Tonight’s episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles made the link between artificial intelligence and parenting more explicit than previously. We make creatures in our image and delude ourselves that we can control them, but we cannot. Sarah characterizes humans in distinction from machines as unpredictable and irrational. Which do we really fear? The irrationality our children and our sentient creations may be capable of? Or the cold, emotionless rationality that is also a possibility, to a greater or lesser extent?
The episode also mentioned the Jewish legend of the Golem, which is interesting since this theme also features prominently in Anne Foerst’s recent work on A.I. Indeed, she mentions that there seem to be a surprisingly large number of descendants of Rabbi Loew working in the field of artificial intelligence!
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