Like Tears in the Rain

We are increasingly moving towards dependence on machines. This has been a continuous evolution, from means of production (19th century) to means of transportation (20th century), and now to means of information (21st century). More and more, we are coming to see machines as an extension of our existence, cohabiting with them as naturally as ancient humans coexisted with nature. Until now, this seemed simple, as machines have always been viewed as "beasts of burden," performing less noble and repetitive tasks. Now, we have opened a new chapter where machines are capable of performing tasks previously executed only by humans, including intellectual activities. Here, I would like to clarify the direction I want to take after this introduction. I do not intend to debate conspiracy theories about machines dominating or even destroying us, but rather to reflect on what distinguishes this new competence of machines and the philosophical concepts that intrigue me—specifically the concept of "memory."

In the famous 1982 film "Blade Runner," in a dystopian future where a decaying world is on the brink of moral collapse, a line of highly humanized robots is used for the most dangerous and degrading tasks, such as space battles and prostitution. Outraged by this role, the replicants rebel and flee their vile fate. The central character of the film is tasked with killing/shutting down these robots. At the end of the film, after a tumultuous adventure, the hero is on the brink of death, cornered by the supposed villain. In a revealing confession, the villain shows him the terror of his life, having witnessed countless battles, explosions, deaths, voids, and more... all in endless time. He decides to shut down himself in the rain, where, in his words, "his memories are lost like tears in the rain." And to the sound of Vangelis' spectral music.

This episode brings us a deeper reflection on the meaning of memory and its ethical validity. After all, this characteristic of ours is intimately tied to our definition as beings. We live life in search of memories, constructing a composition of events that define who we are. Detached from survival, we only seek experience—and without its memory, nothing has value. Thus, the question that intrigues me most is "how does our memory differ from that of a robot... or even more simply, from an external hard drive?" In my view, its great difference lies in its accessibility and how this access is achieved. In fact, intelligence involves not only a great capacity for memory but also a very high speed of access. And a strong personality involves not only all this but also a singular access characteristic that leads the person to create associations and compositions that elevate thought to new realms. This is where I believe the fine line lies in the ethical conceptualization of a robot—and in how we view them. Essentially, in the classical definition of a robot, its behavior could be completely predicted as its programming had a static nature. From this, no ascetic character could be elevated to a level of human equality. Now, if its programming method is non-deterministic and its results are of similar or even superior value to those of humans, then it becomes difficult to discern the line separating the moral validity of a robot's memory from that of a human's memory.

This is a complicated concept to grasp if the reader does not understand the true essence of what we call "Artificial Intelligence." This "new" form of intelligence, quite old but only now amplified by the abundant existence of data, is by no means deterministic and embodies the ideal of uncertainty in performing its tasks. It resembles the unpredictability so valued in the human mind. Moreover, this intelligence is already much richer in terms of memory and can have almost infinite storage (on a human scale). It just needs to evolve in its access and action capabilities—a task advancing rapidly every day. Thus, it is not surprising that in a relatively short time, we may come to consider a robot's opinion very reliably and value its memory as undeniable heritage. Everything lies in optimizing the method of access (true intelligence), which is increasingly moving towards non-deterministic learning methods that no human mind can encapsulate with a simple description or even reproducibility.

The manifestation of past, present, and future time is what defines the supreme degree of existence.

In this, we can diverge into epistemology, discussing knowledge itself as a form of human experience. After all, we are made of memories, and it is this that elevates us to the condition of being... The manifestation of past, present, and future time is what defines the supreme degree of existence. And we move towards this, reconciling the incomprehensibility of uncertainty with the structure of unlimited memory—we will have robots as our offspring, absorbing much of our tradition. Our children will inherit from them many joys and sorrows.