The Malevolent AI and Frankenstein's Monster.

I was thinking about monsters today.  Specifically, new monsters.  There are plenty of vampires and ware wolves and dragons to be sure; but their creation was so long ago.  While a part of these old monsters may still speak to us, I can't help but feel that significant aspects of them are gone along with the cultures that created them.  Now it should be noted that these monsters evolve, and that they endure today either because they have adapted or because there is something fundamentally appealing about them.  That point aside what makes the Chupacabra so interesting to me is that he first appeared in the mid 1990's.  I am not here to talk about el Chupacabra, in my meditation on new monsters my mind would keep coming back to one, the malevolent A.I.

Hundreds of science fiction stories feature the malevolent A.I. as either a plot device or as a direct antagonist.  The idea is that we humans create a computer that can think for itself.  For one reason or another this computer decides that it would be better off if it killed all of us pesky humans.  There are two main reasons that the malevolent A.I. frightens us that I can tell.  Firstly, is the A.I.'s vast intellectual superiority.  As a species who became 'top dog' by having the biggest and best brain out of all of our competitors it makes sense that we would be afraid of something that is our mental superior in every way.  The second reason that we are equally intrigued and frightened of the malevolent A.I. is our dependance on computer technology.  It is at this point that I should inform you that I am going to try and avoid discussing the singularity.  I know that if I start I will have a very hard time not blathering on and on about it.  The point of this post is to talk about malevolent A.I. as a literary monster.

At first blush the malevolent A.I. seems like it would be, by its digital nature, a recently created monster.  However, the earliest appearance of this idea that I can find is in fact from 1921.  The Czech play R.U.R. is about a group of robotic servants who rebel against their human masters.  This play's incarnation of the malevolent A.I. does posses the element of our over reliance but substitutes mental superiority to physical superiority.  This substitution is understandable as computers (and I use the term loosely) at the time were no where near being able to match us mentally.  What machinery could do was out perform us physically, and so R.U.R. plays off of our inadequacy in that respect. 

There are some themes in R.U.R. that parallel the various Communist revolutions that were happening roughly around when the play was being made.  A lower servant class of robots who mostly perform physical labor rising up and overthrowing their masters isn't the subtlest of metaphors.  These themes, while they may not resonate so well today give us a bit of insight into why we think the malevolent A.I. is just so. . . well. . . malevolent.  All computer technology is a tool to be used by humans; essentially all tools exist only to serve mankind.  What the A.I. monster represents is our tools gaining a mind of their own and then that mind not being satisfied with its preordained subservient lot in life.  We as sentient agents know just how much we value our freedom, our autonomy; and so it is our disposition toward freedom that helps us understand and fear A.I.  We are interested and afraid in this type of monster because we know how much we would fight for our own autonomy were we in its position.

Looking back further there are some connections between Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and our modern conception of the malevolent A.I.  Both Frankenstein's monster and our A.I. monster are created by man, and both of them rebel against their creators.  Frankenstein's monster is stronger than a normal man, a similarity to the robots of R.U.R.  Whether or not Frankenstein's monster had above average intelligence is debatable, he certainly picked up language quickly, but that is likely just a plot convenience.  One thing that I find appealing in the Frankenstein story is that the monster is not necessarily born evil.  He is abandoned by Victor at the moment of his birth and all of his future interaction with humans ends in disaster.  Part of what makes Frankenstein's monster evil and pitiful at the same time is his loneliness.  This aspect isn't typical in a contemporary evil A.I. story.  Though a sentient computer who just wants 'love' is an idea that is somewhat familiar the idea that an A.I. wants a companion of equal intelligence or similar construction is both interesting and something of an oddity (if you have any recommendation please comment, I would love to read them). 

Lastly, one part of Shelley's story continues to echo loudly in contemporary science fiction.  The monster asks Victor to make him a bride.  Victor begins to do this but eventually stops, fearing that the two would be able to reproduce, and that their offspring would destroy humanity.  Today the idea of a computer that can build another better computer that in turn can build yet another better computer takes Victor Frankenstein's fear and combines it with the exponential rate at which technology improves.  In either case this demonstrates a trepidation when it comes to science and progress.  Both in Victorian England and contemporary society we recognize science as something potentially dangerous, or at the very least something that has the potential to break free of our control.

So where does this leave us?  I started off thinking about new monsters but found that the A.I.'s roots stretch back to a story from 1818.  Is the Malevolent A.I. just a modernized Frankenstein's monster?  Maybe, but the idea has evolved in the past century to the point where I would be comfortable separating the two.  So I suppose our future robot overlords aren't such a new idea after all.  At least I still have my Chupacabra.