Another Sci-Fi to reality...

[Slappie 9]

Or is it?

In Isaac Asimov's Robot Series he wrote about robots that will live among us and be helpful and subservient. The unique feature of Asimov's robots are the Three Laws of Robotics, hardwired in the robots' positronic brains, which all robots in his fiction must obey, and which ensure that robots don't turn against their creators.


When I stumbled across this news story this morning all I could think about was the Robot Series when I was reading it. Then they even mentioned it!!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2230715,00.html?feed=rss

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Professor Ronald Arkin, a roboticist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. “Are we, for example, going to give robots the ability to execute lethal force, or any force, like crowd control?” The forthcoming code is a sign of reality finally catching up with science fiction. Ethical problems involving machines were predicted in the 1950s by the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov whose book I, Robot was recently turned into a Hollywood film. The Terminator and Robocop series of films also portrayed mechanical law enforcers running amok.

Very compelling questions have been raised in recent years by Science Fiction writers concerning robots and what the future may hold..

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“I would hope they would always be subordinate,” said Brian Aldiss, the science fiction writer. “But one will no doubt come to rely on them deeply.” Aldiss’s short story Supertoys Last All Summer Long was the basis for the Steven Spielberg film AI, which addressed the subject of whether androids that have become as intelligent as humans should be denied equal rights.

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

[darnknit 0]

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The unique feature of Asimov's robots are the Three Laws of Robotics,

there's actually four. somewhere in the Foundation series is the zero law of robotics. a robot may not allow harm to come to humankind. it actually creates a loophole for the first law.

pulling is cool. keep it in the skin

[Slappie 9]

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The unique feature of Asimov's robots are the Three Laws of Robotics,

there's actually four. somewhere in the Foundation series is the zero law of robotics. a robot may not allow harm to come to humankind. it actually creates a loophole for the first law.

I wasn't bringing up the laws for a debate, it was only as a basis of revelation to what the actual news story is about. Thanks for bringing that up. Though it really needs to be in another thread.

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

[Slappie 9]

Ya know I love this site.. but if it's not about fucking, sucking, boobies, beer or why is my heart broken you cannot have a semi intelligent conversation.

I guess I waste bandwidth around here trying to stir up some free thinking debates.


... *stalks off frustrated with the lot of ya..

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

[jumper03 0]

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The unique feature of Asimov's robots are the Three Laws of Robotics,

there's actually four. somewhere in the Foundation series is the zero law of robotics. a robot may not allow harm to come to humankind. it actually creates a loophole for the first law.

I wasn't bringing up the laws for a debate, it was only as a basis of revelation to what the actual news story is about. Thanks for bringing that up. Though it really needs to be in another thread.

whats with all the smackdown lately slappie????

Scars remind us that the past is real

[Slappie 9]

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The unique feature of Asimov's robots are the Three Laws of Robotics,

there's actually four. somewhere in the Foundation series is the zero law of robotics. a robot may not allow harm to come to humankind. it actually creates a loophole for the first law.

I wasn't bringing up the laws for a debate, it was only as a basis of revelation to what the actual news story is about. Thanks for bringing that up. Though it really needs to be in another thread.

whats with all the smackdown lately slappie????

Read above... I really think I'm getting frustrated with the mass of newbie who have no realization as to the power and the information "Talkback" used to have. The debates and intelligent conversations & banter we used to have. Along with the "boobies & beer"

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

[wmw999 2,584]

A lot of those folks went over to SC where they wrangle endlessly.

A lot of thought went into Asimov's series; the power of a single smart person thinking things through is evident there. It hangs together in a way that a group effort might not. Of course, a group effort will cover things that didn't occur to an individual.

Look at the computer languages that were really built by individuals, and those that were built by committees and academic programs.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[jumper03 0]

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Read above... I really think I'm getting frustrated with the mass of newbie who have no realization as to the power and the information "Talkback" used to have. The debates and intelligent conversations & banter we used to have. Along with the "boobies & beer"

never....EVER...in my life would I expect to hear 'intelligent converstation' come from the fluff master.....

it must be cold in hell.

Scars remind us that the past is real

[Slappie 9]

Good points Wendy.

I'm curious about the moral questions that this issue birngs up. Like sex bots? Is it masturbation? Will they become sentient beings and be enslaved to brothels to serv as sex machines. Will it be rape? What is a robot has rights?

What about the 6 billion people in the world and counting. We already have a shit load of people in this world starving and in need of care. Sure, many western style economies and politicians are whining about aging working populations, but expectations among some researchers is widespread that "at the very least" average age will increase by decades this century. Some claim this century science will crack the code of immortality and many reading this will get to live centuries.

Governments are universally clueless. They could see our current shit with Peak Oil coming since the 1970s and they did nothing. Governments are doing nothing, period, ever. They won't take action, in any direction, when it comes to robotics, robot citizinship status, A.I., genetically modified children, nanofactories, plus a thousand other developments we are gonna see real soon. Governments will be playing catchup forever.

Worse even: some governments will decide A and others B. For example: some robots will be granted citizinship status (for instance: in sweden) whereas in other nations they will be regarded as copyrighted property, to be disposed of without impunity. How can international law keep up with those expectations? Can you imagine underground railroads for robot refugees? Can you imagine people hacking robots to load sentience, selfawareness or sapience in their minds, making them creatures with "a soul"?

Politicians will be in a world of hurt and confusion. They will be catering to lobby groups. They will be conducting endless studies. What else is new?

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

[Slappie 9]

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never....EVER...in my life would I expect to hear 'intelligent converstation' come from the fluff master.....

it must be cold in hell.

I got Brains to install a 20 ton chill tower.

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

[Programmer 0]

If a sex bot's purpose is to have sex, then how could working in a brothel be "enslavement"? That's like saying that a dropzone enslaves a skydiver.

[LouDiamond 1]

Very good points and in keeping this in perspective but with a skydiving angle, how would robots like the ones portrayed in I,Robot impact the skydiving community?

Imagine a DZ where the majority of the work was done by robots. Everything from manifest, maintenance, tram drivers, snack bar workers, to the aircraft pilots themselves. Imagine a robotic tandem master and camera man. The 3 laws would insure that nothing happened to the human being. The cameraman and tandem master would never get tired. Hell, the camera man wouldn't even need a camera as his eyes would be recording the freefall in stereo vision and recording it to its positronic brain. By the time the customer landed the robotic cameraman could have the video mixed and processed internally and hand the final footage to the customer immediately. Would being the owner of the DZ that utilized robots in this manner make them employers or simple businessmen using their company equipment to accomplish the job?

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[Slappie 9]

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If a sex bot's purpose is to have sex, then how could working in a brothel be "enslavement"? That's like saying that a dropzone enslaves a skydiver.

What if the "sex bot" becomes sentient and self-aware and decides it doesn't like having overweight sweaty men slobber all over it. It doesn't have rights like the humans, so would it be enslavement?

Another thing that what concerns me -- no matter what kind of rules or safeguards they put into these things there is going to be abuse. Some sick bastard out there will find a way to reprogram the robot to commit crimes for him or her. Can you imagine Osama Bin Laden sending a robot terrorist over here? Even everyday criminals could do it - and how would you be able to tell between a legit "robot servent" going to the store and one armed with a gun about to rob the bank?

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

[Slappie 9]

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Would being the owner of the DZ that utilized robots in this manner make them employers or simple businessmen using their company equipment to accomplish the job?

Think of all the starving addicts who would be out of summer jobs and jump money. No more packing for spare cash to jump. No more jumping camera for some new equipment. It would be one DZO and a couple robot techs keeping the DZ open and running.

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

[LouDiamond 1]

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What if the "sex bot" becomes sentient and self-aware and decides it doesn't like having overweight sweaty men slobber all over it. It doesn't have rights like the humans, so would it be enslavement?

Well if my printer all of a sudden became sentient and decided it didn't like that it was a printer and that it didn't want to print anymore I'd have to apply the BFH to it as it is still a piece of equipment no matter how "human like" it may appear.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[Slappie 9]

HAHAHAHA

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

[jumper03 0]

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Can you imagine Osama Bin Laden sending a robot terrorist over here?

wouldn't that violate the robotic laws?

Scars remind us that the past is real

[billvon 3,110]

The ability for any such machine to exhibit self-awareness is still years away, so any such moral questions will probably not trouble us anytime soon. Robots (which covers a wide range of mobile technology) will act under control of humans, or within very narrow programmed parameters.

For example, vehicles can now drive themselves from point A to point B without any human intervention. (Google DARPA Challenge.) Within the confines of a road (or a trail in the desert) a computer can make basic driving decisions without involving more intricate decisions (like the morality of hitting someone.)

Similarly, a bomb defusing robot can make some decisions (like how to climb stairs) on its own, but will rely on human operators for decisions on how to defuse the bomb or whether to try at all.

The premise of the Three Laws is that robots are smart enough to recognize a human from a statue, that they can accurately assess what might present danger to them, what might present danger to the robot itself etc and we are nowhere near that level of technology now. For the near future, the Three Laws issue will be diluted to things like "how to not run over people."

Edited to add - the biggest problem we will likely see in the near future is people projecting human qualities onto robots that exhibit complex behavior. That's even a problem now with people and robot toys - they project far more humanity onto the things than they show. Heck, people do that to a greater extent than with pets - and even a pet rat has a much more intricate set of behaviors than the most complex robot.

[micro 0]

nice sig line, steve

I miss Lee.
And JP.
And Chris. And...

[Slappie 9]

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For example, vehicles can now drive themselves from point A to point B without any human intervention. (Google DARPA Challenge.)

Pretty neat stuff. Next year they're going to use roads with other people on them. "Let the carnage begin"

You say this is many years off. I'll agree.. but 2030 isn't that far off. With the way technology has compounded it's growth and expansion with ever increasing speed. We'll be there faster then some think.

So Bill, when will we have hover-cars? Weren't they supposed to be a reality back in the 1980s? Granted we would have made many more strides in automotive advancement if it wasn't so damn easy for the car makers to make a gazillion % profit off the technology from the 30's. Why invest in new fuels and modes of transportation when the one we've got works fine.

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

[billvon 3,110]

>So Bill, when will we have hover-cars?

Never. Why would anyone want em? A car that will slide off the road if you're not paying a lot of attention, and can't be driven in strong winds?

>Why invest in new fuels and modes of transportation when the one we've got works fine.

Exactly. Which is one good result of high gas prices - people will actually start looking at alternatives.