to "fit in.")
After that the list switches to non-embodied or non-android ("not human shaped") AI -- with Wargames giving us an AI-as-(deadly)-child, and then moving and closer and closer to The Self, first as various kinds of second-self (clone, cookie, innie) and then finally through alienation of the sense of the self as the Other (or Other-One), where the "artificially created" and "programmed being" whose personhood (freedom, dignity) is at question is the human being, the me, the us.
ABA stands for "applied behavioral analysis" -- it's the medical name that psychologists use today for what was once called "behavior modification."
ABA is prescribed for people with autism and other "behavioral disorders." Even attempting to describe it neutrally invites political backlash; some autistic individuals say it is abuse, many practitioners will say those who claim abuse were not treated properly or that they're just wrong. Some see ABA as a savior method that allows people to live fuller lives.
What many AI stories suggest is that we have a deep fear that we are not souls with free will but rather machines that can be programmed. The reality of ABA brings us very close, in the real world, to that fear. We recognize that we can be primed or manipulated or nudged, especially when we're interacting with an environment that we haven't evolved to recognize might be purposefully influencing us, as opposed to being the natural landscape. Knowing that the store is laid out a certain way to make you buy things can make you less susceptible but it can also make you nervous, if you recognize that you've previously been influenced in that way -- you might feel less in control of your life and actions, and that's scary for a lot of people.
It seems to me like a lot of what we read and see in AI stories reflects these fears.
An AI in fiction class--what fun! Curious to know what else your students are reading in the course if you're interested in sharing your reading list/syllabus. And thanks for this post, Amy. As always, lots of good, meaty stuff to chew on.
Here's this semester's readings/viewings list:
Erewon: The Book of the Machines (1872)
RUR (1920)
“The Lonely” Twilight Zone (1959)
“The Measure of a Man” Star Trek TNG (1989)
“Aware” C. Robert Cargill (2018)
The Caves of Steel Isaac Asimov (1954)
The Naked Sun Isaac Asimov (1957)
Big Hero Six (2014)
Ron’s Gone Wrong (2021)
War Games (1983)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1969)
Moon (2009)
“White Christmas” Black Mirror (2014)
Severance (2022)
“The Game” Star Trek TNG (1991)
“America: the Ride” Charles Yu (2018)
“Nosedive” Black Mirror (2016)
Walden Two BF Skinner (1948)
Like any readings/viewings list it evolves -- next time I teach the course it will be changed a bit no doubt -- but this order basically uses Ererwhon as a conceptual and historical basis, then moves from the invention of the word "Robot" (RUR) forward through time looking at conceptions of androids, and culminating in the more recent Big Hero Six and Ron's Gone Wrong animated children's films, which position the robot as "big brother" and "little brother" respectively. (Among other differences -- BHS also positions the robot as unique product of the family's genius whereas RGW positions the robot as consumer product corrupted by a unique family's struggle to "fit in.")
After that the list switches to non-embodied or non-android ("not human shaped") AI -- with Wargames giving us an AI-as-(deadly)-child, and then moving and closer and closer to The Self, first as various kinds of second-self (clone, cookie, innie) and then finally through alienation of the sense of the self as the Other (or Other-One), where the "artificially created" and "programmed being" whose personhood (freedom, dignity) is at question is the human being, the me, the us.
Thank you! What a fascinating and wide-ranging syllabus. I've read/watched none of this, so lots to add to the TBR :).
... what is ABA?
ABA stands for "applied behavioral analysis" -- it's the medical name that psychologists use today for what was once called "behavior modification."
ABA is prescribed for people with autism and other "behavioral disorders." Even attempting to describe it neutrally invites political backlash; some autistic individuals say it is abuse, many practitioners will say those who claim abuse were not treated properly or that they're just wrong. Some see ABA as a savior method that allows people to live fuller lives.
What many AI stories suggest is that we have a deep fear that we are not souls with free will but rather machines that can be programmed. The reality of ABA brings us very close, in the real world, to that fear. We recognize that we can be primed or manipulated or nudged, especially when we're interacting with an environment that we haven't evolved to recognize might be purposefully influencing us, as opposed to being the natural landscape. Knowing that the store is laid out a certain way to make you buy things can make you less susceptible but it can also make you nervous, if you recognize that you've previously been influenced in that way -- you might feel less in control of your life and actions, and that's scary for a lot of people.
It seems to me like a lot of what we read and see in AI stories reflects these fears.