Embodied artificial intelligence in science fiction
Andrea Pace Giannotta
Prometeica August 11, 2022 DOI: 10.34024/prometeica.2022.especial.13633 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that philosophy of mind and science fiction productively illuminate each other on artificial intelligence, especially through differing conceptions of whether corporeality is constitutive of consciousness and cognition, and that these conceptions map onto science-fiction portrayals of AI from computers to robots and androids. Contends that this exchange helps foreshadow and evaluate ethically significant scenarios. |
Abstract
In this paper, I explore the fruitful relationship between science fiction and philosophy regarding the topic of artificial intelligence. I establish a connection between certain paradigms in the philosophy of mind and consciousness and the imagination of possible future scenarios in sci-fi, especially focusing on the different ways of conceiving the role of corporeality in constituting consciousness and cognition. Then, I establish a parallelism between these different conceptions of corporeality in the philosophy of mind and certain representations of AI in sci-fi: from computers to robots and androids. I conclude by stressing the value of exchanging ideas between sci-fi and philosophy to foreshadow and evaluate some scenarios of high ethical relevance.