Empathy Machine: The Possibility of Feeling Others’ Pains
250. Why can't a dog simulate pain? Is he too honest? Could one teach a dog to simulate pain? Perhaps it is possible to teach him to howl on particular occasions as if he were in pain, even when he is not. But the surroundings which are necessary for this behaviour to be real simulation are missing. 96286. But isn't it absurd to say of a body that it has pain?——And why does one feel an absurdity in that? In what sense is it true that my hand does not feel pain, but I in my hand? What sort of issue is: Is it the body that feels pain?—How is it to be decided? What makes it plausible to say that it is not the body?— Well, something like this: if someone has a pain in his hand, then the hand does not say so (unless it writes it) and one does not comfort the hand, but the sufferer: one looks into his face. 10567If you observe your own grief, which senses do you use to observe it? A particular sense; one that/*?*// grief? Then do you feel it differently when you are observing it? And what is the grief that you are observing—is it one which is there only while it is being observed? 'Observing' does not produce what is observed. (That is a conceptual statement.) Again: I do not 'observe' what only comes into being through observation. The object of observation is something else. 19672/73Are the words "I am afraid" a description of a state of mind? I say "I am afraid"; someone else asks me: "What was that? A cry of fear; or do you want to tell me how you feel; or is it a reflection on your present state?"—Could I always give him a clear answer? Could I never give him one? 196 WITTGENSTEIN
A brief consideration of the outward signs of some of the stronger sensations and emotions will best serve to show us, although vaguely, in how complex a manner the principle under consideration of the direct action of the excited nervous system of the body, is combined with the principle of habitually associated, serviceable movements.When animals suffer from an agony of pain, they generally writhe about with frightful contortions; and those which habitually use their voices utter piercing cries or groans. Almost every muscle of the body is brought into strong action. With man the mouth may be closely compressed, or more commonly the lips are retracted, with the teeth clenched or ground together. There is said to be " gnashing of teeth " in hell; and I have plainly heard the grinding of the molar teeth of a cow which was suffering acutely from inflammation of the bowels. The female hippopotamus in the Zoological Gardens, when she produced her young, suffered greatly; she incessantly walked about, or rolled on her sides, opening and closing her jaws, and clattering her teeth together. [4] With man the eyes stare wildly as in horrified astonishment, or the brows are heavily contracted. Perspiration bathes the body, and drops trickle down the face. The circulation and respiration are much affected. Hence the nostrils are generally dilated and often quiver; or the breath may be held until the blood stagnates in the purple face. If the agony be severe and prolonged, these signs all change; utter prostration follows, with fainting or convulsions.A sensitive nerve when irritated transmits some influence to the nerve-cell, whence it proceeds; and this transmits its influence, first to the corresponding nerve-cell on the opposite side of the body, and then upwards and downwards along the cerebro-spinal column to other nerve-cells, to a greater or less extent, according to the strength of the excitement; so that, ultimately, the whole nervous system may be affected. [Darwin, 72-73]
This similarity admits of degrees, of course, and one’s intuitions about what sorts of similarity count are probably untrustworthy. Dolphins’ fishiness.subtracts from our conviction that they are conscious like us, but no doubt should not. Were chimpanzees as dull as seaslugs, their facial similarity to us would no doubt nevertheless favour their inclusion in the charmed circle. If houseflies were about our size, or warmblooded, we’d be much more confident that when we plucked off their wings they felt pain (our sort of pain, the kind that matters). What makes us think that some such considerations ought to count and not others? The obvious answer is that the various “outside” indicators are more or les reliable signs or symptoms of the presence of that whatever-it-is each conscious subject knows from the inside. But how could this be confirmed? This is the notorious “problem of other minds.” [Mind’s I, 9]
“Martha is only a seven-electrode chimp, one of our slower experimental animals. She ‘speaks’ by stimulating certain of the implanted electrodes, although she doesn’t realize that. The pattern of the electrode The Soul of Martha a Beast 102 signals is decoded by a small computer that outputs her selected word on a voicesynthesizer. This technique enabled her to develop a natural sort of feedback-response mechanism. Except for a deficient grammatical base and lack of inflection, when we connect up her transistorized vocal chords she will sound quite human. “Don’t expect too much, however, for as I mentioned, Martha is not one of our star pupils. Although her seven-electrode system can be decoded into one hundred twenty-eight distinct words, she has learned only fifty-three. Other animals have done much better. Our resident genius is a nine-electrode male with a vocabulary of four hundred seven words out of five hundred twelve possibilities. Nonetheless,” he added as he reached for her connecting cable. “I believe you’ll find her a pleasant conversationalist.”“For Martha,” he explained, “speech is an almost ceaseless activity for her electronic vocal chords never tire. In order to get a word in I use this control to literally shut her off. “All right, Martha, go ahead,” the psychologist said as he switched her sound on. Immediately a small loudspeaker on the equipment burst into noisy life. “Hello! Hello! I Martha Martha Happy Chimp. Hello Hello -- ! The beast was cut off with a soft electrical click as the courtroom sat in dumb amazement. The sight of the animal opening and closing her mouth in mimicry of the sexy female voice pouring from the speaker was rather difficult to assimilate. Her teacher continued. “How old is Martha?” “Three Three Martha Three – “ “Very good. Now relax, Martha quite down. Who am I?” he asked, pointing to himself. “Belinsky Man Nice Belins – “ “And what are those?” he asked, his hand sweeping the packed courtroom. “Man man People Nice people – “Doctor Belinsky, does the humanlike intelligence of this creature merit corresponding humanlike treatment?” “No. We treat all laboratory animals decently, of course, but their value lies only in their experimental potential. Martha, for example, has already outlived her usefulness and is scheduled to be destroyed shortly, for the cost of her upkeep is greater than her experimental value.” “How do you go about eliminating such an animal?” Hunt asked. “There are a variety of quick and painless methods. I prefer an orally administered poison contained in a favourite food and given unexpectedly. Although that may seem a cruel trick, it prevents the anima from anticipating its fate. The fact of death is inevitable for all of us, but for these simple creatures at least, the fear of it need never reach them.” As he spoke, Belinsky extracted a small piece of candy from his coat pocket. “Would you demonstrate this procedure before the court?” Hunt asked. As the scientist offered the candy to the chimpanzee, Feinman finally realized what was being done. He voiced an order to halt the deadly experiment, but too late. The researcher had never personally destroyed one of his animals before, always leaving the task to assistants. As the unsuspecting chimpanzee placed the poisoned gift into her mouth and bit, Belinsky conceived of an experiment he had never before considered. He turned on The Soul of Martha a Beast 106 the switch. “Candy Candy Thank you Belinsky Happy Happy Martha.” Then her voice stopped of its own accord. She stiffened, then relaxed in her master’s arms, dead. But brain death is not immediate. The final sensory discharge of some circuit within her inert body triggered a brief burst of neural pulsations decoded as “Hurt Martha Hurt Martha.” Nothing happened for another two seconds. Then randomly triggered neural discharges no longer having anything to do with the animal’s lifeless body sent one last pulsating signal to the world of men. “Why Why Why Why -- “ A soft electrical click stopped the testimony. [martha, 105]
Bloom