Final Lecture with quotations attached to selected questions

1. WSC Lecture:
Words to Light the Darkness
by Gregory Anderson

2. 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.”

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

4. 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?

5. 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

6. 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Is the traditional concept of the state outdated in an age of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?

7. 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?

8. Very basic plot outline
Evidence – 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?

9. More Detailed Plot
Wife sits at home
Husband reveals he will divorce wife
Wife kills husband
Wife creates false alibi
Wife secretly laughs at inspectors
eating lamb

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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…

13. https://www.visualthesaurus.com/
Connotations
vs
Denotations
Her mouth and eyes,
with their new calm
look, seemed larger and
darker than before.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. An aside… what is the purpose of
defamiliarisation?
"It's the old story," he said. "Get
the weapon, and you've got the
murderer."

19. 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!

20. Primary-recency effect.

21. 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.

22. 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.”

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.”

26. 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.”

27. 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.”

28. 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.”

29. 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.

30. Is it innately human to cheat?
http://thecreatorsprojec
t.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.

31. 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.”

32. 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.