It's funny. Most Asian people are like "OMG I want a robot!" and most Americans are like, "Cylons... OMG scary robots!" I get the feeling that Europe and the Americas are gonna have much more trouble with robots, their rights, their uses, etc. than the Asians ever will.
I almost hope we never manage to create true AI, because it's inevitable that they will get treated like shit. Also, gratuitous Johnny Five shot:
Well, giant robots have repeatedly saved Tokyo from various monster attacks. I rather think that Asians would be less tolerant of giant fire-breathing lizards than Americans.
The Koreans are worried about robot abuse? This is a country that sends police after teen runaways...to bring the girls back to their pimps, often at their pasrents' behest. Yeah, I know all the inside scoop about the crime scene in that place. You'd think I'm making the shit up, but trust me, things goes on underneath most Americans' noses that would amaze you.
Machines don't have rights. I will not ask a nail if I can pretty please hammer it into a fucking wall. People need to stop being goddamned anthropomorphizing fucking lunatics already.
I don't think it necessary for robots to be given rights. A robot is a piece of machinery, whether I buy one to guard the nursing home I put my parents in so they don't escape, or whether I buy one that looks like Tera Patrick so I can fuck it. If I want to destroy or abuse a piece of property I personally paid money for, that's my affair. Not yours, not another person's, and definitely not government's.
Well of course the question only comes up when they approach a high level of "humanity" in terms of the way they act, "think", and make real people feel. Just like pets. It's a fuckin' dog, in Korea they eat the confucian meat and most people don't care. Over here, some folks think eating a dog ought to be punishable by death. And it's pretty easy to see robots being a lot more intelligent and involved with people than a dog. This debate will all be judged by how warm and fuzzy the robots make people feel. Anyway, my stance is that they don't get any rights. But I feel the same way about dogs. I think you've gotta be fucked up to abuse an animal, and I don't understand why people do it. However, I think its pretty stupid how someone who gets into money troubles and lets their pet get malnourished can get into legal trouble, but its no problem to have 100s of cows get their brains smashed out with a sledgehammer at a slaughterhouse. Like I said above, our laws about animal rights all come down to how "warm and fuzzy" they make people feel. The same will apply to robots.
^ The difference being, if the robot gets smashed up, all I would need to do is take it to the repair shop, reload it's A.I. and the robot will be as good as new, or pretty close. An animal has a personality, a beating heart, and if it gets run over, you can't just "fix" it. Even if you get another of the same animal, it won't be the same as the first.
If something like that growled at me, I'd let it vote if it wanted to... It's an interesting question, though - would you give a genetically engineered human rights? Said person would still be manufactured, just made of biological materials instead of electronics.
There needs to be clarification here I think. Robots = machinery, not deserving of any more rights than a car or drill. True Artificial Intelligence (assuming we ever create it) = Most definitely deserving of rights.
The moment one of those things becomes self-aware, we can't be harming it for no reason. However, I'll be damned if I ever apologize to my vacuum cleaner for using it for at least a half hour every weekend. Overworked? It hardly thinks so.
Human = has rights, no matter how that human came to be. I reckon that would go for the genetically altered or enhanced, even clones. Machines = not inherently human, i.e. not part of the club, so tough doody for them.
It's possible we will never reach the point, but with the way technology is progressing it seems at least possible that we could one day end up in a situation where the line is hard to draw. What about a person who is half biological brain, half cybernetic implants? What about if an artificial intelligence is created where it is modelled exactly after the human brain, just using artificial neurons instead of biological ones?
Oh, fuck. I think we just found Al Gore's next movie. Of course, next to him, the robots look pretty human...
Of course you can, you just have to replicate the same processes that makes humans care. Of course that might require so much computing power and progamming that it might take us tens of thousands of years to replicate..... Still faster than leaving it to evolution though
Easier stated than implemented. Case in point, define "harm". Besides, there's no way in hell I'm giving my sex robot any rights!
Indeed and look at the difference in sophistication between man and the machines we've made. Much easier to have a child than create a sentient computer.
Quite difficult an undertaking, one that may not be worthwhile considering our biology does it naturally. Despite infinite time there still is no guarantee we could do it. Even if we could this artificial life would merely be a second rate imitation of biological life. This mechanical evolution you speak of only reaffirms the ideal design is biological.
Don't think we need to worry about that while we are still struggling to give computers the 'thinking' capacity of a retarded ant.
