Since the movie "Out of Control Player" was released in China for a week, the compact and cheerful movie style has aroused heated discussion. As of yesterday, this movie starring "Deadpool" actor Ryan Reynolds has surpassed 300 million box office. The movie extends a discussion: Is it unethical to abuse the "NPC" in the virtual world (referring to the non-player character in the game)? If one day, "NPCs" also have the personality of artificial intelligence, would you still have the heart to shoot them?
In the "Reading" column of this issue, the book reviewer leads you to take a quick overview of several interesting and important ideological and cultural developments in the near future. Several things discussed are all related to the topic of "technology and ethics".
Another technology news has something to do with our memories of middle school. We all heard the name of the chemist Lavoisier in the middle school class. The famous painting "The Lavoisier", which was selected as a textbook, depicts the picture of him gazing affectionately at his wife. It is called a classic example of "intellectuals show affection" by many people. However, recent studies have found that this famous painting is not the original version, and the author has deliberately modified it. What is the reason behind this?
The dispute over abortion ethics and technology has been going on for a long time. Just a few days ago, the U.S. Supreme Court voted to refuse to block the latest anti-abortion law in Texas. The bill stipulates that abortion is prohibited for women who are more than 6 weeks pregnant, and prosecutions are encouraged, and no exceptions are made for rape or incest cases. Is the entry into force of the "strictest" anti-abortion law in the United States a war against women?
Author | Liu Yaguang
01
"Out of Control Players" Hot Screening: There is a moral hazard to abuse the "NPC" in the game?
Imagine that you are an NPC in a video game. The daily life track is to wake up, put on a blue shirt for the workplace, and trot all the way to the bank where you work. In the morning, a gangster played by a player will come to grab the bank. You Lie down in a fixed position. As a result, one day, you have a glimpse on the street. The face of a player character makes you never forget-you fall in love with her, and then you slowly realize that you are just living in a game, The existence of the world has generated deeper and deeper doubts.
This is the story told by the movie "Out of Control Players", which has recently become popular at home and abroad. The protagonist played by Ryan Reynolds is not a simple NPC, but the world's first fully conscious artificial intelligence, and he is also the crystallization of the wisdom of two programmers with game feelings. At the end of the story, he broke through the blockade of the game world and came to a new world like a paradise. In the real world, the conspiracy of the villain who tried to copy the inspiration of the game was also defeated. "Out of Control Player" is like a combination of "Trumen's World" and "Western World". It tells a modern fable of anti-capital and anti-discipline in a cheerful style.
With high degree of freedom, freely speeding cars, and a variety of weapons, this movie will in many ways remind the audience of a game that is popular all over the world, "Grand Theft Auto." In this game, the player can "do almost anything", which naturally includes the merciless torture of NPC passers-by-this is also a game element criticized by "Out of Control Players". This game has also been controversial because it contains too many bloody and violent elements and may lead players to violent behavior. In 2017, the question of "Is it unethical to shoot NPCs randomly in Grand Theft Auto" appeared on Quora, an online interactive questioning platform. And in the recent days when "Out of Control Players" hit the show, similar discussions have also appeared. A recent article on Screen rant even reported that a player tried to pass "Grand Theft Auto" by "killing" to express his opposition to the violent elements of the game.
Is there a moral hazard in the abuse and killing of virtual characters in the game? This question may seem surprising at first glance. However, some scholars have specifically discussed it and regarded it as an increasingly important ethical issue. Former Microsoft engineer Brian Tomasik is also an animal protectionist. He not only wrote academic articles to discuss the moral status of NPC, but also systematically expressed his views in an interview with VOX in 2014. In his view, the risk of killing NPCs is not only due to the easy to promote violent behavior in reality-this kind of excessive panic about the media has been constantly staged-but also from the fact that as the virtual characters in the game become more and more intelligent, we The attitude towards them will become more and more related to our attitude towards people in real society.
Brian believes that the modeling of virtual characters in today's games is generally not very detailed, which reduces the moral burden of us "torturing" them. Game Studies published a paper in 2003, and also pointed out similar views. It believed that the secret of the "success" of the "Grand Theft Auto" game is "creating an almost independent free game space" in which the protagonist can The game is almost completed without any "substantial oral communication." The player will not establish enough emotional connection with the virtual character. "The player can focus on the action, including picking up the gun and shooting."
However, Brian reminded that in the long run, we must pay more attention to the "ethical issues of video games." Just like the characters in "Out of Control Players", with the intelligentization of the algorithm and the refinement of the design, the game NPC will become lifelike. "The moral weight of the individual will increase accordingly, and the video game characters 50 years later may at least have the image Today’s animals have the same moral rights."
In addition, Brian gave some other reasons in a 2014 paper by the Foundational Research Institute. For example, he cited the philosopher Daniel Dennett's view that to some extent, the operation of the human brain and the computer are very similar. Similarly, the actions of the characters in the game are driven by binary code. "We can say that this action is not'real', but just a set of stupid physical operations, but we may also be driven by some'stupid' operations. ". With the rapid development of deep learning technology, this distinction will become increasingly blurred. In addition, many people often think that the reason why NPCs are "inferior" is that they do not have important "reflection" capabilities. However, Brian also believes that "reflection is not necessarily the only criterion to define a person's moral feelings and consciousness." He regards the abilities of reflection and "self-monitoring" and other abilities of human consciousness as the relationship between supervisors and workers, and they are different in nature rather than in importance.
Of course, there is a risk of moral generalization in such a view. A study published in 2014 pointed out that video games provide a morally "relatively safe" way to deal with some daunting dilemmas. At the same time, players experience anti-moral behaviors in games such as "Grand Theft Auto", and to some extent have absorbed the anti-moral impulses in real life. However, the seemingly moral and clean views similar to those of Brian and others are still worthy of our attention. Because in the near future, not only the virtual characters in the game may become more and more intelligent, the integration of the game itself and real life will also be further deepened.
The book "Games of War: Video Games and the Future of Armed Conflict", published in the Chinese translation last year, outlines this trend in general. The author believes that, especially after the "9.11" incident, video games have been deeply tied to military operations. Not only do soldiers often use video games for their daily training, the U.S. military is also committed to military education through video games. "Game of War" records many similar cases. For example, the US Army is preparing to equip the army with "virtual avatars" that will accompany soldiers to simulate dangerous situations in various situations. A game called "Iraqis Tactics" trains soldiers' cross-cultural communication skills through a true simulation of the cultural background of the Iraqi region, and the game "U.S. Army" was introduced to the campus by the military. The military has also used the game project "crowdfunding" military action plan, and the US Navy has used a "massively multiplayer online war game relay" project to find a crowdsourced innovative plan to defeat the Somali pirates.
With the increasing frequency of shooting and killing virtual characters in experiments, it is conceivable that in scenes such as wars involving harsh moral choices, the impact of games on how people make choices in real situations cannot be underestimated. After all, the boundary between real and virtual is being eliminated by technology.
02
The secret hidden in the famous painting: Why does Lavoisier only look at his wife?
The famous French chemist Lavoisier was called the "Father of Modern Chemistry" by the later world honors. The publication of his "Basic Theory of Chemistry" is regarded as an epoch-making event in the history of chemistry. Lavoisier made chemical research from qualitative to quantitative, giving the names of hydrogen and oxygen elements, predicting the existence of silicon, and also giving the definition of "element" in chemistry. According to this definition, the formulation of a modern chemical element list becomes possible.
Perhaps nearly as famous as Lavoisier himself is the portrait of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and his Wife (Portrait of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and his Wife) by the French artist Jacques Louis David. David created it in 1788. In the picture, Lavoisier is writing on a table covered with red velvet, but he has been staring affectionately at his wife Marie-Anne-Pierret Paulze. His writing table is also full of chemical utensils.
The physical object of this painting is now in the Metropolitan Museum of America, but its reproduced image is a frequent visitor to various publications that you and I are familiar with. Not only did it appear in the Shanghai Teaching Edition of the ninth grade chemistry textbook, Stendhal's "Red and Black", Dickens's "David Copperfield", Maupassant's "Lat Fat Ball", some editions of these literary masterpieces The cover picture of the Chinese translation of the book is "The Lavoisiers". If someone once called the "King of Covers" by the German romantic painter Friedrich's "Sea Wanderer"-because its appearance rate on the covers of records and books is too high, then this "Lava "The Tin Couple" may be one of the most powerful competitors of "Sea Wanderer".
However, this famous painting had been tossed around before it was taken over by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1977. When it was just created, it has never been publicly exhibited in Paris. The reason is simple: it coincided with the French Revolution at that time, and the author worried that the close connection between this painting and the royal court and the old system would arouse anger among the onlookers. The Metropolitan Museum stated that David had planned to exhibit the painting for the first time in 1789, but it was temporarily withdrawn.
However, the story of the year was not only about dismantling the exhibition. On August 30th, the academic journal Heritage Science published a study. Museum research scientist Silvia Centeno and Metropolitan Museum cultural relics restorer Dorothy Mahon used non-invasive infrared reflectance and macro X-ray fluorescence. Infrared reflectography and macro X-ray fluorescence mapping (infrared reflectography and macro X-ray fluorescence mapping) analyzed this famous painting and found that the painting had been modified by the creator David. The original manuscript did not contain a table full of chemical instruments. , The table is more ornate than it is now, with gold-plated brass inlaid on it, and Lavoisier’s lady wears a fashionable feather hat. The latest report in The Art Newspaper stated that all this "reflects Lavoisier's privileged position as a tax official"-and this is another identity that Lavoisier is not known to many people besides a chemist.
According to the data, the status of the tax officer provided sufficient funds for Lavoisier's chemical research, but it also laid a hidden danger for his execution by the guillotine in 1794. Researchers believe that David's modification highlights Lavoisier's identity as a scientist and can be understood as a way to avoid disaster. David Prince, deputy curator of European painting at the Metropolitan Museum, said in an interview: “This provides us with a new perspective on art history, that is, to examine paintings more from the perspective of the political environment.” However, Prince also believes that David’s choice to modify the painting may also be “inspired by an instinct”, that is, “to create a new image out of the genre of portraiture that has been flooded and too familiar to the public”, through This depiction, the love between Lavoisier and his wife, is connected with people's longing for modern science.
This new study reveals the art of "evading public opinion" during the French Revolution. Many people have ridiculed that Lavoisier in the painting does not care about chemical appliances, but only stares at his wife affectionately. This is the romance of intellectuals. With the intervention of modern technology, this seems to be just a romantic misunderstanding. The deciphering of famous paintings by modern technology is actually not uncommon in the cultural dynamics of recent years.
For example, in a study conducted by University College London (UCL) in 2019, scientists used AI technology to decode the secrets of the famous Belgian painting "Ghent Altarpiece", and related results were published in the journal Science Advances. An article published on the UCL official website stated that in the past, X-rays were usually used to decode the hidden secrets of artworks. However, X-ray images are difficult to "separate the various layers under the surface of the artwork from each other." The authenticity caused difficulties. The artificial intelligence technology used in this study aims to break through this limitation and restore the appearance of the painting more accurately.
The relationship between technology and art has always been the motif of many ideas. In the field of art, people often hold a nostalgic nostalgia, thinking that the technology that symbolizes instrumental rationality may dismember the aura of artworks. When Microsoft Xiaoice was able to publish a collection of poems, such discourses have received particular attention in recent years as part of the anxiety about the rise of artificial intelligence technology. However, this series of "decryption" of famous paintings also reveals the new possibilities that technology brings to art-it activates the multi-layered history carried by the artwork, and can respond to the constantly flowing social situation. Just like the initiative of several scholars who revealed the "Lavoisiers" this time, people from all walks of life with different expertise should use cross-border cooperation to keep "the artwork in the museum alive", so that after a painting enters the museum, it will not Then "as dead as if locked in a tomb".
03
The most stringent "heartbeat bill" in the United States comes into effect: Does ultrasound technology boost the anti-abortion movement?
In May of this year, the governor of Texas signed the "Heartbeat Act", which aims to prohibit pregnant women from having an abortion after detecting a fetal heartbeat. In terms of time, it is considered that abortion cannot be prohibited from 6 weeks after the formation of the fetus. At the same time, the bill allows private citizens to sue anyone who is believed to help patients with abortions, and will not make exceptions for cases involving rape or incest. On August 30, a number of organizations in the United States filed an urgent request to the Supreme Court, hoping to prevent the Texas Heartbeat Act from taking effect. On September 1, because the Supreme Court did not take action on the emergency request to suspend the bill, the bill came into effect and was called the "strictest" abortion prohibition bill.
The entry into force of the bill caused many controversies. US President Biden called the bill "unconstitutional." A recent commentary in The Guardian also pointed out that the law restricts the allowable abortion time to 6 weeks after pregnancy, and this time "even most women cannot realize that they are pregnant." More than 90% of abortion requests in the state All were implemented after this period of time, and this bill severely restricted women's reproductive rights. A recent PBS comment pointed out that this bill will exacerbate social inequality because it greatly increases the cost of women wishing to have an abortion, and truly wealthy women will not care about it.
Controversy over the legality of abortion is protracted. Supporters believe that people should have the freedom to reproduce, while opponents believe that this means a violation of the right to life of the fetus. Another PBS comment pointed out that an important impact of the law passed by Texas in the dispute over the legality of abortion is that it recognizes a new method of prosecution, that is, the implementation of the bill does not rely on public authorities, but encourages Ordinary people sue privately, with corresponding bonuses. Biden condemned this in his September 2 statement: "This inspires countless strangers to intervene in women's most private decisions." Julie Gunnigle, an Arizona reproductive rights lawyer, also said that this means "criminal law penetrates into reproductive behavior."
The commentary stated that the passage of the “strictest abortion law” is also related to the division within the Supreme Court. In an objection from the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the Texas legislature circumvents the Constitution by recruiting ordinary citizens to enforce the law, and that the majority of the court "chooses Bury their heads in the sand to make this happen", "bypassing state officials and relying on citizen bounty hunters to make things more complicated."
Leah Litman, professor of constitutional science at the University of Michigan, was concerned in the interview that this decision provided a blueprint for a new plan for the legislatures of other states. At the same time, such legislative methods run the risk of spreading to other areas-such as guns.
Disputes related to abortion are also closely related to medical technology. Regarding the "Heartbeat Act", Dr. Michael Kakovic, a medical expert at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center interviewed by PBS, said that 6 weeks is not the standard for heartbeat formation. Other medical experts also said that the heartbeat began to form in about 9 weeks, and they condemned the use of inaccurate medical knowledge to implement the bill. Kakovich said: "We are using more advanced ultrasound technology to detect early fetal heart movements, but now people are improperly using this technology to advance their political agenda."
Reference materials:
1. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/texas-abortion-law-and-what-it-means-for-the-future-of-abortion-rights-in-the-us
2. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ap-explainer-the-language-reach-of-new-texas-abortion-law
3. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/02/1033541289/texas-abortion-law-may-force-women-to-seek-an-abortion-elsewhere
4. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/02/the-guardian-view-on-the-texas-abortion-ban-this-is-not-the-end
5.h ttps://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s40494-021-00551-y.pdf
6.h ttps://www.ucl.ac.uk/iccs/news/2019/sep/ai-uncovers-new-details-about-old-master-paintings
7. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/hidden-composition-jacques-louis-david-portrait-chemist-lavoisier-2004720
8. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/progressive-scientists-or-high-flying-elitists-the-met-unlocks-a-secret-within-a-renowned-jacques-louis-david-portrait
9. https://www.vox.com/2014/4/23/5643418/this-guy-thinks-killing-video-game-characters-is-immoral
10.h ttps: //screenrant.com/gta-5-minimum-kill-count-726/
11. https://reducing-suffering.org/do-video-game-characters-matter-morally/#How_important_are_NPCs
12. https://www.quora.com/Is-it-morally-wrong-to-kill-innocent-npcs-in-a-video-game
This article is exclusive original content. Author: Liu Yaguang; Editor: Li Yongbo; Proofreader: Wang Xin. It may not be reprinted without the written authorization of the Beijing News.
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