In 1949, Gilbert Ryle, a British philosopher, coined the term "Ghost in the Machine" in his work: "The Concept of Mind".
The Ghost in the Machine... can be referred to as "consciousness carried in a physical entity", but also as a machine with a mind/will of its own, aka, independent of a human operator's intentions, and a ghost in the machine is also a term computer programmers often use when a program runs contrary to expectations.
Many of us have probably experienced the following scenario: you are using your electronic device when suddenly something unexpected happens...... it shuts down for no apparent reason, the camera on the computer unexplicitly lights up, a key on the keyboard only works intermittently, etc.etc.
If you are like me, then you "talk" to your computer or other i-thingy when stuff happens...
Foolish I know, but for me it seems to be a knee-jerk response to ask the i-thingy/computer... "-Why are you doing this???"
My first experience with the term "Ghost in the Machine" was HAL in the movie "2001-a Space Odyssey", and HAL was quite the malevolent being which has undoubtedly coloured my perspective on "A.I."
In a chat room recently, I was asked by someone: "Do you believe that A.I. is going to save humanity, since humanity seems hellbent on destroying itself?"
In all honesty, I had never entertained that thought until I was asked the question. I asked my son for some info on the subject and when I asked him if A.I.'s more commonly than not are portrayed as malevolent entities in the movies, he answered that he wasn't sure about "pop/blockbuster movies" but that that was not the case in Japanese animation and or Manga.
In Japanese animation and or Manga, the A.I.'s are often portrayed as beings in search of their own humanity, so rather than being portrayed as malevolent beings, they are portrayed as benevolent beings.
I have watched a few movies with A.I.'s: The Terminator, I, Robot, Blade runner, The Matrix, Ex Machina, Metropolis, Tron, Bicentennial Man, A.I. (and probably a few more that I can't remember right now), and although I enjoyed watching those movies, I never pondered any further on the subject. Having been asked a question about A.I. saving mankind, then thinking on it, I came up with no answers, only questions...
Does humanity need to be saved from itself? Will technology advance to a stage when A.I.'s will become "better" humans than humans? Will flawed human beings be able to program machines to be flawless? And if so, what will happen to us flawed human beings? Can machines be programmed to "age"? How we experience and interact with the world around us has a lot to do with at what stage of the maturing/aging process we are. Will there be teen aged A.I.'s? Or baby ones?
Can intuition, consciousness, mind, thinking, emotions, imagination, love, compassion, etc.etc. be programmed? A sperm penetrating an egg, why does that create, and how, does that create a new life? What is "life force"?
Can "life force" be programmed?
Okay, I am now beginning to feel as if I may have opened Pandora's box...so Imma go ahead and close it.
It seems to me that technology has the potential to both harm and or enhance our lives. At the same time as communication has become easier in many ways, paradoxically, social isolation has become an increasing problem according to statistics. One may even ask how this is possible with a myriad of social networks available 24/7 all over the world.....apparently however, on-line communication falls short in comparison to face-to-face communication. If we want to connect with someone on a deeper level, body language and the sound of a persons voice is important (so they say).
Since we are not A.I.'s (you're not, are you?) but garden variety humans, it can be helpful to ask ourselves a few questions: do technologies help us to build/form meaningful relationships? are we able to communicate, listen, interact, "better" with others because of technologies in our lives? do technologies increase or decrease our compassion and concern for others? If we find that we miss out on face-to-face interaction and deeper connections with others because we spend most of our time in front of or on an interface, we may need to re-evaluate.....
To comfort someone suffering, human arms are usually best for the job, to be there for someone feeling isolated, being present in both body and mind is usually most helpful, to share a joyous occasion with someone, showing up with a balloon and or a bunch of flowers is often well received.
Love, compassion, and tenderness I reckon is hard to program, so until then, human expressions of such rule........(is the best)
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than if a submarine can swim." (Edsger W. Dijkstra)
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