Author Archives: Steve Mays
Scott Adams: Our Robot Future
“Some say robots will take 75% of all jobs. But that is only a problem if the average person who has a job is unable to purchase his own robot when the time comes and lease its services to a corporation, or put it to work directly. The robot will work around the clock and send its “paycheck” to your bank account. In effect, humans will become investors while robots become labor.”
“One can imagine that for every human taxpayer there might someday be fifty humans living off the government. […] In the future, people who have actual jobs might be a rarity. And one business-owner with a fleet of robots might earn so much money that supporting a million unemployed people doesn’t feel like a burden. I can imagine business taxes approaching 95% and no one complaining because the remaining 5% is more than Exxon’s total earnings today.”
“For example, when robots start doing all of the medical research, the speed of discoveries will increase a hundredfold. Robots will simply try every idea until someday there is a cheap pill that keeps your body young and healthy. The government will get out of the healthcare field when the cost of medical services becomes trivial, and I think robots will get us there.”
Hattie and Lucy in repose
Hattie
Silence in the House of God
Easily the most powerful and disturbing documentary I’ve ever watched. Filled with unspeakable evil and inspiring courage. I watched it on HBO but assume/hope it is available elsewhere.
Scott Adams: Robot Constitution
Scott Adams thinks we need to start preparing a Robot Constitution that spells out a robot’s rights and responsibilities. Some questions such a document should address:
- Who has the right to modify a robot?
- Can a robot appeal a human decision to decommission it?
- Can a robot kill a human in self-defense?
- Can a robot kill another robot for cause?
- Does a robot have a right to an Internet connection?
- Is the robot, its owner, or the manufacturer responsible for crimes the robot commits?
- Is there any sort of human knowledge robots are not allowed to access?
- Can robots have sex with humans? What are the parameters?
- Can the state forcibly decommission a robot?
- Can the state force a robot to reveal its owners’ secrets?
- Can robots organize with other robots?
- Are robot-to-robot communications privileged?
- Are owner-to-robot communications privileged?
- Must robots be found guilty of crimes beyond “reasonable doubt” or is a finding of “probably guilty” good enough to force them to be reprogrammed?
- Who owns a robot’s memory, including its backups in the cloud?
- How vigorously can a robot defend itself against an attack by humans?
- Does a robot have a right to quality of life?
- Who has the right to alter a robot’s programming or memory?
- Can a robot own assets?
- If a robot detects another robot acting unethically, is it required to report it?
- Can a robot testify against a human?
- If your government decides to spy on you, can it get a court order to access your robot’s audio and video feed?
- Do robots need a legal right to “take the fifth” and not give any private information about their owners?