Humans Rule, Robots Drool

Re: Jodie Foster Is ‘More Comfortable Having Robots’ Own Guns…

Two Jodie Foster films not mentioned in this article could be. Either would add to the discussions on arming robots versus people. The first film launched her career. The second saw her look to the stars.

Foster was a 12-year-old actress when ‘Taxi Driver’ filming started. She needed the governor’s intervention and a psychiatrist’s assessment to play Iris, the teenage prostitute. That she was emotionally screened and the state had to okay her being cast in this film of violence seems noteworthy.

But based on accompanying photos of her in roles where she’s armed, the author likely looked past the 1976 film because Foster was a minor or Iris didn’t carry a gun. There’s this though:

Maybe ‘Taxi Driver’ wasn’t named for other reasons? A mentally ill wannabe-assassin obsessed with the film stalked Foster then tried to “impress” her by shooting President Reagan.

A Secret Service agent and a D.C. police officer each took bullets to protect the president, who was also wounded. But White House Press Secretary James Brady was permanently disabled.

He would become a gun control advocate and eventually had a bill named in his honor when legislation was introduced instituting criminal and mental health background checks for buyers of guns at federally licensed dealers.

That Brady’s 2014 death was ruled a homicide caused by the gunshot wound he received 33 years earlier is significant:

His killer, a would-be assassin who was released in 2016 from a mental hospital, wasn’t charged with murder because he was already found not guilty by being insane. Talk about madness.

No wonder lawful gun owners, U.S. citizens with Constitutional rights, stay armed:

They realize they’re ultimately the only defense in keeping themselves and their loved ones safe from anyone or anything, no matter what serves as “justice” nowadays.

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The second film is ‘Contact’ by Carl Sagan (1934-1996) who never got to see the 1997 film made from his book.

Foster plays a SETI astronomer (like Sagan) who Searches the cosmos for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence. Foster’s character is based on SETI astrophysicist Jill Tarter.

SETI was founded by Sagan and astrophysicist Frank Drake (who recently celebrated his 88th birthday!) though Drake has been looking up at the heavens for decades.

In 1961, he presented what is now called the Drake Equation. Initially, it was just an attempt by him to spark a dialogue among fellow scientists. It’s brought up here because, in a notional way, it’s relevant to talk of arming robots and machines.

The Drake Equation is a way to try and estimate the number of intelligent communicative civilizations in our galaxy. The Equation’s seven factors together impact our chances of hearing radio signals coming from other civilizations, if any exist.

Of the seven, Sagan considered one — “L” — to be the determining factor: “L” = “The length of time intelligent communicative civilizations release detectable signals into space.” (The average lifetime of a technologically competent civilization.)

Sagan believed a civilization’s ability to avoid its own self-destruction was critical to whatever value “L” may have. It makes sense.

The problem here is Foster is ignorant to this. She defies Sagan by saying she’s “more comfortable having robots” armed than humans.

People thinking this way either aren’t thinking or don’t trust themselves. Surrendering weapons to any robot, machine or autonomous device that’s programmed using AI is an event horizon. There is no turning back. It’s a threat our civilization can’t overcome. There’s no humanity in it as we removed it.

Removing ourselves from the equation: It may be the last thing mankind ever did.