Explore Topics:
AIBiotechnologyRoboticsComputingFutureScienceSpaceEnergyTech

This Is What Happens When a Robot Assassin Goes to Therapy

Vanessa Bates Ramirez
Sep 22, 2017
cyborg-Nina-Unlocked-Recursor-Tv

Share

Computers are getting good at a lot of things they didn’t used to be able to do at all. They can drive cars, diagnose patients, and understand speech. They’ve even started to be capable of tasks that involve qualities like compassion or creativity—qualities that, until now, have been distinctly human.

Far from losing these skills, computers are only going to pick up more skills over time, and further blur the line between machine and human. Among the excitement and worry that accompany this trend is a broader conversation: how far is AI going to go, exactly, and where is that line?

Many consider the final frontier of humanity to be consciousness: being aware of oneself in relation to the larger world, and interacting with other self-aware beings around us. If computers somehow become conscious, what will set us apart from them?

Be Part of the Future

Sign up to receive top stories about groundbreaking technologies and visionary thinkers from SingularityHub.

100% Free. No Spam. Unsubscribe any time.

A new original series from Recursor.TV, an online repository for indie sci-fi short films, is dedicated to exploring these questions. In Nina Unlocked, an AI named Nina has no desire to be human, yet she displays distinctly human qualities, and she wants to figure out who—or what—she is.

Vanessa has been writing about science and technology for eight years and was senior editor at Singularity Hub. She's interested in biotechnology and genetic engineering, the nitty-gritty of the renewable energy transition, the roles technology and science play in geopolitics and international development, and countless other topics.

Related Articles

This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through June 14)

This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through June 14)

SingularityHub Staff
Casey Harrell lost his voice to ALS. He can speak again, with nuance, thanks to a brain implant and AI-generated voice.

A Man With ALS Can Speak and Sing Again Thanks to a Brain Implant and AI-Synthesized Voice

Shelly Fan
Geothermal Unicorn Fervo Energy Is Building a Massive Next-Gen Plant in Utah

Geothermal Unicorn Fervo Energy Is Building a Massive Next-Gen Plant in Utah

Vanessa Bates Ramirez
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through June 14)

This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through June 14)

SingularityHub Staff
Casey Harrell lost his voice to ALS. He can speak again, with nuance, thanks to a brain implant and AI-generated voice.
Computing

A Man With ALS Can Speak and Sing Again Thanks to a Brain Implant and AI-Synthesized Voice

Shelly Fan
Geothermal Unicorn Fervo Energy Is Building a Massive Next-Gen Plant in Utah
Energy

Geothermal Unicorn Fervo Energy Is Building a Massive Next-Gen Plant in Utah

Vanessa Bates Ramirez

What we’re reading

Be Part of the Future

Sign up to receive top stories about groundbreaking technologies and visionary thinkers from SingularityHub.

100% Free. No Spam. Unsubscribe any time.

SingularityHub chronicles the technological frontier with coverage of the breakthroughs, players, and issues shaping the future.

Follow Us On Social

About

  • About Hub
  • About Singularity

Get in Touch

  • Contact Us
  • Pitch Us
  • Brand Partnerships

Legal

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
© 2025 Singularity