Eng102 Final Draft

Tzeida Belouk
Eng102 / Section 78
17/06/2022
Consciousness in Robots: A Dream or A Nightmare?
Artificial consciousness is a topic that can lead to controversy in many areas
of life. Even though robots’ being conscious seems impossible to most people,
according to Samuelsson (2022), neuroscience suggests that artificial intelligence (AI)
will probably be able to gain consciousness in the future. This means that robots,
which nowadays are considered as “machines”, will start feeling, suffering, thinking,
and being aware of themselves. Actually, this is one of the big scientific goals as it is
believed that will provide lots of advantages to the humanity. However, whether
humans will agree that its benefits are worth to live together with conscious
“machines” or not, is still unknown. Considering that robots’ gaining consciousness
may not have only positive consequences but also huge negative ones, I do not think
that humanity will be able to handle this kind of a situation.
Certainly, there will be some remarkable benefits for the humanity if robots
develop consciousness. Firstly, after spending an amount of time with the aware
robots, people will most probably get used to them and start building different types
of relationships (romantic, friendly, etc.) with those new members of the society.
Robots are created in a special way so even if they become conscious, they are likely
to be more understandable, patient, and kind than humans. These characteristics of
robots can actually make people love them more and even try to be like them in order
to live in a more peaceful world. What is more, Darling (2018) points out that creating
emotional connections with robots can be extremely helpful for the people with
special needs like autistic children, patients in the hospital and so on. Those people
sometimes have difficulties in communicating with the outside world and may not be
able to express themselves even to their own caretakers (e.g., parents, doctors,
teachers). In such cases, it has been observed that most of those people with needs
find robots’ calmness and friendliness more reliable and are able to build bonds with
them in much easier way.
On the other hand, the serious issues that might arise when robots gain
consciousness will probably prevent the utopic dreams of conscious AI to become
real. For example, Signorelli (2018), a Research Assistant in University of Oxford’s
Computer Science Department states that “The idea of machines overcoming humans
can be intrinsically related to conscious machines.” (p. 1). This means that self-aware
robots will be able to start asking for some rights and in the case they are not given
what they want, they will attempt various uprises against humanity in which they will
probably be successful since they are generally built stronger than the average people.
Besides that, there will be some ethical and legal concerns about this issue as well.
Samuelsson (2022) emphasizes the risks of having conscious robots living among us
by looking at the flip side of the coin and suggesting that the things that humans can
do to robots are even more dangerous than the ones robots can do to us. It can be
easily anticipated that despite of robots’ consciousness, some people will continue
acting like robots do not have feelings and being cruel towards them, which will
create huge ethical problems and dilemmas in the society.
Considering all those possible negative consequences, it is hard to say that
humanity will be able to come over the potential problems and handle living with
conscious robots, at least in this century. The physical and mental differences between
AI and humankind are one of the main reasons for this. Humans are usually
apprehensive about what the “different” thing/person can do to them. This is why
some people do not easily accept and even become cruel against those who are
different from them, and beliefs such as racism, sexism, etc. are born. So, this can be
the case with robots as well since some people will probably humiliate and reject
them from society, too. Moreover, humans will not agree in having the same rights
with robots since their selfishness makes them assume that humankind is superior to
all the species living on the earth and nothing deserves being equal with them,
including not only animals but also robots. Van de Vate (1971) also supports this idea
by claiming that humans are afraid of sharing their privileges with robots due to their
jealousy.
To sum up, having looked at both the positive and the negative aspects of AI
consciousness, it is quite obvious that people will deny conscious robots living with
them even if it means losing the chance to enjoy the advantages that those robots
would provide to the humanity. Although in the first sight awareness in robots might
seem optimistic and beneficiary, when it is analyzed, it can be proved to have lots of
side effects that will actually lower society’s life quality. I believe that the responsible
people should carefully consider the results before bringing to the life such a project
that humanity will most probably be unable to deal with.

References
Samuelsson, P. C. (2022). Artificial consciousness: Our greatest ethical challenge. In
Department of Modern Languages (Ed.), ENG102 Coursebook (pp. 89-92).
Middle East Technical University.
Signorelli, C. M. (2018). Can computers become conscious and overcome humans?.
Frontiers in Robotics and AI. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2018.00121
TED. (2018, November 6). Kate Darling: Why we have an emotional connection to
robots [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq6XgrYBugo
van de Vate, D. (1971). The Problem of Robot Consciousness. Philosophy and
Phenomenological Research, 32(2), 149–165. https://doi.org/10.2307/2105945

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Tzeida Belouk

Consciousness in Robots: A Dream or A Nightmare?

Artificial consciousness is a topic that can lead to controversy in many areas

according to Samuelsson (2022), neuroscience suggests that artificial intelligence (AI)

“machines” or not, is still unknown. Considering that robots’ gaining consciousness

that humanity will be able to handle this kind of a situation.

to be more understandable, patient, and kind than humans. These characteristics of

them in much easier way.

consciousness will probably prevent the utopic dreams of conscious AI to become

real. For example, Signorelli (2018), a Research Assistant in University of Oxford’s

create huge ethical problems and dilemmas in the society.

Considering all those possible negative consequences, it is hard to say that

that humanity will most probably be unable to deal with.

Samuelsson, P. C. (2022). Artificial consciousness: Our greatest ethical challenge. In

Department of Modern Languages (Ed.), ENG102 Coursebook (pp. 89-92).

Middle East Technical University.

Signorelli, C. M. (2018). Can computers become conscious and overcome humans?.

Frontiers in Robotics and AI. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2018.00121

robots [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq6XgrYBugo

van de Vate, D. (1971). The Problem of Robot Consciousness. Philosophy and

Phenomenological Research, 32(2), 149–165. https://doi.org/10.2307/2105945

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