Neo Atlantis, name of new New York City in the year 2100, maintains its title as the most populated city in the U.S., boasting over 40 million people, five times its population a century ago—that is, if you count the 10 million AI-enabled robots that roam the city. Before their arrival, AI technology was already present in vehicles, televisions, smartphones, computers, game consoles,… whatever technology that required human interaction is now equipped with an AI capable of making logical decisions. However, robots that are fully humanlike in both appearance and thought were the first of their kind. While merely an experiment by the U.S. government twenty years ago, public demand as well as the president’s own wish to see the technology’s advancement declassified these robots. Their first contribution was the construction of Neo Atlantis itself—what would have been a twenty-year project was cut down to five. The city is now full of skyscrapers, all connected by an underground magnetic train system as well as multilevel transport tubes that connect buildings together. The trains and the cars are all controlled by a central AI superprogram, so the word “car accident” is no longer in the dictionary. Neo Atlantis’ dominant dilemma, as one may guess with any overpopulated city, is unemployment. Of the 40 million people, 15 millions are unemployed, and half of them AI robots that weren’t lucky enough to get hired or found a human companionship. The city’s two most active political groups are HBM (Human before Machine) and EFR (Equality for Robots), who lobby for exactly what you guess they would. Due to the president’s supportive stance on AI robots, his opponents are also using that as their next propaganda. Within Neo Atlantis, there is a mixed reception. Pro-robot activists argue that our robotic counterparts are capable of emotions and logical reasons, thus there should not be any discrimination. The group’s strongest argument is that AI robots can be our solution to overpopulation, due to current technology not allowing reproduction. Anti-robot activists, however, regard the robots as service robots only, produced to serve humans, therefore humans should not be obliged to share services with robots.
The above hypothetical city could very well become our reality. Already, self-driving cars (I recommend you check out the DARPA 2007 Grand Challenge) or computer programs that are capable of responding to us are available. In his book Physics of the Future, Michio Kaku describes the following simple AI “four wall screens” (all technologies he present in the book are physically feasible and many of them already have prototypes):
When you are lonely or in need of company, you will simply ask your wall screen to set up a bridge game with other lonely individuals anywhere in the world. When you want some assistance planning a vacation, organizing a trip, or finding a date, you will do it via your wall screen. In the future, a friendly face might first emerge on your wall screen (a face you can change to suit your tastes). You will ask it to plan a vacation for you. It already knows your preferences and will scan the Internet and give you a list of the best possible options at the best prices.
The technology he described is strikingly similar to Jane and Pauline, covered in a previous post. While it is much more convenient to have a computer program to do your Internet searching for you, the insecurity and privacy concerns talked about earlier will be present as well. In my made-up city, there is also a debate between two aspects of robots, service and companionship, disguised as a political quarry. While they seem to be fighting for jobs (which was mentioned that robots will very soon replace some of our current jobs), at the core, one group is fighting to preserve human identity, while the other is embracing the technology, a battle very much like how Chobits and Doraemon presented. What will you choose your future to be? Will it follow the city of Blade Runner’s footstep and be thankless to the robots, or will your citizens question the human-robot relationship much like the mangas? How will you deal with violent robots like those in Judge Dredd and Hondo City? Should they be put on trial, or are they not “human” enough to warrant a due process? The decisions you make will create different versions of Neo Atlantis, which in all likeliness can become our city. Choose wisely.
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