From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: ** X-Spam-Status: No, score=2.1 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_20,INVALID_MSGID, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,e178ac8b8225bcb9 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: Marin David Condic Subject: Re: Ethics & Isaac Asimov Date: 1999/01/20 Message-ID: <36A605FA.818C9328@pwfl.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 434858663 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: condicma@bogon.pwfl.com References: <36A56985.1B891566@interact.net.au> <36a57131.34731351@news.pacbell.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Organization: Pratt & Whitney Mime-Version: 1.0 Reply-To: diespammer@pwfl.com Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1999-01-20T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Talk about drifting off topic! ;-) Asimov's laws are, of course, based on the assumption that machines "think", have "identity" and can make moral decisions. This is, at best, wishful thinking. It's a machine. You can't bargain with it or reason with it. It doesn't feel pity or remorse... (place those lines if you can! ;-) You can lead a computer to data, but you can't make it think. And besides, who elected Asimov to be chief legislator of Robotic Law? And who's he going to get to enforce that Robotic Law if I decide to build robots willing to ignore the law and wage war against his pacifist robots? Game over, man! (Tongue firmly planted in cheek...) MDC Tom Moran wrote: > > If a thrown stone is allowed as a (particularly dumb) robot, then it > surely may violate the first law, and the laws of physics may cause it > to violate the human's *intent* in the second law (though we in > computers have lots of experience with the difference between > following a human's orders literally vs doing what he wanted). The > stone generally tries, to the best of its ability, not to violate the > second law. The same applies of course to other things (General > Patton's car caused his death). > As to software, I suppose a copy of Pagemaker used to make a > recruiting poster might eventually cause harm to a human, so, being > very generous about interpreting words like "cause", software also can > violate the first law. Same as above re the second law, and software > usually tries even less hard to obey the third law. > Perhaps Asimov's laws need a little work. ;) -- Marin David Condic Real Time & Embedded Systems, Propulsion Systems Analysis United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney, Large Military Engines M/S 731-95, P.O.B. 109600, West Palm Beach, FL, 33410-9600 Ph: 561.796.8997 Fx: 561.796.4669 ***To reply, remove "bogon" from the domain name.*** "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.