Will robots have to someday campaign for basic rights?

[Harlemura]

This is one of those ideas that popped into my head and I ended up putting way too much thought into.

Do you think that someday, most probably in the distant future, robots will be deserving of the same rights we have, having to fight the oppression against them?
At first I thought this was a silly idea (even though it was my own, but whatever), but then I thought how when black people were originally introduced as slaves, they were nothing more than that. Just "things" to serve other people, which is pretty much our idea of the futuristic robot.
With their growing intelligence, with little guys like Honda's Asimo already learning to run and contraptions able to solve Rubik's cubes , will humans and machines eventually be viewed as equals?

I know this is a very flawed idea with a lot of detail missed out, but I've got a feeling there's some discussion value here.

With that in mind, what's your opinion on this scruffy little thought?

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I feel I should point out in advance I know how bad all the stuff those slaves had to go through was, and how hard people fought for their rights. In no way do I mean to insult any of that with this thread.

 

[Icecoldcynic]

Did you just compare black people to robots? And no, why would a robot campaign for rights? Why would it need rights? They're machines, nothing more.

 

[L3m0n_L1m3]

Did you just compare black people to robots? And no, why would a robot campaign for rights? Why would it need rights? They're machines, nothing more.

It's your kind of attitude that will spark the machine revolution!

*ahem* I don't think it would ever happen, unless my blender suddenly becomes self aware and goes on strike.

 

[DividedUnity]

Did you just compare black people to robots?

This is so silly.

No robots won't campaign for rights. They are not alive and at at the present time they are not sentient beings. They are tools for our use. When you see a hammer campaigning for equal rights then you'll know if robots will.

 

[Marter]

As long as we don't give them too good of an A.I. we should be okay. Let's just hope that people don't push that barrier too far.

 

[Worgen]

every other group has had to, I dont see why robots should be special

 

[RJ Dalton]

I highly doubt that we will ever achieve electronic sentience. That kind of thing is just too freaking complicated to program.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

*clicks shotgun* Not if I have anything to say about it.

 

[Paksenarrion]

Depends on if they gain sentience, if they're programmed with Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics, and if they decide humanity can't take care of itself.

If all three conditions are met, then yes.

 

[milskidasith]

Robots aren't sentient, let alone sapient. They can't ask for any kinds of rights. At most you might be able to program an A.I. that says "I am a robot" but it wouldn't understand what that implies, so it's not even self aware (thus, no sentience).

Even further, it seems fairly impossible to build a robot that is actually as capable of thought as humans, so it's unlikely they would ever be smart enough, even in the far future, to claim equality.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

As long as they don't dream of electric sheep, we're fine me thinks...

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Not if you program them to not have emotions.

 

[Czargent Sane]

campaign? for rights? if a bunch of super powerful beings that are physically superior to humans in every way that were being treated as disposable worse-than-slaves objects suddenly decided that they did not like the way humanity was treating them, what in the flying funk do you think would happen???

there would be a war, because they would realize that humanity's knee jerk response would be extermination. their only chance for peace would be to kill enough of us as to get us to listen.

thats why I'm marrying the first sentient female robot. got to put in a good impression you know.

 

[dariuskyne]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBy7NMw6H2U


the likelyhood that we'd allow something like that to happen seems fairly low, humans likely wouldn't allow what they percieve as an appliance to become equal to them, your car doesn't have rights, it's a thing, your toaster doesn't have rights, it's a thing... unfortunately looking at humanity in general this is how it would be, with the uncommon few having, and/or fighting for acceptance.

 

[Ham_authority95]

They're Machines.

They don't need the same rights as humans.

And if they did, they could just kill us all to get them.

 

[Dexiro]

In the distant future if we manage to replicate the human brain in machine form then yes they probably would.

It's hard to comprehend a computer feeling 'real' emotion, but we're basically just squishy robots anyway ;D

 

[Wicky_42]

Depends on how smart we make them, and if they ever become sentient and self aware. If they do, then we're going to have to adapt to dealing with a second sentient species on the planet, one possibly much more powerful than us, and potentially dangerous and beneficial in equal measures.

Equal treatment would be the only civilised way to avoid The Matrix/Terminator.

As long as they're tools following programming there's no issue.

 

[Blueruler182]

Of course not. They'll be oppressing us.

 

[Harlemura]

They're Machines.

They don't need the same rights as humans.

And if they did, they could just kill us all to get them.

This was my point. All we view them as is a gadget to do jobs for us.
What if our view of them changed if they became more intelligent?

But that's a very good point, I did overlook the fact if they were smart enough for us to view them as equals, they'd easily be smart enough to just kill everyone.