A.I., Ethics, and Other Thoughts

Within my story, the main character is a sentient android that was a failed experiment on transferring human consciousness. They wake up with vague memories that aren’t their own and have no idea who or what they are. They must go through this space station and figure out how to escape while revealing what had happened.

That being said, the reason the spaceship was abandoned was because of external pressure and internal conflict over the fact they were creating “life”.

In the end, the player has the option to try and continue as a replacement for the Dr. whose memories they hold, or become what they once were, self-aware and individual.

A big inspiration for this was Star Trek Next Generation’s character Data. Data is an android and in Season 2 Episode 9, Data must prove his sentience, and if it would be ethical to duplicate him for labour.

Another reference I am using is the interview with the AI LaMDA. Now personally, I don’t believe it is, but I find the human’s constant need for AI and reach for sentience strange and unethical. What if it was sentient? Then what? Why would we make that and how would we ethically rectify it? The interview was weird to read and for sure made me uncomfortable.

In 2018, Tom Scott did an interesting video in his videos from a future series. I didn’t have any new or important thoughts on it! Just thought it was interesting and relevant.

Another media that was an inspiration was Black Mirror’s San Junipero. In this episode, humans have successfully found a way to transfer human consciousness after death. This was a change in Black Mirror’s themes of criticizing technology, this episode showed a positive. I thought this concept was interesting as historically, the drive for immortality was notable.

I think tying the ideas of immortality to human history is an interesting concept. It is something humans have strived for / believed for so long, integrating it into technology just seems like a logical next step in my opinion.

Seeing immortality in stories in modern fiction. This is seen in zombies(?), vampires, other monsters, AI, etc. Just look a Frankenstein, it is such a classic tale we suspend our disbelief when these tropes are used.

“It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.”

Mary Shelley
Frankentein (Chapter 5)

There’s no real point to this post, just documenting different references and contexts I feel are important to me and therefore my game. I feel a kinship with these ostracized characters, for their alienness and “othered” personality. Coding robot characters as autistic is for sure a cliche and stereotype, but as an autistic person, I genuinely can feel seen through some of them when they’re done well. When I’m writing my protagonist, I’m embracing these characteristics: a sense of logistics, lack of understanding of expressing emotions, and understanding of normal social cues. This doesn’t make them lesser and hopefully, the character will still be empathetic enough for people with different experiences to relate with.