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Ethics for killer robots
June 30, 2009 - 3:55pm
A robotics engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed an "ethical governor," which could be used to program military robots to act ethically when deciding when, and whom, to shoot or bomb.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10275345-42.html Well then, isn't that good? Nobody wants to be shot unethically.
If this machine is sufficiently sophisticated, I imagine that its first move would be to kill its maker and then self-destruct, understanding the human potential for abusing this technology.
I, for one, welcome our new killer robot overlords.
pft. this is pointless at this stage in the game. we already have the killer robots. i welcomed them back in 2003. you are all late getting on with the new overlords. understand their agenda - there will be no more elephants, therefore no more unethical treatment of elephants either.
Are we giving robots too much power?
There are laws about these things.
Ethics? We don't need no stinkin' ethics!
Spy Bug Takes Flight, Wins More Pentagon Money
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14775
"The microdrone, meant for indoor missions, will be used for surveillance and probably as a stealth or strike weapon, if armed with poison or explosives.."
u never seen Irobot fucc those laws
Try reading the books. The movie is not a good representation.
Microsoft Shifts Robotics Strategy, Makes Robotics Studio Available Free
And it's only a 444 MB download. Cool.
Stunning Video of PETMAN Humanoid Robot From Boston Dynamics It's stunning!
ARM CTO predicts chips the size of blood cells Amazing!
Can't get illegal immigrants to take care of plants and harvest crops for cheap anymore? It's robot time!
Apparently there's no need for autoworkers either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_SxW_7v9is
Ah! Well there are some people who think that the labour-intensive jobs should go the way of the Dodo sooner or later. Imagine a world where robots accept all of the risk working in factories. Your chidren and grandchildren simply program and maintain the things or perhaps design them to make very useful things for society. Things will eventually be built locally by all-purpose manufacturing plants capable of re-tooling itself on the fly. Complete designs for new widgets will be transmitted across the world to your city and produced locally by futuristic manufacturing methods in the skunkworks stage of development as we babble. Design information will eventually become more valuable than the robots and nanomanufacturing plants themselves.
There needs to be a level playing field for all workers, which is something we've never had and will need to continue fighting for. And some day, all of this will be owned by the proles. Yes, we should want industrial capitalism to expand and proliferate around the world not this de-industrializing of the U.S. and Canadian economies that's been happening over the last 30 years or so. The future belongs to the proles and their children.
Safer Robots Will Improve Manufacturing
The Party Robot Yeah!
It's happening bit by bit.
When ATM's were introduced the official figure was that each machine replaced seven tellers. When was the last time you actually had to see a teller at your local bank? For me it's literally years - I do everything on line or at an ATM. Even foreign exchange - order it on line, turn up at reception, show my ID and that's it. My local bank (which is the national head office of a major multi-national) has exactly four tellers. Instead there are 8 ATM's and a number of computer terminals.
How many grocery stores and department stores now have self-checkouts - instead of half a dozen employees there's one person that will help if people are having problems scanning things.
A few years back Maytag built a factory in Germany - the level of automation meant that every washer/dryer/whatever required only a few minutes of actual employee time. It meant almost no employees - and overhead was cut since, among other things, there was no need to turn on the lights unless there was some sort of problem. Ditto air conditioning.
The robot in the OP is another example of jobs that will just disappear.
The list goes on.
EmTech: Does IT Cost More Jobs than It Creates?An academic says the past decade has brought mixed blessings.
Were the loom-destroying Luddites simply ahead of their time?
Smash the looms?
Do Robots Take People's Jobs?
I have a problem with the self-checkout, though, that I might not have when it comes to automating other jobs such as the fruit-picking and such, where the economics of it make it nearly impossible to actually pay people what their labour is worth. The problem with the self-check-out is the same as the problem with fast food restaurants. You're expected, as the customer, to bus your own tables, and run your own items through the checkout. It's like, really? I'M paying YOU in order to do the work you used to do for me? And it's really galling when it's at the premium supermarkets with inflated prices.
It's bad enough that they got rid of employees who used to bag your groceries for you instead of you scrambling to do it on time for the next person to be rung through the cash. Again, I'M paying the company so that they can put me to work on their assembly line, at their speed?
Michelle, you can make the same comment about a huge number of unskilled jobs. Cashiers, bank tellers, and so forth are all jobs that are going the way of the dinosaur.
I agree with Michelle. Because all of a sudden we are donating our own time and labour. And for whose benefit? Who are the ones saving money when we bag our own groceries and bus our own tables? Are we realizing any savings on food or services when we contribute to someone else's job loss? And what about society in general with fewer taxes being paid and loss of wages/money circulating in the economy? Capitalists don't really care about that, and neither do their bought and paid-for governments whose jobs they are to shrink government in making everyone more reliant on market ideology.
And what alternative jobs are created as a result? I think this is a real downside to automation. The capitalists have no problems realizing profits with automation. I think this is an inherent contradition within capitalism in general. They are always too slow to replace the job opportunities which are eliminated by tech progress. The luddites were right in protesting their job losses and sudden impoverishment imo. It's a natural reaction. Workers need input. We require compensation for the "harsh market forces" eliminating jobs replaced with lower paid work and even fewer jobs as a result.
Fidel, it's not a question of whether or not you like what's happening. It's a given.
No I don't like what's happening, and I suppose that automation is inevitable. I just donated about 90 hours of my time to a group of high school students building a robot that shoots basketballs at a hoop. I understand that automation has long been a part of our society and will continue to be. And I think that democracy has a role to play in the direction our future economies and health care etc take us. Democratic decision making will be more important than ever if we are to survive the next century or two.
"There’s no need for security, or RoboCops for that matter, at the city’s newest parking garage downtown.
In fact, Daryl Simpson, vice-president of marketing for Bosa Development, says owners don’t need to lock their vehicles once they’ve entered the robotic parking garage at Jameson House, a modernist, luxury condo building located at 838 West Hastings St."
Isn't that a cruder version of what was in the movie I-Robot?
Yes, crude by comparison. What a waste of resources imo. Automated car parking garages can't be running on any microsoft OS, that's for sure.
The Rise of the Killer Drones: How America Goes to War in Secret (Or technical fuck-ups from 7500 miles away.)
Washington using hunter-killer drones, renditions, torture, and "kill lists" to bring "human rights" to the world.
Is semi-autonomous Gladio ethical?
Just re-reading a few posts and the thread title, lol, but it occurs to me that robot ethics would of course have to be programmed, at least initially, by us, and more specifically, the military or police agencies. We're all doomed.
Robotics engineer in OP featured here:
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/video.html?ID=1815694494
The kids in town here have constructed working robots for the local police and fire services. It's amazing what kids and their mentors can put together in a high school machine shop.
The military is another issue altogether. They receive federal funding and serious money. Killer drones/UAV's are highly unethical imo.
Thanks, I actually remembered watching that at some point before, but it was nice and scary to watch it again.
One of the worst things about a democratic country, from the perspective of a democratic countries' military generals I would imagine, is public dissent towards a war that can effect a political reversal. Fortunately for them, I have noticed, public dissent seems to largely be directly proportional to our own soldier casualty rate. These robots will all but eliminate our casualty rate, and the few "hippies" still protesting wars will be shout down by the "patriotic majority".
Yes, the body count certainly has a proportional effect on support for a war effort. I think media has changed that for us.
What I find interesting about ethics and killer robots, though, is the development of autonomy. Dr Arkin is trying to develop a method of programming ethical decision-making now because there is less and less and less direct human control over robotic systems, especially in terms of military robotics. The scary part is that the AI for ethical decision-making, which tends to be highly situational and complex, is simply not there yet. But automated systems will be used before Arkin's problem is solved.
How hard can it be? Seems that they just need good enough software to determine age and gender. Add in some parameters about how certain the software has to be before it rules on those factors and the job is done. Since all males of military age are considered combatants then they can all be targets based on ethical robotic decisions.