Robot Race - Utopian Society

"I Robot" Laws?

 

well, I was more of thinking of what I would do if I wanted to create a sentient life-form.
"alright, so it'll be able to evolve, right?
well check this out...
I've put stuff into its DNA...
so that when it becomes sentient enough to understand that it exists...
it'll ask itself why it exists. and it won't stop looking for an answer until it knows the answer with 100% surety
...
...
you boys ready to see what happens when I let it loose?"

 

That's an interesting observation. It sheds some more light on human nature - People struggle to understand their true selves and, in a way, Man is a hard creature to sate. On the one hand, the latter may work positively and assume a motivational role towards scientific and social progress. On the other hand, the ideal might adopt a negative view and cause people to pursue things they do not truly require, leaving a trail of harm behind.

I believe that Utopia is not for everyone. Every human being is unique and has his/her own beliefs, desires, conducts and so forth. However, certain people share certain characteristics, as they may also diverge in specific topics. As such, I believe that some individuals may be willing to sacrifice (or transform) several aspects of today's society in order to embrace the Utopian lifestyle and be able to conquer/tame their instincts and impulses. Should these people come together (and assuming that citizens who break the code are removed from the community), I think that the group has a chance of being successful, at least for a while. The most concerning issue comes to play when greed and corruption start to take shape and people begin twisting the concept to benefit themselves, jeopardising others in the process - it's a risk that would always be present.
In turn, other individuals will not be willing to endure the Utopian conditions, for whatever reasons they may have, and prefer to live by different notions - which is perfectly fine.

My conclusion is that there may be Utopian societies within mankind, though difficult to achieve due to Man's nature, but perhaps rewarding on the long run. These communities require devotion and trust. However, as there will always be people who believe differently, the concept cannot be applied to the entire population.
People should be able to live by whatever chains of thought they choose to adopt, as long as they do not endager their fellow Man nor abuse Nature.

 

Willpower and education only go so far, though it is an important part of the process. There will always be individuals that will not respond to this method hence why we have places like insane asylums and why I mentioned the need for genetic engineering.

Also a good point, it may be possible to form a temporary Utopian society with a small group of individuals. I still believe that it would be doomed to failure as there inevitably would be individuals who seek personal gain from the group.

 

it could perhaps work if the group was a small, tight-knit community with a strong background that had brought them together (perhaps military/combat or something else to make them world-weary), and we ruled out any reproduction whatsoever, then a small Utopian settlement would be possible up until the point where disease, outside-factors, or extreme life-changing events changed group-dynamic to a standard where Utopia would slowly descend into Dystopia- driving the group apart.

 

If you don't mind, I would like to share with you a quote from Utopia that I find very interesting.

'(...) each man knows that unless he makes separate provision for himself, he may perfectly well die of hunger. Bitter necessity, then, forces men to look out for themselves rather than for the people (...). But in Utopia, where everything belongs to everybody, no man need fear that; so long as the public warehouses are filled, he will ever lack for anything he needs. Distribution is not one of their problems, in Utopia no men are poor, no men are beggars, and though no man owns anything, everyone is rich.'

According to this excerpt, it can be concluded that what drives people to look out for themselves, rather than take care of the community in general (themselves included), is bitter need. Should all necessities be covered, as they are in Utopia, no one needs to fear the many problems that torment the actual society and may feel secure about their livelihood, as well as the one for their descendants.

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Regarding Starbound, the issue that 'necessities that go unattended will lead to self-centred behaviour' is something that will probably not affect Robots as much as it affects biological lifeforms. Using the classic concept we have about Robots, their needs are different and in less quantity than people's. As such, I believe this can work as another factor to fuel a Utopian Robot society. They are not limited by needs as we are and may very likely embrace this lifestyle more easily than biological species.

 

Going to double post here (though there's been around 10 days since my last post ), as I'd like to add some more information. ^^

Thomas More, the author of Utopia, besides of the several things that have been posted here, also portrays the Utopians as a people aware of the very serious dangers that scientific progress may bring forth. We can just take a look at the atomic bomb in the 20th century - a product of scientific advancement that brought destruction - even though Utopia was written in the 16th century. (It's worth noting that scientific progress also brings positive things - progress in the area of medicine, taking people to space, etc.) Anyways, due to this way of thinking, the Utopians go great lengths to prevent men from acquiring power over each other - which takes us back to the good-evil duality of human nature and the corruptive ability of power. As such, technological progress is limited in this reality, as a means to prevent people from harming one another.

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Once again, we can ferry this to Starbound and bestow upon the Robot society a quite different characteristic - Instead of Robots being the typical technology-freaks, who often focus so much in scientific progress to demonstrate the superiority of machine over flesh, perhaps these Utopian Drones could be aware of the many dangers that unlimited scientific knowledge might bring to the Universe overall. As a result, they are protective over their databanks, reluctant to share their knowledge and reluctant to take their studies further, too. Being more logical than emotional, they more easily process that they do not require this search for evolution, as they do not 'suffer' from not knowing everything, and can be at peace with the way things are. In a way, they'd see themselves as protectors of the Universe. ^^ Just some more food for thought.

 

But but but but... there's no such thing as going too far in the pursuit of more RAM...

 

Communist robots? I will make one as my main character without a doubt, if this idea will came to be developed in game.

 

They're more comfortable with the term Utopian.

 

Po-tei-toe, po-tah-toe

I don't mind both terms. Some people are allergic to the s-word and c-word because of mass-media propaganda. Still, your idea and thread, you get to decide anyway.

There was a concern earlier in the thread about stale and slow decline of society without conflict. While I can agree to an extent with this notion in very broad sense, I don't really see a problem. For example, utopian robots may (and probably will) consider their continued existence as a value. They, no doubt, know that stars tend to burn out and the Universe is going to heat death. Thus, they can at least try to fight it, expanding from star to star at first, and then either finding a way to stop heat death or to find/create another universe to exist in.

Also, there can be any amount of "needs" and "urges" programmed into robotic consciousness. Like "I need to explore because I want to", or "less fortunate beings should be enlightened and brought to advancement, because I feel that it is right thing to do", or "exterminate". Human urge "I want to have more resources of all kinds and not to do anything at all if possible" is very bad in it's core, and it is not the only way to do stuff.

 

And yet...
There must always be TWO people who run away in the sunset... because that's how the story is supposed to go...
I think...

 

An expanding robotic utopian society is capable of being a real threat to all the other life forms in the universe. War would be provoked and after all, robots will be superior to all of them... thus eradicating all non-robotic beings.
Now this would lead to true peace, as there are no more "enemies".
Well... I like the idea.

Reminds me of the Geth ;D


I like that topic.

 

Kudos to fellow scholar of English literature.

 

The Geth are about all I remember from the Mass Effect series.
that and that their base was in the middle of nowhere in terms of space. I always liked that. The logical process which lead to hiding in plain site where Organic beings wouldn't bother to think about enemies being located.

 

Honestly, I hope they are NOT utopian-- the races introduced so far work well because they're flawed, not because they're perfect.

That does not mean that they have to be evil, however. Florans, for example, for all the jokes about how they're adorable little murderplants, are themselves more ignorant than evil-- their young society has trouble understanding that sentient meat-things exist and should be given equal rights as sentient plant-things.

 

"Utopian" ≠ "perfect without any problems". The fact that they have solved social problems which plague other races does not mean that they have transcended through every possible obstacle. For example, they could be extremely non-creative. Or just have bad fashion taste. Or emotionally detached from other beings and their needs. Et cetera.

 

I'll pick choice C for $500.
reason being that we are dealing with robots.

 

Actually, they staid at the Quarian home world behind the veil to ensure their planet would be fit for civilisation once the Quarians would return. They only used materials mined from asteroids and left the planet as much alone as possible. They never saw it as 'The Geth-Quarian war', they simply defended themselves.

Back on topic, A robot society would be the same and different as your Utopian example.

For one, there would be equality and resources would be spread according to necessity.
The point is though, that they would simply create those needed for a specific function. It would not be impossible to imagine one robot 'overlord' to oversee and to direct. A lower class to direct matters on a more local level and finally the 'worker' class that will do anything from mining to fighting. Don't forget robots need neither food nor sleep, and as such have an incredible advantage over any organic being. As long as expansion is unnecessary a robot wouldn't go to war anyway, however when resources are needed and the outcome could be easily predicted...it would be logical to go to war and ensure the resources you need as long as you know for sure you get more out of it.

In battle, they have the automatic advantage of all being trained and knowing orders at all times. A change in plans can be relaid immediately and scouting would simply be done by specific units through both flight and scanners.

In short: a robot Utopia would be a frightful thing, as there is no wrong or right: only logic