[ExI] robotic lunch counters

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Thu, Jun 26, 2014 at 1:30 PM, Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Jun 26, 2014 1:19 AM, "Rafal Smigrodzki" <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > The robots cannot be diverted to other uses, like stolen cars or guns,
> since they are programmed to self-destruct if stolen. There is less
> incentive to steal.
>
> And if the self-destructs are disabled, or the point is just wrecking your
> mine (impoverishing you) instead of taking the robots?
>
### The point discussed here is protection against dumb people. They won't
be able to disable the self-destructs, and of course, before the software
considers self-destruction, the previously mentioned defensive robots would
have to be defeated, again, not easy for dumb, disorganized people.

Dealing with smart opponents is of course much more difficult but then
smart people are a minority, and may be co-opted.

---------------------

> > Let's go a step further. The elites still get paid and they use some of
> the loot to buy a robotic army, to deal with the rebels. Whoever has a
> robotic army, wins.
>
> Even today, DIY robots of military value are available to the masses.
>
### Will they DIY enough robots to overcome my robots? Remember, they have
no jobs to pay for the 3D printer feed.

----------------

> > Of course, Freedonians didn't write the software. Somebody somewhere in
> the cloud has root access.
>
> There do exist honest programmers who do not leave such back doors.  OTOH,
> there also exist those who specialize in gaining root access to what they
> are not supposed to have root access to.
>
### Indeed, the existence of smart opponents makes for multiple equilibria
and unpredictable outcomes.

-----------------

> > Maybe multiple independent makers and owners of robots could achieve a
> stable stalemate of mutually assured destruction. But maybe technology
> wants something else.
>
> Technology never "wants" anything.  It is ever but a tool.
>
### Here I strongly disagree. Technology is applied physics. It is
discovered, not just made. Our desires interact with it but don't fully
control it. Even simple tools don't always do what you want, and the whole
space of technological possibilities constrains the shape of possible
societies.The existence of a certain technological possibility has an
impact on the society no matter whether the majority wants it or not.

If there is an easy and non-preventable method to make planetary
destruction weapons in your basement, waiting to be soon discovered, then
planets with even exceedingly small number of insane evil people would have
a very short expected lifetime. In that universe, technology does not want
people to be around.
------------------

>   A stalemate seems likely.
>
### Yes, I think it is likely but not guaranteed. We still have too little
data to make justified predictions.

 -----------------

> Besides, programming is not that hard a skill to pick up.  Even now, some
> - not as many as could be, but some - out of work mid-career janitors and
> servers are retraining.  Even in Freedonia.
>
### Only in "Superman III".

Rafal
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