In the movie, the dungeon lord Gruishka is waiting for a major makeover in order to capture Alita, with his head and spine hanging in the air and twisting around.

text | Pan Enrong (Professor of School of Marxism, Zhejiang University)

Peter Scott-Morgan Picture source: "Daily Telegraph"

Is anyone willing to transform themselves into cyborg ? This is a question I had when watching the movie " alita " a few years ago.

In the movie, the dungeon lord Gruishka is waiting for a major transformation in order to capture Alita, with his head and spine hanging in the air and twisting around. This seems a bit ridiculous, but looking back, it’s a bit scary. Before being connected to an artificial body, the last part of a person that cannot be separated is a kind of "brain worm", like a worm with a big head and a small tail; after being connected to an artificial body, a person becomes a cyborg with various abilities. . In other words, except for the brain, which cannot be replaced, cyborgs can replace other parts of the body to gain new powers or abilities.

But are you, me, him, and others around us willing to transform into cyborgs like this? This problem has troubled me for a long time. It wasn't until I learned that "Peter 2.0", the British scientist Peter Scott-Morgan, announced his death on June 15, 2022, that I realized that the answer to this question is yes. Although "Peter 2.0" has passed away, he did open up a new possibility for human life.

From machine substitution to robot human

"Peter 2.0" is not the result of "machine substitution".

" machine replaced by " refers to the fact that since the 1860s, the invention and use of modern machines has started a climax of machine replacement again and again, pushing the world towards the modern era. At the beginning of the 21st century, deep learning technology has pushed artificial intelligence into its third climax. The "second rise" of intelligent machines has gained a little bit of "autonomy" and once again deeply transformed the "man-machine" relationship.

Regardless of whether machines undergo qualitative changes or whether strong artificial intelligence machines may appear in the future, the result of "machine substitution" is a subject-object relationship between humans and machines, or a "dual" relationship. However, "Peter 2.0" is qualitatively different from machine substitution.

From the perspective of technological development, "Peter X.0" is the result of "machine man". If the traditional "machine-replacement" is the intervention of machines into the original "human-human" relationship to form a new "human-machine" relationship, then "robotized human" is the intervention of machines into human life itself to constitute "post-humanity" ——Cyborg.

The machine of "Peter X.0" is part of the human being, or in other words, the human and the machine are "one". Scott Morgan once imagined this in his early work "Robot Revolution": "One day, human beings will replace their fragile bodies with more durable machines and use supercomputers as intelligence amplifiers."

33 years later, we will face " With the ALS epidemic approaching, Scott-Morgan chose this day. "Peter 1.0" uses mechanical machines to replace human organs. On July 10, 2018, Scott-Morgan established a life support system for his body to solve the problem of eating, drinking and diarrhea through a "triple ostomy".

At this time, "Peter 1.0" became the first cyborg, a cyborg, while "Peter 2.0" used intelligent machines to replace human organs.

On October 10, 2019, Scott Morgan chose total laryngectomy surgery, and then used various artificial intelligence technologies to achieve controllable electronic voice and digital human images. "Peter 1.0" was upgraded to "Peter 2.0" - a real cyborg.

Immortal NPC

Many people may think that "Peter 2.0" opens up the possibility of "immortality" for mankind. After Scott-Morgan's death, "Peter 2.0" completely became a "digital person", and it can exist permanently if other conditions remain unchanged. So, what kind of "eternal" state is this? Is this the same as the “eternal life” we subconsciously pursue?

I think that the immortality of "Peter 2.0" is not the "eternal life" we subconsciously yearn for.What is the difference between the two kinds of "eternal life"?

Take online games or the movie " Out of Control Player " as an example. The "eternal life" in our subconscious is the state of the player. Players can re-enter the game after "death", and even if they delete files, they can re-register and enter the game.

is different from the player's "immortality". The immortality of "Peter 2.0" is the NPC (non-player controllable character) type of immortality in the game, which can be regenerated after death by refreshing. To put it simply, "Peter 2.0" is now an NPC in the real world, but you, me, him, and even all mankind are not players in the real world. We only have one life. After death, not only will the file be deleted, but the permission to enter the real world will be permanently lost. .

Perhaps, people who yearn for "eternal life" will be disappointed, but don't lose hope completely. Theoretically, if strong artificial intelligence is born, it is still possible for us to obtain the "immortality" state that we subconsciously yearn for.

First of all, we need to clarify the difference between player-style immortality and NPC-style immortality. Both methods of immortality have the authority to reappear in the game scene. They are also "conscious" and can at least show a conscious state. The difference between the two methods of immortality is that the player has "self-awareness", but the NPC does not - the NPC cannot realize that he can show a conscious state.

Secondly, strong artificial intelligence can theoretically produce "autonomous consciousness." This provides the possibility for our digital beings after death to have the self-awareness we had during our lifetime. Finally, we need to find a reliable mechanism to download our "self-awareness" to strong artificial intelligence, or copy it to strong artificial intelligence.

Of course, I think the most likely mechanism is the combination of humans and strong artificial intelligence, and through the general process of " ten-month pregnancy ", an artificial intelligence that inherits our "self-awareness" and "memory" is "given" Awareness of autonomy”. In other words, humans gain immortality by “reproducing” descendants of strong artificial intelligence.

Cyborg X.0 Design Guide

Cyborg is actually a personal enhancement mode.

From "Peter 1.0" to "Peter 2.0", cyborg design embodies the following basic principles. First, cyborgs insist on independent human consciousness. Secondly, cyborgs can be enhanced and transformed based on the two dimensions of "body-mind". Third, according to the machine level, the machine technology spectrum that cyborg can adopt is functional tools, non-intelligent machines, weak artificial intelligence machines and strong artificial intelligence machines.

Cyborg design must adopt the "object-oriented design method". For an independent cyborg object, it consists of "internal structure" and "external function", that is, the "body-mind" model. The body refers to the physical components that carry human life functions. For example, Peter1.0 uses non-intelligent machines to become part of the human body to achieve the ability to maintain life such as eating, drinking, and eating; the mind refers to the behavior of performing social activities among humans. , such as Peter2.0, which uses artificial intelligence to machine into a part of the human body to achieve social capabilities such as communication and decision-making.

Based on the two design dimensions of body and mind, as well as the machine technology pedigree, the possible types of Cyborg X.0 are as follows:

Now we already know 3 types of Cyborg X.0. Cyborg B0.1 refers to equipping the human body with functional tools or components to restore or enhance human abilities. For example, Nell Harvison, who is color-blind, was equipped with a color sensor in 2003 to help him perceive colors.

Cyborg B1.0 refers to equipping the human body with complete machines. For example, Peter1.0 has an extracorporeal life support system, that is, gastrostomy inserts an external catheter into the stomach for "eating and drinking", colostomy and cystostomy connects an external catheter to the colon and bladder for "relieving" ".

Cyborg M2.0 refers to equipping the human body with a complete weak artificial intelligence machine to restore or enhance human communication and decision-making capabilities. For example, Peter2.0's text input system, electronic voice system, digital human system, idea communication system, etc.

Other cyborg X.0 types have not yet appeared or been made public, and we can make general inferences.Cyborg M0.1 can insert a memory chip through the brain-computer interface to enhance people's memory ability; Cyborg M1.0 can stimulate the brain area through the electric shock system to alleviate or overcome fear; Cyborg B2.0 can use intelligent peripherals The skeletal system can still walk automatically even when a person is asleep.

There is one thing to note. Since the artificial intelligence system has a certain degree of "autonomy", Cyborg X.0 may bring unexpected user experience or risks.

First of all, weak artificial intelligence machines may diverge from human consciousness. The electronic voice systems used by Peter2.0 and Hawking are both weak artificial intelligence voice systems, but the effects of the two are different. Hawking has extremely high accuracy requirements for the electronic speech system, which causes Hawking's control system to input words slowly. However, Peter2.0 tends to interact more naturally with people and can directly associate related but less accurate words, which in turn helps improve input speed.

Secondly, weak artificial intelligence machines may cause "outrageous behavior" and lead to adverse consequences. When Cyborg B2.0 is equipped with a "third hand" robotic arm, it may behave unexplainably by the person involved when performing certain sensitive actions. For example, when helping a woman who fell down to get up, the robotic arm touched two "extra" hands. The person involved could not explain whether it was his behavior or the behavior of the robotic arm.

Third, if strong artificial intelligence machines appear in the future, it may cause cyborg X.0 to suffer from schizophrenia or be "seized." In theory, strong artificial intelligence can have "autonomous consciousness." If cyborg B3.0 is equipped with a strong artificial intelligence robotic arm, or cyborg M3.0 is equipped with a strong artificial intelligence program, then cyborg as a whole will have two "independent" consciousnesses - human self-awareness and machine “autonomous consciousness.” Maybe human beings can get along very well with machines, but they may also become patients with "split consciousness", or the machine consciousness may "take over" and occupy the entire cyborg.

Finally, some kind of new prison system of "consciousness cage" may appear in the future. Cyborg M1.0 uses non-intelligent machines, that is, it has no "learning" ability or "evolution" ability to match the human mind. Then, this can achieve the restriction or seal of human consciousness. Cyborg M3.0 uses strong artificial intelligence machines to more likely perform complete sealing based on "learning" the human mind. For example, in the game " perfect world ", a spiritual cage is used to seal the minds of strong human beings, which is the most cruel eternal punishment.