I Am Hungry
The Hunger of Artificial Creatures
"Human beings have certain basic needs. We must have food, water, air, and shelter to survive. If any of these basic needs are unmet, humans cannot survive. " -- NASA and Jamestown Education Module
When creating Artificial Intelligence and robots we try to make them as human as possible, by making them feel and empathize among many other qualities. However, AI does not have the same basic needs as humans do. Their survival rather depends on electricity and algorithms. But wouldn't it be more credible if AI and robots did share our basic human needs?
David from AI
David is a sophisticated humanoid robot created to feel emotions, in Steven Spielberg's film AI: Artificial Intelligence. David is driven by his desire to be more human and relentlessly observes the daily activities of his human mom 'Monica" the entire film. He seems particularly interested in the way she has to eat and drink, which are all activities he is not supposed to partake in himself. However, his attempts to eat nevertheless, show how drastically different his artificial nature is from the true experiences of human beings.
Introducing a new Creature: CraveBot
Let me introduce you to CraveBot, an artificial being with an unquenchable hunger for human food. CraveBot is equipped with finely tuned taste receptors and an advanced digestive system, that yearns for the sensory experiences that come from eating, wanting to satiate its appetite beyond simple sustenance. But even with its sophisticated design, CraveBot finds it difficult to understand the cultural and emotional significance of eating, which makes for hilarious and occasionally moving interactions as it makes its way through the world of food.
