Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Roombas with Rights?

Drudge has posted this ridiculous article about robots someday having rights. Not gonna happen until somebody comes up with a better operating system than Windows. But, England is the country that granted traditional divorce rights to Muslim males, setting women's rights back over 1200 years. So, anything could happen with the Brits.

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.

Well that wouldn't be too bad, if we remember to program Isaac Asimov's Four Laws of Robotics into every robot.
  1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
  2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
  3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
  4. Vote Republican.

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