Here's an interesting BBC article about how scientists are now talking about robot ethics and their repercussions on human-robot interactions. Have we really reached that point yet when we could be sued for "inhumane" treatment of robots? Are we going to be seeing the surge of robot-rights movement in line with animal-rights movement? Not yet! I am sure but the real question is are we heading there faster than we can realize it? This article talks about moral, ethical questions that such an event will give rise to.
But, my question is not whether that will happen or not and if that happens what could be the result? My question is do we have a choice?
In my humble opinion, popular science fiction already determines what is going to happen and what is not. It points the direction in which scientific endeavour will advance in time and being popular ideas human innovation measures up to lead us there. The only elements of uncertainity I see in this is that of the idea getting unpopular through time, in which case science will change to the direction of a more popular idea (possibly another product of science fiction) or the amount of time it will take to reach there.
So, it doesn't surprise me that issues as those pointed out by the article are knocking our doors now. It will be with us even before we know it. Robots are here to stay!
Ever since they were made popular by Issac Asimov's novels the direction of science has been firmly oriented towards their invention and use. Indeed the last half century has seen immense progress in this direction. I am not an expert in this field but I do know from my engineering education that making robots walk was one of the biggest challenge in robotics. That was some 10 years ago and since then I have seen the bi-pedal robot from Honda named Asimo that not only walks with poise but also dances too.
And soon we are going to be having robots that can laugh at your jokes or cry at your insults. We better start learning robotiquettes !!!
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