What makes a person human? I mean there’s the insides and guts if you’re talking literally, but what REALLY, TRULY makes a person human? In the too-soon-to-be future; If an AI dressed up as a human, how could you tell the difference between the AI and the human? (Without cutting off any limbs). The first option is to ask it directly if it’s a human, which to me seems silly because that’s an easy lie. Plus, the AI could be trained to act like a human or just want to fit in. (I empathize with that)
In this day and age, for the most part, you can tell the difference between a robot and human. Fundamentally, though, they will always be different.
To summarize the question: Within a short conversation (and not cutting off any limbs), also assuming that tone of voice and looks¹ aren’t in the equation. (Which eventually they may not be.) Could you identify a human versus an AI?
This question is extremely theoretical, of course. But some components in this theoretical situation may include:
-
- How advanced is this AI? What are they programmed to do? and how does this impact their mannerisms and morals? (Would the creator of the AI actually impact the AIs morals/mannerisms/biases?²)
-
- What is their goal? What were they programmed to do? What are they willing to do to get to that goal?
-
- Do they believe they are human? Are they programmed to act like a human or/and do they already think they are human?
-
- Where were they created? What information do they have access to? Does the location of the information impact the validity and accuracy of the information they have?
-
- Considering how advanced the AI has become, could it feel empathy/human emotions or be able to mimic them? Would the AI have the ability to look from more than one perspective and see how that perspective may feel in the situation/see the situation, even if the AI can not feel the emotion?
With these points in mind, what questions would you ask?
This question also leads to another question:
What is a single question that all 8+ billion people on this planet could all have the same answer to? They would not be able to lie, But they would say what they believe to be true, so if they are lying to themselves but are not aware of it, they are not breaking the rules. Could it be biological? I don’t think so because foremost it seems sort of cheaty, but second of all let’s say you ask someone ‘do you have two arms?’ Not everyone has two arms, don’t be so intolerant! But then you may think, “Jamie, what about a beating heart? And don’t forget breathing, no one can live without either!” My thought on this is that it is possible for 1 out of the 8+ billion people to; #1, be in a hospital, and; #2,to not have a heartbeat; (not-so-fun-fact: it is actually possible to live for a short time without a working Lheart.) This also applies to breathing, someone could just be holding their breath, you never know.
Halfway through writing this, I realized, ‘Hey, couldn’t you just ask if someone’s heart has ever beat? As in at any point in their life has their heart ever beat? Or if they have ever taken a breath, even if it was through a medical machine?’
I cannot manage to find a medical condition where someone has never taken a breath/ had a heart beat, even with a machine. So that, theoretically, could work but why stop there it’s so unimaginative!
Instead of doing something medical and, well, boring I want a question that is more through the lens of: emotions, morals, experiences, culture, beliefs, religion, opinions, etc. I would also like to state that I think this question is impossible. Even though it’s very likely it is impossible,I like to indulge in mental suffering due to hypothetical questions that may never be answered.
Here are some Questions that I thought of/could be potential options:
-
- Do you want money?
This one seems promising, right? Humans are totally greedy, and who doesn’t want money? To add to this how much money would someone accept? I personally see why someone would not accept a billion dollars because they don’t want to be poisoned with power. Lastly in this theoretical situation would you actually give the money to the people? Would they care where it came from?³
-
- Do you want to be happy?
This one seemed extremely bland to be honest,I don’t think it’s true either. Many people are so used to not being happy that they find being not happy more comforting than being happy.
-
- Would you kick a puppy?
People kick puppies. They are monsters, they deserve terrible things, but they do it.
-
- Do you have any biases against certain people/groups/cultures?
I personally think this one is a good option. Everyone has a bias, even if they don’t constantly yell about it or acknowledge they have it. Everybody has some stereotypes and experiences that cause bias towards different groups of people. (That is my personal opinion)
-
- Is the sky blue?
In Beijing, the sky is gray due to pollution⁴, also it could just be a cloudy day. It seems like an easy one, but then you realize it is a bit too easy to be true.
-
- Is [blank] a good/bad person
I wish this one would work, but people seem to worship many different people, some people think Hitler is a great person and had great ideas. Hopefully not many, but this question won’t work.
This list goes on and on, but these are the most interesting.
The issue with this question stems around the lack of being able to prove your idea; This is called Holmesian fallacy. The Holmesian fallacy is a:
“Logical fallacy that occurs when some explanation is believed to be true on the basis that alternative explanations are impossible, yet not all alternate explanations have been ruled out.”
We run into this fallacy a lot with the potential options given, we would have to ask all 8,092,034,511 people (as of January 1st 2025) what they thought about the question and what their answer would be. Everybody is so complex and unique that it makes this question seem impossible, And it is likely it is with the rules I have provided.
1. I started thinking about what an AI would dress up as to mimic a human. That’s an interesting thought.
2. How much does the creator cause a bias to the AI? We’ve seen racism in AI so that can prove that the creators do impact the AI but how much? I’d love to see more examples of this.
3. If you gave 20 bucks to everybody on the planet that would cost about 160000000000 dollars.
4. You learn something new every day! (this is a terrifying fact)