Poll: MORAL CHOICE TIME... WOOHOO!

[supagama]

Backup the robot's data and memory.
Send out said robot.
When the robot rusts, send someone out to recover it.
Once we reach Earth, rebuild robot and upload data.

Everybody wins!

who do you send out to recover it? they will be killed. and what do you reboot the data on?

 

[LightOfDarkness]

When robots get up to the level of sentience, will you still view them as slaves?

But robots, right now, are most useful at doing preprogrammed actions.
Yes, there may be robots that can have a quite intelligent conversation with you, but they cost a whole lot of money for the AI alone.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I don't care about robots and if I'm on this mission my bet is I'm good enough at navigating to get back.

Bye bye R2-D2. You died for the glory of Earth!

 

[Crystalite]

If the robot is actually self aware and intelligent, its impossible to say that it is less alive than a human. If you could build a working human (not a clone, I'm assuming you have god powers or something) from scratch, would that human be a machine or a living thing?

Life is actually very well defined by biology, it is not an ambivalent term. There is a list of categories a being must meet, in order to be considered alive, as can be found anywhere.

But that is beside my point. The scenario you depict is problematic, but the problem presented is in no way connected to the problem of subconcious racism.
I fail to see the connection between the question of sentient machines and the sentience of beeings that are our own species, i.e. racial minorities.
I am the same animal if my skin is black or white, I am not the same if I am organic or not!

 

[CitySquirrel]

but it is a test

Is there a right or wrong answer to this test?

no.

Then what is it testing, exactly?

 

[kokirisoldier]

WHAT! I just voted and it said i was the only one who said "we all go out". What the crap is that! its a team effort for crying out loud! Plus we can knock the hot girl/guy out and steal is/her air supply! Hot girls/guys are a dime a dozen!

 

[supagama]

but it is a test

Is there a right or wrong answer to this test?

no.

Then what is it testing, exactly?

read my message to you, and its testing a group(the esacpist)'s beliefs in what is morally right

 

[El Dingo]

Where's the moral choice in this? Send the non-living machine that is designed to do jobs not fit for humans or sacrifice someone elses life needlessly? It's like having a potential bomb in front of the courthouse and telling the cops "Okay, you can disarm this bomb yourself, or send the robot."

This was really designed to bring out the inner racist in humans.

People view robots as slaves or machines.(In fact, that is what robot means!) Not as actual beings. Kind of like how people viewed humans with black colored skin hundreds of years ago.

I would pick the robot because that minimizes room for error. But for the sake of this moral discussion, let's say that there is a 0% chance of failure(i.e. dropping or losing the foliage and being incapable of delivering it before you die). I would definitely go out myself because they all have lives to live.

Only difference is, robots AREN'T a race, or a species, or anything. They ARE machines. And they are machines created by us to perform specific tasks to help preserve and better our lives. If I get in an accident and my airbag deploys, saving my life, I'm not going to cry because I just killed my airbag. It was a machine that did it's job. It has no sentient thought, no capability for emotion, and for those religious/spiritual, no soul, just clockwork.

 

[Crystalite]

We should learn from our past. People actually didn't view black people as actual people. They were seen as animals that were not on the same level as people with white colored skin.

When robots get up to the level of sentience, will you still view them as slaves?

Same here. I do not know if I would see them as slaves. That is beside the point, because whatever they would be, they would never be human.
Yes, I would always value a human over a non-human, call me a speciesist, or whatever.
That people saw black people as animals or whatever was wrong on every level, because it is actually, factually wrong! The human species is indeed one species with many races, that are equal, as has often been proven.
Robots are not equal, and never will be.
And by the way, animals (non-human animals) are different from us as well, and we have no qualms enslaving them. (and killing them for food ;-))

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Backup the robot's data and memory.
Send out said robot.
Once we reach Earth, rebuild robot and upload data.

and what do you reboot the data on?

I'm going out on a limb here but I do think that if this is taking place in SPAAAAAAAACE, we have a computer on the ship. Probably with a lot of harddrive space seeing as we're on a mission and we need the space to record data.

 

[supagama]

Backup the robot's data and memory.
Send out said robot.
Once we reach Earth, rebuild robot and upload data.

and what do you reboot the data on?

I'm going out on a limb here but I do think that if this is taking place in SPAAAAAAAACE, we have a computer on the ship. Probably with a lot of harddrive space seeing as we're on a mission and we need the space to record data.

the hard drive is the robot...

 

[supagama]

but it is a test

Is there a right or wrong answer to this test?

no.

Then what is it testing, exactly?

It is testing humanity's views on all of the following. See if there was a bias against any of the above people. And there was a bias against robots because they are inorganic. And people don't view inorganic life as natural. Much like how people today view gay people as ''unnatural.'' So they have to die first.

couldnt have said it better myself

 

[GBlair88]

Robot. Robots can be repaired or possibly have their 'brain' transferred to a new unit once you get back to earth. Intelligent or not it was built to serve man and although it would be damaged by the atmosphere it wouldn't die as such. As long as the other crew members have enough understanding of the navigational systems to return to Earth the robot has no real purpose.

 

[Dead_Man]

Um, I'm just wondering this: If the air will kill before the person/robot/alien can make it back to the ship, whats the point of sending anyone out there? They die and the foliage is still out there.

I KNEW HE SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN THOSE HANDICAPPED PLATES! WE COULDA PARKED CLOSER TO THE FOLIAGE!