WSC Lecture: Words to Light the Darkness

by Gregory Anderson

We are aiming…

…to explore how these two stories are nodes for provocative ideas on morality, truth, and authenticity.

“If he told you that, you would send for a straitjacket. But if he tells you, ‘He never sleeps; he never eats,’ then the shock of the statement blinds you to the fact that such statements are impossible to prove. You play into his hands by contributing to the to-do.”

We are aiming

To explore how these two stories are nodes for provocative ideas on morality, truth, and authenticity.

Questions from our Special Area

What is a crime, and who decides how serious a crime is? What acts are considered crimes in some countries but not in others?Can a criminal be a hero?Is anyone who breaks the law a criminal?Should all countries follow the same legal code?

Questions from A History of Cheating

What is cheating? How is it different from lying?Is cheating ever justified?What are the advantages and disadvantages cheating?How should cheaters be punished?Are we morally obligated to report any cheaters we encounter?Under what circumstances is cheating a crime?Is cheating simply about “breaking the rules”? Or is it about exploiting them?Do certain institutions encourage cheating?Are people born with a sense of fairness?Should cheating disqualify a politician from winning elected office? How about lying?Lip Syncing, Autotune, and the Limits of the Authentic

Questions from Social Studies

What are the “best” and “worst” states you can think of? How are you measuring them?Are democracies better states than non-democracies? How much of state failure can be attributed to politics? If you were the leader of a failed or fragile state, whom would you ask for help? Are some states doomed to failure?Is the traditional concept of the state outdated in an age of globalization and the Internet?

Very basic plot outline

LttS – A housewife murders her husband with frozen leg of lamb: investigating officers eat the evidence.

- Can a criminal be a hero?

Very basic plot outlineEvidence – A politician is considered to be a robot, but this is never proven.

Should cheating disqualify a politician from winning elected office? How about lying?

More Detailed Plot

Wife sits at homeHusband reveals he will divorce wifeWife kills husbandWife creates false alibiWife secretly laughs at inspectors eating lamb

More Detailed Plot

Quinn and Lanning discuss whether Byerley is a robot – never eats. Robot morality is discussed (see next slide)Quinn attempts to get Byerley x-rayed: Byerley lawyers him. Byerley punches a man in the face on live TV during a political rally to prove he is not a robot. Byerley laughs at the possibility he is a robot.

More Detailed Plot

1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.2) A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

A diversion… A tool for analysing: Formalism

Defamiliarisation.

Visual thesaurus: interconnections of language.The room was warm, the

curtains were closed, the two table lamps were lit…

https://www.visualthesaurus.com/

Connotations vs

Denotations

Her mouth and eyes, with their new calm look, seemed larger and darker than before.

A tool for analysing: Formalism

Intended connotations and possible connotations. Does meaning exist independently of our discovery of it?

Matrix Albino fight: ‘ghosts’ of meaning – become tangible upon belief or recognition. Should all countries follow the

same legal code?

As the wife of a detective, she knew what the punishment would be. It made no difference to her.

Intention and Meaning

Does intention matter when we interpret a text?

Swearing in Wolves…

Death of the Author

Should a person be held responsible for breaking laws he or she doesn’t know about?

Of course I’ll give you money and see that you’re taken care of. But there really shouldn’t be any problem. I hope not, in any case. It wouldn’t be very good for my job.

Intention and Meaning

Is anyone who breaks the law a criminal?

Did they kill them both -- mother and child? Did they wait until the baby was born? What did they do? Mary Maloney didn't know and she wasn't prepared to take a chance.

Can a criminal be a hero?

Did they kill them both -- mother and child? Did they wait until the baby was born? What did they do? Mary Maloney didn't know and she wasn't prepared to take a chance.

An aside… what is the purpose of defamiliarisation?

"It's the old story," he said. "Get the weapon, and you've got the murderer."

Being familiar with things is not always a bad thing!

We need routine and first impressions in order to save cognitive capacity. Otherwise we will spend our times reevaluating every

little thing!

Primary-recency effect.

Word-Level Analysis in LttS…

We are invited to sympathise with a murderer. This is an increasingly common genre in popular fiction and film.

Where in this story do we defamiliarise expected connotations (especially as we know the ending?).

Tired/told/knew

That was better. Both the smile and the voice sounded better now.

All the old love for him came back to her…she began to cry hard… no acting was necessary.

Word Level Analysis in Evidence

We are invited to consider not only if B is a robot, but also whether this matters.

“Oh, are robots so different from men, mentally?” “Worlds different.” She allowed herself a frosty smile, “Robots are essentially decent.”

Where in this story do we defamiliarise expected connotations (especially as we know the ending?).

man./human 61 times: robot/robots 81 times.

He deposited John with infinite care upon the cool grass.

Do we want to place ethics in the hands of a robot, who can be blind to justice?

“Because, if you stop to think of it, the three Rules of Robotics are the essential guiding principles of a good many of the world’s ethical systems.

To Kill a Mockingbird – equality can only exist before the eyes of the law, rather than other

things. (World War Z)

Did they kill them both -- mother and child? Did they wait until the baby was born? What did they do? Mary Maloney didn't know and she wasn't prepared to take a chance.

“Except that a robot might fall due to the inherent inadequacies of his brain. The positronic brain has never equalled the complexities of the human brain.”

Evidence and Being Authentic

In Evidence, we are called upon to question what it is to be authentic.

Are we morally obligated to report any cheaters we encounter?

I will not submit to X-ray analysis, because I wish to maintain my Rights on principle. Just as I’ll maintain the rights of others when elected.”

Evidence and Being Authentic

How important is authenticity to us? How important is being original? Lampstand idea...

The thin man was laughing wildly. “You can’t hit me. You won’t hit me. You’re not a human. You’re a monster, a make-believe man.”

Does Authenticity Matter in Politicians?

https://youtu.be/XQPy88-E2zo?t=2m44s End of the Film.

Whirling Top: if it stays spinning, his experience is a dream. If it falls, he is in reality.

Does it fall or stay spinning in this video?

“It’s been proven sufficiently for the electorate.”

Does free-will really exist? Matter?

The zombie question.

Psychopathology in CEOs.

Profit Morality.

If a robot can be created capable of being a civil executive, I think he’d make the best one possible. By the Laws of Robotics, he’d be incapable of harming humans, incapable of tyranny, of corruption, of stupidity, of prejudice.

Is it innately human to cheat?http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/prove-youre-not-a-robot-with-the-bot-or-not-poetry-challenge

Robots in Japan; talk to a robot ai. Googlebot.com If the madman died, the robot would require psychotherapy because he might easily go mad at the conflict presented him—of having broken Rule One to adhere to Rule One in a higher sense.

Is cheating part of surviving in the real, flawed, fallen world?

Do we believe that truth matters? What is more important: truth or effect?

What is cheating? How is it different

from lying?

“Except that a robot might fall due to the inherent inadequacies of his brain. The positronic brain has never equalled the complexities of the human brain.”

Both stories ending with ‘laugh’ ‘chuckled’ – purposefully playful.

Light for hope and release?

Or…

Light for joy and irreverence?

Stephen Byerley chuckled.

And in the other room, Mary Maloney began to laugh.