It appears that the fields of
computer science
and
robotics
attract a lot of
Dickheads. By that I mean fans of
science
fiction author
Philip K.
Dick.
Psychology
researcher
David
F. Dufty is acquainted with a few of these fans,
academics,
engineers,
and
artists,
who undertook the strange challenge of building an
android
simulacrum of their hero. He tells their
story in
How to Build an Android.
Dick is possibly the best choice for an author to imitate in robotic
form. He is well known for his story
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,
which was the basis of the
movie
Blade Runner. The essence of the story is that
robots have become
so sophisticated,
intelligent,
and lifelike that it is almost impossible to distinguish them from real
humans. They blow away a
Turing test, and
the latest models can only be identified through a test that detects their
carefully disguised lack of
empathy; Dick
thought empathy was an essentially human trait that may not be copied by
computers. The hero of
Do Androids Dream must track down and
destroy these nearly human
machines.
Throughout this story and others, Dick explored
identity and
the shrinking difference between human and machine. People suspect themselves to be androids,
androids are programmed to believe they are human, and both have false
memories that
they cannot distinguish from reality. A
realistic android that interacted with people in conversation seemed like a
natural fit with Dick.
Of course, the project had practical implications. It required a lifelike interface. Artist and robot maker
David Hanson
believes the face is a natural way for people to interact with each other and
potentially with
technology. He has made a succession of realistic robotic
heads that can imitate human expression.
The PKD robot was backed by
artificial
intelligence developed by researchers at the
University
of Memphis, particularly
Andrew Olney,
that allowed it to understand speech and construct responses based on things
Dick had said and written in life.
To top it off, something happened in the brief life of the android that
would have been well suited for one of Dick’s stories. They lost Dick’s head. Presumably it is still out there. It may be in some airline warehouse. It may be on the mantle of some thief, or
some flummoxed buyer of a lot of abandoned baggage. If someone has it, they haven’t been talking
about it.
The big question of the book is how do we interact with
technology? What will it look like in
the future? We will be increasingly able
to make machines that at least seem intelligent and look human. Hanson thinks that is the way to go. The Memphis scientists and engineers, and
many other like them, continue to work on interfaces capable of increasingly
sophisticated and seamless interactions with people. Are we on a trajectory from
Siri to
Jacosta to
C-3PO to
R. Daneel
Olivaw? Are androids just what we
need to make technology what we need or are they too
creepy?
Dufty doesn’t pass judgment. The
PKD was an interesting piece of technology with and interesting
history
that raises a lot of questions about what machines can be. Even as advance and capable as the PKD
android was, it had a lot of limitations.
It could carry on a conversation, in a quiet room with a patient
partner, but it did little else and its responses varied from the seemingly
real thing to nonsense.
Personally, I don’t think we need, nor do I want, computers with
faces. I would be pleased if I could get
my Windows 8 tiles to work. I do think
the way we interact with technology is important, especially that we are able
to get feedback and other information from technology in ways that helps us
understand what is going on and respond intelligently.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Dufty, David F.
How to Build an Android: The True Story of Philip K. Dick’s Robotic
Resurrection.
New York:
Henry Holt,
2012.
