Choosing Annalee Newitz\u2019s \u201cWhen Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis\u201d and Arthur C. Clarke\u2019s \u201cThe Nine Billion Names of God\u201d highlights a weird truth: we usually treat AI as either a helpful neighbor or a terrifying god. There\u2019s rarely a middle ground. In Newitz\u2019s story, the AI (Robot) isn’t some cold, calculating brain in a box. It\u2019s more like a humble social worker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The author assumes that the world is messy and broken, but that technology can be a bridge. By having the Robot “talk” to crows to stop a plague, Newitz argues that AI shouldn’t just be about “data”\u2014it should be about connection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ethical weight here is placed on community. The AI is only “good” because it helps humans and animals survive together. On the flip side, Clarke\u2019s story treats AI like a spiritual shortcut. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The monks use a computer to list all the names of God, assuming that once the “data entry” of the universe is finished, the world can end. The AI here has zero personality; it\u2019s just a high-speed calculator for the divine. It suggests that humans are impatient and that technology is the ultimate tool for skipping the hard work of existence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How this fits today: Newitz\u2019s Robot feels like the AI we want: something that helps us solve real-world problems like sickness or climate change by listening to things we ignore. Clarke\u2019s Computer feels like the AI we have: a machine that can crunch numbers and generate results at a speed that feels almost supernatural, but doesn’t actually understand the “why” behind the task. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The creators of these stories make a big argument: technology isn’t just about the hardware. It\u2019s about what we ask it to do. If we ask it to help us survive, it becomes a partner. If we ask it to solve the “meaning of life” through pure math, we might not like the answer it gives us<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Choosing Annalee Newitz\u2019s \u201cWhen Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis\u201d and Arthur C. Clarke\u2019s \u201cThe Nine Billion Names of God\u201d highlights a weird truth: we usually treat AI as either a helpful neighbor or a terrifying god. There\u2019s rarely a middle ground. In Newitz\u2019s story, the AI (Robot) isn’t some cold, calculating brain in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":832,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sb_is_suggestion_mode":false,"_sb_show_suggestion_boards":false,"_sb_show_comment_boards":false,"_sb_suggestion_history":"","_sb_update_block_changes":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/832"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4822,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820\/revisions\/4822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}