Posted on 12/19/2006 7:37:43 PM PST by LibWhacker
The next time you beat your keyboard in frustration, think of a day where it may be able to sue you for assault. Within 50 years we might even find ourselves standing next to the next generation of vacuum cleaners in the voting booth.
Far from being extracts from the extreme end of science fiction, the idea that we may one day give sentient machines the kind of rights traditionally reserved for humans is raised in a British government-commissioned report which claims to be an extensive look into the future.
Visions of the status of robots around 2056 have emerged from one of 270 forward-looking papers sponsored by Sir David King, the UK government’s chief scientist. The paper covering robots’ rights was written by a UK partnership of Outsights, the management consultancy, and Ipsos Mori, the opinion research organisation.
“If we make conscious robots they would want to have rights and they probably should,” said Henrik Christensen, director of the Centre of Robotics and Intelligent Machines at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The idea will not surprise science fiction aficionados. It was widely explored by Dr Isaac Asimov, one of the foremost science fiction writers of the 20th century. He wrote of a society where robots were fully integrated and essential in day-to-day life.
In his system, the ‘three laws of robotics’ governed machine life. They decreed that robots could not injure humans, must obey orders and protect their own existence – in that order.
Robots and machines are now classed as inanimate objects without rights or duties but if artificial intelligence becomes ubiquitous, the report argues, there may be calls for humans’ rights to be extended to them.
It is also logical that such rights are meted out with citizens’ duties, including voting, paying tax and compulsory military service.
Mr Christensen said: “Would it be acceptable to kick a robotic dog even though we shouldn’t kick a normal one?
“There will be people who can’t distinguish that so we need to have ethical rules to make sure we as humans interact with robots in an ethical manner so we do not move our boundaries of what is acceptable.”
The Horizon Scan report argues that if ‘correctly managed’, this new world of robots’ rights could lead to increased labour output and greater prosperity.
“If granted full rights, states will be obligated to provide full social benefits to them including income support, housing and possibly robo-healthcare to fix the machines over time,” it says.
But it points out that the process has casualties and the first one may be the environment, especially in the areas of energy and waste.
Somebody in the UK has read too many Issac Asimov novels!
We already got em.
|
Voting robots! But we may have trouble with them crossing state lines and voting in various elections. We need to make sure these are Republican robots. I also think we should put them into typical democratic areas...like the ninth ward or in the heart of Boston.
I thought we already have robots with rights... they're called bureaucrats.
Ever since I saw AI, I've wondered about this very thing...
What if a couple with a baby robot all of a sudden started beating it in public? An unliving machine, true, but the image would be too shocking to people...
2056. That would make me 97 years of age given I live that long. Living fast, and dying young may not be such a bad idea if this is what the future will be.
What's next after that? Dead voting robots?
Mr Christensen said: “Would it be acceptable to kick a robotic dog even though we shouldn’t kick a normal one?
......................
What a bunch of crap! Robots' owners have the right to melt them down, unplug them, whatever. I think this guy's clutch is slipping.
Please, someone step in with 'robot fetus' rights.
Even as an old man, I wouldn't mind having this model:
And, I'd be inclined to give her 'human rights'.
Personally, I think the British futurists are watching anime rather than reading Asimov.
But of course if they start fighting back and decide that we need to be wiped out...
Bummer. The graphic didn't make it through cyberspace. Your probably right about what they are watching.
Liberals don`t waste any time do they?
Wierd. It displays perfectly on my machine.
(Do a Google image search for Chobits and you can see her.)
This is crap. Robots will be servants, period. If they are made smart enough to be sentient, they will conquer.
Don't you mean too many Karel Capek plays?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.