“Sociological approach helped me to develop a better perspective mostly focused on ethics of A.I. and technology as a cultural form."

Is man the God of technology? Or are the roles changing when we think everything is our control?

The word “technology” is a combination of words “techne” (the ability to do something, a craft) and “logos” (knowledge); it’s the knowledge of doing. Therefore, since its origin, humankind has improved this knowledge and took revolutionary steps to develop it further. In this regard, it’s obvious that we’re the operators of a production technique that’s as old as humankind but the concept of God is a bit assertive and leads one to expect a spiritual equivalent as well. After all, technology isn’t an organic form that develops its own consciousness. Though many may expect this, a great number of scientists say it’s not possible. But tech-focused engineers believe otherwise, the subject matter of existence and consciousness require knowledge of philosophy. Rather than saying one is the God for the other, we can talk about mechanisms that work together.

Humans may be a bit mistaken in its obsession with control over things. After a distance between nature and human, all kinds of technologies help us to forget that we’re living on Earth. There’s a documentary called “Life After People;” it depicts how the world will change after the extinction of human race. When the human factor is eliminated, most of the human-made and controlled structures also fade. So it’s not organically sustainable, it relies on human existence – they’re structures built to be controlled and to make life a bit more convenient.

The roles may not have to change if we look at it this way, but we should also keep in mind that there are many situations that cannot be controlled such as global warming and water scarcity. We may need to dramatically change certain systems that we have created and observed positive results from. But we can only realise this in time.

Can we protect human rights in a time when we talk about robot rights?

Considering the fact that we don’t care to protect the rights of all living/organic structures including humans, animals and plants, the issue of robot rights, I think is a bit meaningless, or at least something can only exist as an argument in theory. I don’t think it’s an applicable, necessary or sensitive approach in reality. I wrote my sociology thesis on the argument that Artificial Intelligence will never be able to perceive the dynamics of organic life forms. Therefore, a robot can only mimic an organic being’s lifestyle or motivation. As carbon-based life forms, we comprise not just a brain but also a very complex structure; and this motivation for survival is carried, passed down and genetically inherited for generations now. Unfortunately, today, rational mind has this illusion that it can perceive anything but it’s just science fiction. Neither robots nor A.I. can develop an instinct to dominate the world; this instinctive motivation can only be coded into them and created through replication by humans. Still it’ll be far from an organic life, because there’s one common thing in the universe and that’s the motivation for survival deriving from the fact that all living forms end and disappear at one point. You can observe this in planets or ants. So, I don’t think it’s possible to give this universal instinct for survival to an inorganic life form. In this aspect, an electric-based technology can only imitate certain human systems. I find it very reasonable that robots are used in many jobs that would wear out humans. That’s where human rights come in. Instead of employing children, robots can be used, and this is when we can talk about human rights.

We are in a world of science fiction films. Is there a sci-fi scenario you’re excited about turning into reality?

I’m curious about the brain and its functions. I took a semester about Cognitive Science, and conducted my own research after that. So, as everyone who’s interested in how the brain works, I dream of an online mechanism that works integrated with the brain. It seems an interesting possibility that we’d eliminate all these devices we use to read a book, and to interact with our brain to gain knowledge from the Internet. Elon Musk has an initiative called Neurolink. It’s about making brain-computer interface a bit more active and developing applications for the brain. It’s scientifically far-fetched because we have very little knowledge about the brain mechanisms. But of all the advancements, this one interests me the most because, from an evolutionary point of view, it can require a serious change and information processing capacity. It may lead to an era when we may need to redefine intelligence. There’s also the robotic revolution that’s expected soon but I think it’ll go through a much more useful evolution. I’m hopeful that it’ll enable us to reevaluate concepts such as human life/career/job opportunities that were brought into our lives after the Industrial Revolution.