Tuesday, August 21, 2012

short post: food for thought


What makes humans any different from robots? The other day, I came across this awesome quote by this guy called Gilbert Ryle:

"Save for the doubtful exception of himself, one could never tell the difference between a man and a robot."

It brought to mind something that I am pretty interested in (though honestly, "pretty" in this particular situation is a definite understatement): The Android's Conundrum.
                
The Android's Conundrum, put so eloquently in a (The) Shin's song, is to me, three simple words that pose a difficult question to those who ponder. What does it mean to be human? This, my friend, is freaking awesome. The term 'android' was coined by an American writer Philip K. Dick, when he wrote the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (on which the movie Blade Runner was based). It is, put quite simply, a robot. The android looks like a human. But it is not human. It has no soul.






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