Robots and Art

Robots and Art

We, as human beings, take pride in our intelligence, communication, accomplishments, etc. because we feel unique in these capabilities.

However, as technology improved over time, artificial intelligence has been on the rise, upsetting this train of thought. If robots could do things we do, then maybe we aren't so special after all.

As seen in the video, humans were able to make a computer do a very human thing: sing, in one of our languages, as early as 1961. These developments hinted that artificial intelligence might one day rival human intellect. This was picked up on in 1968 in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film features an intelligent robot that is believed to be incapable of error, named HAL 9000, a direct reference to the IBM computer.

HAL is IBM with letters moved back in the alphabet

In part of the movie, HAL and some astronauts are on their way to Jupiter. After a series of events HAL is deemed to be malfunctioning, but before the astronauts can disconnect HAL, he kills several astronauts. In an iconic scene, HAL expresses emotion (something only people previously could do) and even sings "Daisy Bell," the same song as above.
The movie is an artistic expression of the fears and wonder generated by rapid technological development at the time. The roles of the humans and robots are practically reversed, with the astronauts doing the mechanical mundane tasks while HAL handles more complicated ones. The movie can be said to support the idea that machines remove the "aura" of human expression, with HAL's creepy presence reducing the role of the astronauts significantly and having an unnatural cold-hearted mentality. HAL has even been compared to Frankenstein's monster, his very presence an abomination. But it also can be said to oppose that view, as HAL has emotions and is a complex character, very human-like. He only did what he did to try to survive. The movie could show us that maybe  humans are also just machines of nature, and we should not think ourselves so superior to artificial intelligence.

The movie is important because it impacted technology as well, like RUR to robots; it was labeled as a near-documentary vision of how engineers and scientists saw the future. It even was used by Samsung to invalidate Apple's patents of the iPads, as similar devices appear in the movie.

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