Author: Andrew Verrilli

This week we discussed about our thoughts on ethics and consciousness. On the surface these two things don’t seem related but after reading The Bicentennial Man, I realized the two are tightly intertwined. I first came to this conclusion when in class someone said something along the lines of “If I were to kill a robot but no one could tell it was a robot, I would be charged with murder but if from the start people knew it was a robot, I would be fine”. This made me realize that what we deem ethical and non-ethical all depends on what we deem conscious and non-conscious.  This means that if the victim of your actions is conscious enough to realize you’ve wronged them then your actions are unethical, but if the victim of your actions does not have enough consciousness to realize what you’ve done to them is wrong than what you’ve done is ethical. In the past this hasn’t mattered much because the line between being conscious and not being conscious has been clear, but with the robot revolution beginning  this is a concept that will have to be looked at deeper.

The Bicentennial man also was a good example of how consciousness can someone make some non-optimal decisions. In my paper for last week I wrote about how consciousness made the human race inefficient.  It makes us want pleasure and gives us the choice to risk our lives for it. This is the same for Andrew Martin once he becomes conscious. He willingly gives up the chance to live forever just so he can be labeled as human. Ironically this was a very human decision of him.

I assume Twain had Plato’s allegory of the cave on his mind when writing A Connecticut Yankee. In the book, Hank Morgan represents enlightenment and the people of the 6th century represent the unenlightened masses.
When Plato wrote the allegory of the cave in the republic he was trying to say that the masses were too ignorant to govern themselves and should be ruled by someone enlightened, a belief which i’m sure he shares with Hank Morgan. Not only did Morgan and Plato have similar views, but their views were opposed by the same organization, the church. Not only does A Connecticut Yankee play on enlightened peoples quest for power but it also shows how the church tries to suppress enlightenment to keep control.

In a way this also relates to what is going on in our country right now. The “Muslim Ban” the Trump administration as just put forward is essentially us as a country being scared of other views and not wanting to face them.  In general people don’t like opposing views but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have to face them or that they are crazy. In this country we need diversity to enlighten us.

A key trait I’ve noticed in all the material we’ve covered is that everyone thinks that technology advancements only bring benefits. However, all the material has shown that technology advancements also produce negative repercussions.

This was an easy trait to see at the World’s Fair. At what really was the start of a century long arms race, countries from across the globe showed off all there military advancements trying to out do the others countries at the World’s Fair. One general was quoted as saying something along the lines of [the only way to maintain peace is by advancing your military]. It only took 20 years for this general to be proved wrong. WW1 was the first of a series of unprecedentedly large wars that caused millions of deaths.

Like the General’s at the worlds fair, Hank Morgan believes firmly that advancements in technology will completely better everyone’s lives. Yet in the end, Morgan’s technology just leads to tens of thousands of deaths. His technology was meant to aide the unfairness and social inequality he was seeing; however, in this case his means did not justify his ends.

I am still wondering to myself if our brain is a computer. It is very interesting to think about. Through computer science classes here at Bucknell I have seen how many computer programs, such as Artificial Neural Networks, are designed based on how the brain works. In my own opinion I do not think our brain is a computer. I believe that as of now, the brain is more complex than any computer humans could design at the moment. Computers are just starting to be able to beat humans at games like chess, but thats about as smart as they have gotten.

This assessment of our technology relates to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs court. Technology is so common place/advanced now that if were to wake up in a different time period with less technology it would almost be like going to a different planet. I would even go as far as to say if some people woke up in a less advanced country such as Africa or even some parts of South America, that they would be just as confused as if they woke up in a different time period.

This should concern us, at this rate technology is becoming so prevalent that as a society we are starting to become dependent on it. Thus, technology companies are gaining a lot of power… maybe even too much. Every major country would come to a complete halt if they were to loose power. Which is a very real possibility in the near future with the rate we are using energy now.