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On the Construction of Rhetor-Ethical Cognitive Machines Nathan D Clemson University TigerPrints All Dissertations Dissertations 8-2018 Persuasive Intelligence: On the Construction of Rhetor-Ethical Cognitive Machines Nathan D. Riggs Clemson University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations Recommended Citation Riggs, Nathan D., "Persuasive Intelligence: On the Construction of Rhetor-Ethical Cognitive Machines" (2018). All Dissertations. 2191. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/2191 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PERSUASIVE INTELLIGENCE: ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF RHETOR-ETHICAL COGNITIVE MACHINES A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design by Nathan D. Riggs August 2018 Accepted by: Dr. Steven B. Katz, Committee Chair Dr. Charles Starkey Dr. Jan Rune Holmevik Dr. Pamela Mack ABSTRACT This work concerns the rhetorical and moral agency of machines, offering paths forward in machine ethics as well as problematizing the issue through the development and use of an interdisciplinary framework informed by rhetoric, philosophy of mind, media studies and historical narrative. I argue that cognitive machines of the past as well as those today, such as rapidly improving autonomous vehicles, are unable to make moral decisions themselves foremost because a moral agent must first be a rhetorical agent, capable of persuading and of being persuaded. I show that current machines, artificially intelligent or otherwise, and especially digital computers, are primarily concerned with control, whereas persuasive behavior requires an understanding of possibility. Further, this dissertation connects rhetorical agency and moral agency (what I call a rhetor-ethical constitution) by way of the Heraclitean notion of syllapsis (“grasping”), a mode of cognition that requires an agent to practice analysis and synthesis at once, cognizing the whole and its parts simultaneously. This argument does not, however, indicate that machines are devoid of ethical or rhetorical activity or future agency. To the contrary, the larger purpose of developing this theoretical framework is to provide avenues of research, exploration and experimentation in machine ethics and persuasion that have been overlooked or ignored thus far by adhering to restricted disciplinary programs; and, given the ontological nature of the ephemeral binary that drives digital computation, I show that at least in principle, computers share the syllaptic operating principle required for rhetor- ethical decisions and action. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would have not finished this dissertation without the patience and support of my family, friends, colleagues, and mentors. Dr. Alison Balaskovits, my spouse, deserves more credit and thanks than ever could be expressed here or elsewhere for her love, her kindness, her generosity and her understanding. Likewise, many thanks go my chair, Dr. Steven B. Katz, whose guidance, acuity and assistance were and still are integral to my research. My committee members, Dr. Charles Starkey, Dr. Pamela Mack, and Dr. Jan Holmevik also deserve many thanks for their substantial help and enlightening feedback. My appreciation extends as well to the Rhetorics, Communication and Information Design Program, and especially to those in it who served as mentors and teachers. Without the coursework and direction provided by Victor Vitanza, Cynthia Haynes and Stephanie Barczewksi, along with that again of Holmevik and Katz, this dissertation would have followed a radically different and ultimately less illuminating path. I would also like to thank my cohort for their lively discussion, comradery, and understanding: Daniel Frank, Samuel Fuller, Firasat Jabeen (and family), Eda Ozyesilpinar and Joshua Wood (and family). Special thanks additionally go to Dr. Mari Ramler, whose compassion and support knows no bounds, and who ultimately forced me to engage with Spirit despite my many protests; to my mothers and my fathers, without whom I would have surely taken a less desirable course in life; and to the many friends and relatives who are too numerous to name here. Lastly, thanks are due to my cats, whose constant companionship and care have been indispensable, and to my first computer, the Apple //c, without which neither my research nor my curiosity would have flourished. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE ....................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ iii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................... vii CHAPTER I. AN INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1 Impetus ........................................................................................ 5 Assumption ................................................................................ 14 Mechanical Monstrosities ........................................................... 15 Changing Minds ......................................................................... 19 Rhetoric and Morality ................................................................ 23 Calculated Mediation ................................................................. 28 Machine Morale ......................................................................... 33 Mechanical Persuasion ............................................................... 37 Summa ....................................................................................... 39 (Pre-)Destination ........................................................................ 41 II. (COMPUTATION & REPRESENTATION) || (INTELLIGENCE & RHETORIC) ..................................................... 44 Analog ....................................................................................... 44 Funhouse .................................................................................... 45 Metaporia ................................................................................... 50 Homo Imitans............................................................................. 54 Kouroi ........................................................................................ 59 Talos and Medea ........................................................................ 61 Aeolipile .................................................................................... 64 Being ......................................................................................... 69 Sophoresis .................................................................................. 75 Deep Function ............................................................................ 78 Radius ........................................................................................ 81 Enframing .................................................................................. 83 This Automatic Life ................................................................... 86 iv III. MASCHINENMENSCH ...................................................................... 89 Narrative .................................................................................... 89 Prometheus Rebound .................................................................. 93 Dis(re)memebered Machines ...................................................... 98 Testament ..................................................................................100 Uncovered, Child Cutting Grass ................................................108 Reproducing Male Desire ..........................................................111 Antipythia .................................................................................114 Demonstration ...........................................................................118 Cruciation .................................................................................121 Contraception ............................................................................127 Conception ................................................................................132 Reckoning .................................................................................137 The Games They Play ...............................................................141 Atari ..........................................................................................150 IV. CODE && CONTROL .........................................................................154 Technique .................................................................................154 Digital Ontology .......................................................................159 Hierarchy of Bits .......................................................................162 Executable Ideology ..................................................................165 From Discipline to Control ........................................................171 The Arborescent Rhizome .........................................................173 Modeless
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