[Paleopsych] Wired: Robots of science fiction have not arrived yet, but ethicists are gearing up

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Robots of science fiction have not arrived yet, but ethicists are gearing up
http://www.newstarget.com/z003664.html
>From 
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/view.html?pg=1?tw=wn_tophead_5

Monday, January 24, 2005

    Humanity is still far away from creating a world that is overrun -- or
    served well -- by robots like those portrayed in science fiction. But
    some people are already busy considering the ethical questions that
    robot fantasies demand. Should robots eat? Should robot labor be
    regulated? Are robots entitled to intellectual property rights? Those
    are just some of the interesting, if not strange, issues that
    scientists and scholars are seriously discussing these days. To learn
    more on this topic, be sure to also read the related article, [2]U.S.
    Army tests battlefield robot armed with pump action shotgun; bring on
    the Terminators!.

    Overview:

      * Should we treat bots like the rest of us?
      * These marvelous machines, optimists hope, will follow Moore's law,
        doubling in quality every 18 months, and lead to a Jetsonian
        utopia.
      * Or, as pessimists fear, humanoid bots will reproduce, increase
        their [3]intelligence, and wipe out humanity.
      * The artificial intelligence to animate robots remains several
        orders of magnitude less than what's needed.
      * We have to master either software engineering or self-organization
        before our most intelligent designers can dare play in the same
        league as Mother Nature.
      * They cannot comprehend Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics to
        protect and obey humans before preserving themselves.
      * In case you missed them, today's most popular robots are ATMs and
        computer printers.
      * While our hopes for and fears of robots may be overblown, there is
        plenty to worry about as automation progresses.
      * The risk is not humanoids running amok, but that as these
        electronic puppets become more lifelike, they become door-to-door
        spambots who trick people into buying snake oil and junk bonds.
      * We are nearing an age in which humans and [4]computers may be
        connected via direct neural interfaces, technology
        indistinguishable from telepathy and telekinesis.
      * In the output direction, humans might be trained to think in
        distinct ways so that sensors and software could classify thoughts
        into signals to control equipment.
      * When cars were invented, no one imagined that hundreds of millions
        of them would spew carbon monoxide into [5]the atmosphere.
      * A telerobot is an electronic puppet controlled across a wire by a
        human using a PC and devices like joysticks and gloves.

    [6]Source:

References

    1. http://www.newstarget.com/index.html
    2. http://www.newstarget.com/002080.html
    3. http://www.Newstarget.com/001331.html
    4. http://www.ComputerTechNews.com/002984.html
    5. http://www.Newstarget.com/001398.html
    6. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/view.html?pg=1?tw=wn_tophead_5