Kokoro Connect Review
Peñen Tegtmeier
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At the end of the symposium, Prof. Norihiro Tokitoh (Executive Vice-President for Research, Evaluation, and Industry-Government Academia Collaboration, Kyoto University) gave closing remarks. Prof. Seiji Kumagai (Associate Professor, KRC) served as the moderator of the day.
In the latter half of the presentation, Dr. Watanabe introduced his research activities based on Kikai Island in the Amami Islands. He expressed his vision for future efforts to utilize the findings of coral reef research beyond the boundaries of the humanities and sciences, and to connect them to further research. Moreover, he presented his views on the possibilities of the relationship between coral reef research and society, including actual activities to express research results, such as theatrical techniques and educational projects that involve children.
In the following discussion, the point was made that coral reefs, which coexist with plankton and include archaic layers of history, serve as a model for the kokoro and community. The discussion then turned to the comparison between coral and slime mold. Domestic and international examples of the relationship between human life, faith or artistic activities, and coral reefs or environmental change were also presented and actively discussed.
At the end of the symposium, Prof. Norihiro Tokitoh (Executive Vice-President for Research, Evaluation, and Industry-Government Academia Collaboration, Kyoto University) gave closing remarks. Prof. Yukiko Uchida (Professor, KRC) served as the emcee of the day, and 344 viewers participated in the event in total.
This book contains lectures by 3 symposiasts including Prof. Toru Nishigaki (Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo), Prof. Tetsuya Ogata (Professor, Waseda University, Joint Appointed Fellows, Artificial Intelligence Research Center), and Prof. Makoto Nagao (Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University), as well as their discussions with Prof. Toshio Kawai (KRC) and Prof. Hiroshi Yoshioka (KRC). In addition, it includes an introduction specially written by Prof. Yoshioka.
In the presentation, two studies on suicide rates in rural areas were reported from the standpoint that human, animal and ecosystem health are interrelated. In the first report, a survey on the suicide rate by type of agriculture in agricultural areas in Japan showed that the suicide rate was higher in areas with high dairy and livestock output than in areas with low output.
The second report presented the results of a study comparing urban and rural suicide rates in Sweden. It was pointed out that especially in rural areas, the suicide rate of male immigrants tends to be high. Kanamori showed various possibilities of social determinants behind such high suicide rates in rural areas, and presented future research prospects.
In the following discussion, researchers from various standpoints including sociology and psychology pointed out the difficulty of identifying the cause of suicide. At the same time, there was active discussion on the significance of investigating social trends using big data rather than personal factors.
In the discussion, the following points were actively discussed: the diversity of Buddhist doctrines in comparison with Buddhism in Japan and other regions, relationships between individuals and society in Buddhist philosophy and its connection to societies impacted by COVID-19, and the relationship between individuals and groups in Japan.
In the discussion, the following topics involving social background issues were actively discussed: differences in the mode of laughing between cultural areas such as the West, Africa and Japan; the difference in cultural backgrounds such as settlement and migration types urban and rural areas, and the presence of natural disasters or lack thereof; and the differences arising from religion.
In the discussion that followed, the issues raised included: various cases of traumatized patients and the progress of their psychotherapy; the collectivity of limit experience; the concept of death as the ultimate limit and the related cultural differences in how death is understood; and the terminological distinction between limit and boundary.
The past four themes generally intended to capture kokoro within the framework of the humanities and social sciences. On the other hand, this symposium reexamined kokoro in the progress of natural science and technology. Three researchers, who have contributed to the understanding and development of artificial intelligence or deep learning, compared artificial intelligence with human minds and attempted to examine the relationship between human beings and technology in the future, from varying perspectives.
According to Prof. Nishigaki, living things are unpredictable and autonomous because they have a self-creating system that creates a world of meaning by themselves. On the other hand, the autonomy that AI robots appear to have acquired is only a pseudo-result of their complexity.
He suggested that AI robots, unlike human beings who have biological autonomy, cannot be responsible for their own decisions. He gave three examples in support of his argument: autonomous driving, a surveillance-screening society, and the creation of artistic work by AI. Based on these examples, he expressed his view that when applying artificial intelligence to the actual world, it is necessary to recognize its limitations and risks, and to consider and utilize its future potential.
In the lecture, he first explained the mechanism of deep learning, an inductive artificial intelligence that learns large amounts of data, as opposed to conventional deductive artificial intelligence. He also showed examples of deep learning robots, such as robots that can fold towels, plate salads and measure liquids, etc. What makes these robots unique is that through deep learning of vast amounts of data, they can cope with situations that they have not actually learned. However, Prof. Ogata pointed out that deep learning is a black box in which the mechanisms enabling these functions can be understood only retrospectively. He also expressed the view that in future development, it is necessary to utilize deep learning with an understanding that it is a technology which contains unpredictability.
In the discussion, opinions were actively exchanged on the relationship between social constraints and autonomy in the process of moral development, the difference between human beings and artificial intelligence, and the changes in labour brought about by the development of artificial intelligence.
He first described the technology of deep learning, an inductive artificial intelligence that has made remarkable progress in recent years, as opposed to traditional deductive artificial intelligence. After introducing several examples of robots using this deep learning technology, it was shown that the central issue of robot research, as mentioned above, is how to constructively understand and reproduce the mechanisms in which cognitive processes appear in physical behaviour. As an example, the results of an experiment that examined the physical behaviour of robots based on the comparison of two cognitive processes, top-down and bottom-up, were reported.
During the discussion, technical questions were posed about the robot technology and deep learning that Prof. Ogata introduced. Furthermore, opinions on how to motivate robots, self-preservation, and the possibility of using robots to study the characteristics of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) were actively exchanged.
During the discussion that followed, the speaker and the audience debated the definition of AI, questioning the possibility of its revision, and the distinction between AI and human knowledge. They also discussed the need for human-likeness in developing AI.
During the discussion that followed, the participants engaged in an extensive discussion regarding the varying characteristics of brain activity, including that of artists, children, and the patients with mental illnesses.
On this occasion we received support from the Inamori Foundation and started the Kyoto Kokoro Initiative. For the launch of this initiative, on April 14, 2015 a signing ceremony and a press conference were held in the guest reception room of Kyoto University Clock Tower Centennial Hall.
At the signing ceremony, Sakiko Yoshikawa (Director, Kokoro Research Center) explained the purpose of the Kyoto Kokoro Initiative, Juichi Yamagiwa (President, Kyoto University) and Kazuo Inamori (President, the Inamori Foundation) gave addresses, and a written agreement on donations was signed. During a question and answer session with journalists, Professor Toshio Kawai answered questions from journalists about the specific plans for this initiative. The events of the day were reported on the news of local television station KBS Kyoto, and were also covered by various media outlets such as Mainichi Newspaper, Kyoto Shimbun, and Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun.