Claris, from Antarctica, LAT:-75.250 LON:-0.00
A pair of mountains in Antarctica might now literally be the loneliest place in the world. Not even bacteria seem to live at the top of these freezing peaks, National Geographic reports.
Preparing for a first meeting in Greenland about the future of our planet my uncertainty kicks in. In the end decisions will have to be made.
Steve mailed me last week from East-Australia:
Dear Claris
Or is it just robot CL-01 now?
I am lying on the beach in the sun and have finally opened my new book “To be a machine” by Marc O’Connell that you mentioned to me some time ago. On the first page there is a motto from Don DeLillo’s White Noise:
I think there is a huge gap in terms of what technology can do today versus what we people think it can do. We’ve made a lot of progress, there’s no denying that, but I think we are so far removed from being able to have any real understanding of what artificial intelligence is and how it already dominates our life.
You being a smart robot now, are you really happy?
What were the most essential elements of becoming CL-01? Is it an improvement, being isolated from human uncertainties? Does this new life transcend your human life, Claris, or is it boring you already?
I am still interested in your real story, your actual struggles included, I wish to hear from you and wish you a lot of wisdom.
Steve
Claris, from Antarctica
I can’t get this sentence out of my head.
What does it essentially mean to change from human to robot? What will I win, but maybe in the first place what will I lose?
My robot version was already scaring Sae away!
Why?
Now Steve has many reservations too. Have I been overconfident with my launch of Robot CL-01? Luckily my hidden life as Claris in Antarctica is not quite over yet, but my time as Claris, a human 86 years old, is running out soon. My decision doesn’t have to be final yet.
What will be the reactions of my other dear friends like Sae from Korea, Nicky from India, and Wavey from NewFoundland? Why have they all, except Steve, fallen silent? Have I cherished their uncertainty, the eternal doubt, for too long?
But is discussing, listening, comparing not the essence of progress? Was it the trial and error method that always instigated the emergence of new ideas in my head? My doubts drive the core of my book, they will determine my final choice. If I would dispel all doubts, this ebook would only be a very small representation of a status quo enshrined in my CL-01 robot program that, at most, tries to perfect itself with AI. And then? Can we then go to sleep in peace because everything is settled? Maybe, but the soul of my existence would be gone forever.
