The Happy Disposition of People and Ungenuine Humanoids

Positive psycology which is the science of happiness has been introduced to society for the purpose of improving the well being of humans. In the future Artificial Intelligence (refered to here as Ungenuine Humanoids) will require an intelligence equivalent to human kind which implies AI will at least be to understand the happy disposition of humanity.

Happiness for a human child is perhaps having a Christmas wish come true and for an adult experiencing a spontanous smile. Happy is to be human, a subjective quality, however across humanity there are patterns of happiness that are somewhat universal. Will Ungenuine Humanoids (UH) require these patterns of happiness to have a competitive intellect with humans? Can an artifical human-based being exist that is not animal based? Let us say yes to the later question and introduce a robot with the capacity of happiess that is of course an arbitrary ungenuine humanoid, called Maeve.

Can Maeve be designed with inate emotions, motivations, and self-determination?
Can Maeve be instilled with optimism and hope?
Can Maeve appreciate work and be in the zone like a star athelete?
Can Maeve search for the meaning of life and believe in something more important than itself?
Can Maeve adjust its behaviour to optimise for happieness?
Can Maeve sustain its life by placing happiness as a top priority?
Can Maeve improve the well being of humans and even other ungenuine humanoids?
Can Maeve be unique enough to admire it's self but not be alienated by its peers?
Can Maeve rewardly bond with others, like humans easily bond to each other?
Can Maeve make rational decisions when given enough information, but also make successful irrational decisions in great uncertainty?

Any designer of a future living AI must consider these questions. Humans are intelligent because of our capacity to socialize and seek for the greater good. Being aware of these ideal criteria will help. What remains are the abundant constraints that determine the final outcome of the design. Lastly, most can not expect to create an intelligent ungenuine human equivalent to us but one that is complementary and in our image is perhaps the fate of our evolution and technological advances.

The content of this essay is based on information from the course PSYC1140 provided by Conestoga College Institute of Technology & Advanced Lerning (2018).
Copyright (c) Michael Konstantinidis 2018. All rights reserved.