Free «Science Fiction» Essay Sample

Most writers use the term ‘artificial intelligence’ in their science fiction books to describe artificially made robotic creatures, which are programmed for a specific purpose, and are capable of processing large amounts of information and analyzing the situation independently. In my opinion in order to define the meaning of artificial intelligence, one has to address to an artificial and technically advanced entity, which is enabled with human traits, such as individual thought creation and processing, ethical and moral analysis, and even emotional features, such as pity, shame or guilt.

When many researchers suppose that creation of artificial intelligence is beneficial for humanity in many ways, others contradict, implicating the posing scientific progress of the crossroad ethical and destructive dilemma. “We are responsible for those we have tamed” (proverb), so the production of artificial intelligence not only puts the reputation of the creator and all humankind at risk, but also the newborn artificial life. Just like a child, it is sensitive to unexpected circumstances and can easily result in failure to fulfill its initial purpose or fall into wrong hands and become a weapon of mass destruction. It is known from history that many inventions, which had started as an innocent experiment, ended by the situation going out of control, killing millions of people, destroying vast inhabitation, and resulting in drastic post-effects on the environment.

The literary works indicate many cases of benefit for humanity. In Dick’s “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale”, the induction of artificial intelligence helps Douglas Quail to find out his real memories. In “Second Variety” (Dick) people are exempt from the duty to fight, due to the availability of robot soldiers. The telepathic abilities of RB-34 from “Liar” (Asimov) keep humans from hurting by lying. In reality many other instances of artificial intelligence advantages occur. Today technological service is trivial. However, when time comes, we should always be aware not to cross the border line in order to keep safe both artificial intelligence and humankind.