Robot Rights

I've recently become fascinated (again) with the subject of artificial intelligence, and the future of the technology. Call me crazy, and you probably will, but I often wonder if some of the smart machines we take for granted these days aren't already, on some level, "alive".

After all, many so-called lower organisms, like insects, bacteria--even viruses, for crying out loud--are alive. A virus is barely even complex enough to be called an organism, yet it can apparently think and act of its own accord (or at least according to some internal, pre-programmed drive).

Even people, as apparently complex and sentient as we are, can be boiled down to layer after layer of biological processes. Evolutionist and author Richard Dawkins says we're essentially nothing more than transportation for our genes.

So the next time you turn on your Roomba--full of complex wires and programming--think about it a little bit. Is that little machine, all plastic and metal, really more like a giant, albeit "simple", carpet-cleaning animal? And if so, is it really all that absurd to imagine that at some point someone is going to demand that you treat that animal with respect? After all, there was a time when animals themselves were mistreated regularly, and the thought of "animal rights" was just as absurd as rights for your Roomba.

Think about it.

In the meantime, have a laugh at this paragraph I found in an article on the subject of Robot Rights written in 1985:

By 2010, most new homes will offer a low-cost domestic robot option. This
“homebot” will be a remote-controlled peripheral of a computer brain buried
somewhere in the house. Homebot software will include: (1) applications programs
to make your robot behave as a butler, maid, cook, teacher, sexual companion, or
whatever; and (2) acquired data such as family names, vital statistics and
preferences, a floor map of the house, food and beverage recipes, past family
events, and desired robot personality traits. If a family moves, it would take
its software with it to load into the domestic system at the new house. The new
homebot’s previous mind would be erased and overwritten with the personality of
the family’s old machine.

Funny, right? After your done laughing, become sad, because it only means that in 25 years we'll be looking back at the plans we had today and laughing at how optimistic and naive we were.

For your own unique AI experience, check out Jabberwacky.com. Try to hold a conversation with their resident "chatterbot" and then see if you don't question just what "sentience" really means.

(This post was inspired in part by the guys over at HowStuffWorks.com, who posted an interesting podcast on the subject. Look them up on iTunes and download all the knowledgey goodness.)