WARNING: NSFB (Not Safe For Bots)
The images embedded in this article may cause your 'puter thingy to malfunction. I'm just sayin... |
 | I wuz purdy worried. With Isaac gone, who speaks for the 'bots, eh? |
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.| So, um, are you saying that politics is gonna suck even more? Somebody didn't see Blade Runner, methinks. |
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.| Somebody either does not have enuff to do -- or needs a Nurse Ratchet enema, applied with extreme prejudice. |
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.| If we make conscious robots, something tells me they'll go for pr0n in a big way. WD-40 prices will shoot through the roof thingy and the 'Net will slow to a crawl, lol. |
 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.| Lol. They'll sue the pants off of anyone who tries to enforce such anti-bot drivel. |
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 humansÂ’ rights to be extended to them.
It is also logical that such rights are meted out with citizensÂ’ 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.”| A "normal" one? Racist bastard! |
 The Horizon Scan report argues that if ‘correctly managed’, this new world of robots’ rights could lead to increased labour output and greater prosperity.| And if you determine that they're actually, y'know, machines, they'll be even more productive: they won't vote Labour of DhimmiDonk. |
“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.| Lol. They're just creamin' their jeans (Jeans abuse!) to offer 'Bot Dole™, lol. |
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.| Lol. Recycling will certainly be eliminated. |
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