美国国家公共电台 NPR I Sink, Therefore I Am: This Robot Wasn't Programmed For Existential Angst

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Some of the best minds of our times, including Stephen Hawking¹ and Elon Musk², have warned that human beings may invent intelligent machines that could wind up destroying humankind. But a small incident this week might make you wonder, will intelligent machines become so smart they'll grow depressed³ as they learn they're brilliant but lifeless and decide they can't go on? Will those machines begin to wonder, is that all there is? A Knightscope K5 security robot that patrolled an office complex along the Georgetown waterfront in Washington, D.C., rolled itself into a shallow fountain on Monday and drowned. The robot did not leave a note - it doesn't have any hands.

The 5-foot-tall robot was apparently⁴ nicknamed Steve by people in the Washington Harbour office complex. Steve whistled, beeped and rolled over the plaza⁵, alert to pick up, through thermal⁶ image sensors⁷ and cameras, any misbehavior or parking violations⁸. He reportedly cost about $7 an hour to deploy⁹ or $5.50 less per hour than minimum wage in the District of Columbia. That's how the future of work, not just Steve, may now roll. Photos of the robot sleeping with the fountain fishes started to pop up on social media platforms.

Bilal Farooqui, who works for a Pakistani newspaper, notably¹⁰ tweeted - our D.C. office building got a security robot. It drowned itself. We were promised flying cars, instead we got suicidal robots.

Robot suicide sounds like a science fiction theme, but if humans soon develop deeply intelligent machines that think and learn with blinding velocity¹¹, how long before it can be before those machines begin to ask themselves, why are we here? Steve the K5 security robot saw people stroll along the Georgetown waterfront, laugh, kiss, slurp¹² ice cream and hold hands in the moonlight. But Steve could only roll, whistle and beep.

Human beings can grow depressed as we try to come to terms with our mortality, but intelligent machines will have to exist with the certainty that their consciousness may be extinguished just by the next software update. What happens to all of Knightscope's K5 Steves when Steve 2.0 rolls out or when Wanda the K6 or Zelda the K10 security robot is invented? Can you see how Steve or his thermal image sensors might have looked into the stars this week and wondered...

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IS THAT ALL THERE IS")

PEGGY LEE: Is that all there is? If that's all there is, my friends...

1 hawking   

利用鹰行猎

参考例句：

• He is hawking his goods everywhere. 他在到处兜售他的货物。
• We obtain the event horizon and the Hawking spectrumformula. 得到了黑洞的局部事件视界位置和Hawking温度以及Klein—Gordon粒子的Hawking辐射谱。

2 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

3 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 plaza   

n.广场，市场

参考例句：

• They designated the new shopping centre York Plaza.他们给这个新购物中心定名为约克购物中心。
• The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen.这个广场上布满了便衣警察。

6 thermal   

adj.热的，由热造成的；保暖的

参考例句：

• They will build another thermal power station.他们要另外建一座热能发电站。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

7 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

8 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

9 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

10 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

11 velocity   

n.速度，速率

参考例句：

• Einstein's theory links energy with mass and velocity of light.爱因斯坦的理论把能量同质量和光速联系起来。
• The velocity of light is about 300000 kilometres per second.光速约为每秒300000公里。

12 slurp   

n.啜食；vt.饮食出声

参考例句：

• You may not slurp your soup.喝汤不可发出声音。
• Do you always slurp when a milkshake?你总是这样啧啧喝牛奶吗？