Arnold
CibbuanoI, Robot
January 10th 2008 08:27
But! I, Robot was originally a collection of nine short stories by notable sci-fi author Isaac Asimov, one of the writers that put serious thought into aliens, robots and faraway planets.
You'd think it'd be about big robot wars, or a tap-dancing robot, but Asimov put forward some fundamental ideas about robots that have held to this day.
Foremost was his declaration of the Three Laws of Robotics:
" 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 to 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."
2. A robot must obey orders given to 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."
Asimov's stories weren't really about how cool robots were - instead they all focused on limitations between the relationship between humans and robots. A tricky, tenuous topic... through the book, as robots improve in ability, they quickly surpass the intelligence of man, proving to be a potential threat. Are the Three Laws enough? Do the Three Laws present greater dangers?
It's a terrific read, one that'll be tough to put down, containing humour and enough imagination to paint a realistic portrait of the future. At the same time, it has the potential to be quite heartbreaking... after all, robots are basically slaves to their creators.
Is that what we wanted? Humans certainly feel that we deserve freedom, no matter who or what created us.
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Comment by Henrah
Very smart. As artificial intelligence will be created by humans to mimick humans and to be human, they will inevitably feel the same.
Unless true artificial intelligence is only sought after to see if it can be done. I can only see robotics advancing for two reasons: firstly to aid and help us in areas we don't currently have machines operating in; and secondly, just because it can be done. The latter applies very much to advances in humanoid robots, like Honda's Asimo, although that has possible uses as a personal secretary, or more bluntly a slave.
If we are creating realistic humanoid machines to essentially be used as slaves, why bother with all the hassle of making them as human as possible when the disadvantages of doing so (slow walking pace, more expensive) can be overcome by simply a box on wheels with the same clever facial/voice recognition and speech capabilities? The box would be faster than the humanoid, it could carry more, and it would have the same interactivity, just a difference in our visual perception of it. There are bad connotations for humanoid slaves, and I don't like where it's going.
Comment by Cibbuano
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