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As some of you might know the first fully automatic domestic assistant is currently beeing developed and due for release in the coming years. Now I ask my self if this should be, that if we could make a fully automated robot: Should we?

Let's discuss...

As some of us might know, even todays most sophisticated programing languages and information technology cannot capture the essance of ethics and morals, that in which is needed to ensure the unspoken laws that prohibit a normal person from hurting, maming, or killing another person (but then you ask "Why do people hurt people", and I can sum it up in one word: emotions -- Luckily, this won't be a problem with fully automated robots -- but the problem at hand still remains). What I'd like to ask is: Are we prepared for such a drastic change in technology - can we put our trust in a toaster with a brain? Now ofcourse I'm not all pessimistic, the idea of a fully automated robot sounds unspeakably interesting to me -- Especially the fact that a F.A.R could keep my home, do so many other things, and also look very slick (F.A.R = "Fully Automated Robot" abbreviated -- "Far" also means "father" in Norwegian which in it's sence is ironic).

What I say is that we should wait untill technology has evolved in to a more receptive stage. Todays technology is to cluttered and to unstable to maintain the idea that we could build a safe and reliable F.A.R for the endless masses. I had a theory that when we have a full understanding about the humain brain maybe we could extract these "unspoken laws" (is there a word synonymous with "unspoken word -- I'm pretty sure there is) and integrate them with the F.A.R operating system. This theory is faulty because I have no idea what the humain mind is capable of, and also if it needs to be exposed to training (a.k.a "raising") to gather a full understanding of ethics and morals (this is my theory of the humain mind). For all we/I know humains could be born savages.

What is your opinion about this subject?
(Sorry guys, saw "Metropolis", "Ghost in the Shell", "Ghost in the Shell 2", and "i.Robot". Just had to talk about robotics. I sometimes rant like this for no reason -- just to get a word out I guess.)

At school we did an essay on technologies of the future. Robots was one of the topics that could be chosen.

AI is another film to watch - based on Issac Asimov's 3 laws of robotics (I believe i. Robot is too)

• A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
  
• A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
  
• A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Although most of his work is science fiction, its laws which are being applied to robots today..

Its a good and bad thing about fully automated bots.

I'll try and get back to you with someones essay..

Well laws can be misconstrued, even by machines (and especially when it comes to something as intricate as a F.A.R).

Well this topic brings to mind 2 cartoons from the Animatrix dvd. In those cartoons robots are used as unpaid labor and eventually they want to be seen as equals. We all know what happens in the Matrix. I can argue both sides of the fence on this one. I'm all for robots and artificial intelligence, but if we make them intelligent enough, I hope we are intelligent enough to realize that they are life forms even if they aren't biological. It also makes me think of Data from star Trek: The Next Generation. There is one such episode where there is a hearing as to whether or not Data is a life form or a thing. Obviously the outcome was that he's a life form. It does bring up an interesting question, would a fully autonomous robot with advanced AI be considered a being or a thing?

I'd say yes.

By looking at cloning you can see that it's possible to put a human together in a similar way you would build a robot (it's less gross), that is if you don't believe in any divine entity (which I don't). So I would concidur a robot a living beeing and I for one would treat it like a living beeing (after my standards that is, some people treat other living beeings like crap and quite frankly they diserve to be raped by a large, pointy, and agressive robot).
As to your comment about "Animatrix": Yes, those two cartoons are very similar to the whole speculation around the idea of artificial intelligence -- as is it in Metropolis (The old black-and-white and the anime remake), Ghost in the shell (1 and 2), i.Robot, and there's probably (or defenetly) more movies or books like it out there.