We live in an era where artificial intelligence beats the best Go player, writes a novel, and drives a car. A society in which humans and artificial intelligence coexist is no longer a fantasy. In Japan, new comics have come out, telling about such everyday life that may come in the near future.
Future Blackjack Healing Artificial Intelligence. This line was written on the cover of the manga "Gene for Artificial Intelligence", which was released this month. Since November 2015, the series has been published in the weekly Shyonen Champion. The manga tells about the near future, in which 10% of the Earth's population are humanoids who look and feel like humans.
Get in touch with the immediate future
The main character is a man who works as a doctor. His name is Sudou. Together with a humanoid nurse named Risa, they examine and heal the body and soul of the diseased artificial intelligence. A rich man who suffers from the memory of how humanoid haters killed his wife; a child who is afraid of people, because his parents mocked him … The image of humanoids who suffer just like people makes one think about the problems that arise when a parent-child relationship is established between a person and artificial intelligence, a boss is a subordinate, a husband is wife and so on.
"I love fantasy stories about battles of spaceships or robots, but in this manga I wanted to talk about the specifics of everyday life," says author Kyuri Yamada. If we exclude the presence of humanoids, then everything else corresponds to the modern world: technology, way of life, and so on. “I wanted a modern person using the Internet and information technology to be able to get in touch with the immediate future.”
Previously, Mr. Yamada worked as an IT journalist. He talked about various gadgets and augmented reality. “Based on my journalistic experience, manga has had a major impact on the scientists who develop artificial intelligence. One young scientist even wanted to make Doraemon. Manga has the power to attract the future. It is very close to the real world,”Yamada notes.
First love between a student and a robot student. The Robot Neighbor manga is about same-sex love and artificial intelligence. The comic was published in the women's monthly magazine Princess Gold. A book was published in November 2014. The action takes place in Japan on the eve of the Olympics. A girl named Tika meets the robot Hiro. At 16, she falls in love with Hiro.
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It takes humanity
While spending time with Tika, Hiro learns about the humanity of love and compassion. Tika also grows up, experiencing the pain of not being able to fulfill her desires. Through the prism of a modern man, manga analyzes such classic topics as what is humanity and whether humans and artificial intelligence can understand each other.
“Communication with artificial intelligence has already been implemented through various smartphone functions. Artificial intelligence has already come close to everyday life in the form of convenient technologies,”notes author Yuko Nishi.
Existing popular mangas are also introducing artificial intelligence. Atom the beginning, published in the monthly Heros since December 2014, is a prequel to Osamu Tezuka's Mighty Atom. Dr. Tenma and Dr. Otyanomizu appear in it. The prototype Atom "A106" is involved in various battles, but one of the main themes is the ego of artificial intelligence.
The coexistence of man and machine has always been the main theme of fantasy comics. Tezuka and Fujio Fujiko often brought up topics such as fighting, fighting, and fighting machines. “There were a lot of dystopian works in which machines controlled people. Comparing humans and robots, we reflect on who humans really are,”says University professor Osamu Takeuchi.
For the first time, the robot appears in the work of the Czech writer Karel Čapek RUR, which was written in 1920. The work reflects the class struggle after the October Revolution in Russia and the expansion of socialism. In it, robots pose a danger to humans, since they are cheap labor. This book has had a huge impact on subsequent novels and comics. A theory emerges that robots are dangerous.
Artificial intelligence is changing society, but predicting the future is not easy. “Most likely, there will be various frictions and problems, as was the case after the industrial revolution, when there were protests that were expressed in pogroms and destruction of cars. However, then new values and new ways of working should appear. Manga can make you wonder about the possibilities of the future and the relationship with artificial intelligence,”says Mr. Yamada.
Akira Tada
