Robot Rights?

[cmotherofpirl]

[url="http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59160"]http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59160[/url]

[Lena]

this kind of reminds me of "I, Robot" .... a movie that was actually better than I thought it would be.

on a random note, that reporter seriously look about 12 years old.

[scardella]

They have the right to dance the robot.

[CrossCuT]

[size=1]Depends on if they LOOK like humans.
That seems to be the only thing that matters these days.
[/size]

[prose]

If robots were given "rights" it would be because humans are designed to innately feel mercy for other living beings, and they would appear to be "living". It would be because of our own genetic design, and simply to make ourselves feel more at peace that we would give machines these "rights".

[goldenchild17]

I think the idea is dangerous and the author of the article is right in his distinction as to what would determine the "right" to such rights, the soul. If you remove the soul from the equation then this legitimatizes the possibility for any number of animals to such rights and in my opinion, lowers our respect for humanity.

[jeffpugh]

Trumpet playing robots? Lawl...

[HotRod]

well, C-3P0 and R2-D2 were both self aware

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Sacred Music Man' post='1434027' date='Dec 13 2007, 07:39 PM']Trumpet playing robots? Lawl...[/quote]
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1etIeZFm14"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1etIeZFm14[/url]

Equal rights for gadgets! But really I think Star Trek has explored this topic a lot. There is a dutch buffet an hour or two from here that has a whole band of polka playing automotons. I realize this robot is much more sophisticated internally, but the old music playing dummy thing has been done one too many times IMHO. I wonder how many millions were spent on that goofy thing?

[Laudate_Dominum]

Asimo is better anyway.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFgXEkzMq7A&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFgXEkzMq7A...feature=related[/url]

[XIX]

[quote name='CrossCuT' post='1433763' date='Dec 13 2007, 11:16 AM'][size=1]Depends on if they LOOK like humans.
That seems to be the only thing that matters these days.
[/size][/quote]
That is very very true. And somewhat disturbing.

[jeffpugh]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' post='1434233' date='Dec 14 2007, 06:03 AM'][url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1etIeZFm14"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1etIeZFm14[/url]

Equal rights for gadgets! But really I think Star Trek has explored this topic a lot. There is a dutch buffet an hour or two from here that has a whole band of polka playing automotons. I realize this robot is much more sophisticated internally, but the old music playing dummy thing has been done one too many times IMHO. I wonder how many millions were spent on that goofy thing?[/quote]


Some people have some discrepencies about the trumpet player, though I think it would work... I dunno if the robot can really swing though...

[kafka]

[cathoholic_anonymous]

[quote name='CrossCuT' post='1433763' date='Dec 13 2007, 04:16 PM'][size=1]Depends on if they LOOK like humans.
That seems to be the only thing that matters these days.
[/size][/quote]

Yes, especially when you consider the ways in which seriously disabled people are treated if they don't 'look' acceptably human. They face prejudice in so many situations and as unborn babies they are much more likely to be aborted than their 'normal' counterparts.

[quote]Certain severely brain-damaged human beings and newborns lack general self-awareness, but there is little doubt that they have rights[/quote]

That poses a dilemma for me. How are we defining self-awareness here? The definition seems to be based on how much a person can communicate about him- or herself to another person, an outsider - and how that communication tallies with the [i]outsider[/i]'s perception of the person. Again, disabled people are particularly vulnerable to this. I lose count of the number of times that I have had my behaviour, my emotions, and my very thoughts explained to me by teachers and health professionals who evidently thought that their perception of me [i]had[/i] to be the correct one because I'm disabled and they're not. If I tried to correct them, to put forward the real reasons, I was brushed off. I once had to sit and watch a woman writing a report on me that had not one grain of truth in it. She just wouldn't listen to me. I was the disabled child, so how could I possibly have the self-awareness necessary to make a meaningful contribution? Self-awareness was actually listed as one of the 'issues' that I was told I would have to 'work on'.

Perhaps this is why the rights for robots question has arisen. A robot is entirely what its creator makes of it. A robot has no real autonomy. It is easy to give rights to something that is exactly what you want it to be. It is less easy to accord those rights to a human being who challenges your expectations and has a mind of his or her own.