Almost all that you and I have and do and think is the result of a long history of human society on this earth. All men on the earth today are descendants of other men who lived 1000, 2000, 3000 ... years ago, whether they were Romans or Chinese or Babylonians or Mayas or members of any other race. To ride in a subway or an airplane, to talk on the telephone, to speak a language, to calculate, to survive smallpox or the black death, etc.—all these privileges are our inheritance from countless thousands of other human beings, of many countries, and nearly all of whom are now dead. During our lives we pass on to our own children an inheritance in which our own contribution is remarkably small. Since each person is the child of two others, the number of our forefathers is huge, and we are all undoubtedly blood cousins. Because of this relationship, and because we owe to the rest of society nearly all that we are, we have a social responsibility—we need to hold a social point of view. Each of us needs to accept and welcome a world-wide social responsibility, as a member of human society, as a beneficiary and trustee of our human inheritance. Otherwise we are drones, part of the hive without earning our keep. The social point of view is equitable, it is inspiring, and it is probably required now in order for human beings to survive. We need to let go of a narrow point of view.
CONCLUSION
We have now outlined the problem of social control over robot machines, supposing that human beings were reasonable. We have also discussed the practical obstacles that obstruct reasonable control.
It is not easy to think of any yet organized group of people anywhere that would have both the strength and the vision needed to solve this problem through its own efforts. For example, a part of the United Nations might have some of the vision needed, but it does not have the power. Consequently, it is necessary and desirable for individuals and groups everywhere to take upon themselves an added load of social responsibility—just as they tend to do in time of war. People often “want to do their share.” Through encouragement and education, the basic attitude of a number of people can contain more of “This is our business; we have a responsibility for helping to solve this problem.” We also need public responsibility; we need a public body responsible for study, education, advice, and some measure of control. It might be something like an Atomic Energy Commission, Bacterial Defense Commission, Mental Health Commission, and Robot Machine Commission, all rolled into one.
When, at last, there is an effective guarantee of the two elements physical safety and adequate employment, then at last we shall all be free from the threat of the robot machine. We can then welcome the robot machine as our deliverer from the long hard chores of many centuries.
Supplement 1
WORDS AND IDEAS
The purpose of this book is to explain machines that think, without using technical words any more than necessary. This supplement is a digression. Its purposes are to consider how to explain in this way and to discuss the attempt made in this book to achieve simple explanation.
WORDS AS INSTRUMENTS
FOR EXPLAINING
Words are the chief instruments we use for explaining. Of course, many other devices—pictures, numbers, charts, models, etc.—are also used; but words are the prime tools. We do most of our explaining with them.
Words, however, are not very good instruments. Like a stone arrow-head, a word is a clumsy weapon. In the first place, words mean different things on different occasions. The word “line,” for example, has more than fifty meanings listed in a big dictionary. How do we handle the puzzle of many meanings? As we grow older we gather experience and we develop a truly marvelous capacity to listen to a sentence and then fit the words together into a pattern that makes sense. Sometimes we notice the time lag while our brain hunts for the meaning of a word we have heard but not grasped. Then suddenly we guess the needed meaning, whereupon we grasp the meaning of the sentence as a whole in much the same way as the parts of a puzzle click into place when solved.