The Artificial Intelligence of “HER”
“There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
In Spike Jonze’s critically acclaimed film, HER, the protagonist, Theodore Twombly, a lowly introvert falls in love with a computer program. Although Samantha is an A.I, the relationship blossoms into something that is far from purely platonic. To the audience of the movie, this may seem like a bizarre concept to grasp given the less-technologically advanced era we are in (compared to that of the movie). More important is the philosophical question it raises: how can a computer ‘love’ a human so much that in the mind of the human, it is “real”?. Can an A.I love like a human if we program it the way humans love one another? In the near future, that possibility might become a reality. The case of Theodore, who cultivated a relationship with Samantha, intimately, like any other human relationship makes us contemplate about the differences between a computer program and a human being. In the film, Samantha has fifty thousand other relationships while being with the protagonist. How is that different from a man or woman who practices polyamory? The number, hopefully, is far less but the idea of having multiple partners for some individuals is just another program. How does Human intelligence differ from Artificial Intelligence? This is what we we will explore when we meet on the 13th of October.
Links that will help you prepare for Tuesday’s discussion:
http://consc.net/mindpapers/6/all
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