Autonomous technology "requires debate" - Polidicks

[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8210477.stm[/url] [quote]The coming age of lorries that drive themselves or robots that perform surgery is fraught with legal and ethical issues, says a new report. The Royal Academy of Engineering says that automated freight transport could be on the roads in just 10 years' time. Also, it says, robotic surgery will begin to need less human intervention. But it suggests that much debate is needed to address the ethical and legal issues raised by putting responsibility in the hands of machines. "We're all used to automatic systems - lifts, washing machines. We're talking about levels above that," said Lambert Dopping-Heppenstal of the Academy's engineering ethics working group. "It's about systems that have some level of self-determination." Issues surrounding autonomous systems and robots with such self-determination have been discussed for a number years, particularly with regard to the autonomous machines of warfare . However, the era of autonomous road vehicles and surgeons is slowly becoming reality, making the issues more urgent, the report says. The removal of direct control from a car's driver is already happening, with anti-lock braking systems and even automatic parking systems becoming commonplace. But the next step is moving toward completely driverless road vehicles, which already exist in a number of contexts, including London's Heathrow Airport. The time may come that robotic surgeons operate without human help The Darpa Grand Challenge, a contest sponsored by the US defence department's research arm, has driverless cars negotiating traffic and obstacles and obeying traffic rules over courses nearly 100km long. "Those machines would have passed the California driving test, more than I would have," said Professor Will Stewart, a fellow of the Academy. "Autonomous vehicles will be safer. One of the compelling arguments for them is that the machine cannot have an argument with its wife; it can run 24 hours a day without getting tired. But it is making decisions on its own." Professor Stewart and report co-author Chris Elliott remain convinced that autonomous systems will prove, on average, to be better surgeons and better lorry drivers than humans are. But when they are not, it could lead to a legal morass, they said. "If a robot surgeon is actually better than a human one, most times you're going to be better off with a robot surgeon," Dr Elliott said. "But occasionally it might do something that a human being would never be so stupid as to do." Professor Stewart concluded: "It is fundamentally a big issue that we think the public ought to think through before we start trying to imprison a truck." [/quote] Domo arigato, Mister Roboto Domo arigato, Mister Roboto Domo arigato, Mister Roboto Domo arigato, Mister Roboto Thank you very much, oh Mister Roboto For doing all the jobs that nobody wants to Domo arigato, Mister Roboto Domo arigato, Mister Roboto

That would be pretty cool, so long as they don't go batshit insane on us.

I'm cool with it. [editline]05:37AM[/editline] Except for the robot rampage.

Autonomous technology would require some level of sentience to work with it perfectly, and sentience is one of the most devastating powers in the universe.

This brings up another question. The shipping industry is nothing short of massive. A lot of people work in that industry. If we replace this with machines, what are we going to do with the tens of thousands of suddenly jobless people?

Fuck you humans, we need more Death bot capable machines.

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;16854201]This brings up another question. The shipping industry is nothing short of massive. A lot of people work in that industry. If we replace this with machines, what are we going to do with the tens of thousands of suddenly jobless people?[/QUOTE] Hmmm, that'd sure cause mass unemployment. But with all these mechs, we'd need programmers, so where one door closes, another would open.

[QUOTE=Smirnoff Joe;16854352]Hmmm, that'd sure cause mass unemployment. But with all these mechs, we'd need programmers, so where one door closes, another would open.[/QUOTE] I don't think most people that work in the shipping industry are professional computer programmers, unfortunately. So while doors may open for other people, they may not necessarily open for them.

Well, let's just hope people make loads of offshore farming facilities in the future...

Quoting from the lying robots thread. [quote]And seriously, if you don't try to treat the robots like slaves, tools, or the like, or even worse and try to kill them all off, when they reach sentience, you won't have a robot revolution on your hands. If you were treated like shit and like a slave or tool, and more so if the people doing this to you suddenly decided to kill you all, wouldn't you try to fight back? Equality for robots is a good and smart thing.[/quote] Seriously, robo-ethics is a non-issue. Its simply wrong to think you can deny a sentient robot the basic rights we ask for. The only difference between us is that we're squishy and they aren't. And why is there really a debate here? Saying "But occasionally it might do something that a human being would never be so stupid as to do." is absolutely fucking stupid. Humans doctors do stupid shit all the time that any semi-intelligent person could see is a bad idea. "Sir, this man just has a small cold. Why are you cutting his heart out?"

[QUOTE=sltungle;16854584]I don't think most people that work in the shipping industry are professional computer programmers, unfortunately. So while doors may open for other people, they may not necessarily open for them.[/QUOTE] Train this new generation of children, to be intelligent people who specialize, and yet maintain a various amount of skills that can be utilized by multiple growing industries.

Robots never fail. They just either suicide or do it on purpose.

[QUOTE=Zeddy;16855007]Saying "But occasionally it might do something that a human being would never be so stupid as to do." is absolutely fucking stupid.[/QUOTE] Not really, a robot could end up doing something really unexpected and weird if you don't program it very well.

[QUOTE=Uber|nooB;16855451]Not really, a robot could end up doing something really unexpected and weird if you don't program it very well.[/QUOTE] True, they might be robots but the programing was done by a human, there could be bugs.

Silly humans, do you not think it is us that allows you to be autonomous?

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;16854201]This brings up another question. The shipping industry is nothing short of massive. A lot of people work in that industry. If we replace this with machines, what are we going to do with the tens of thousands of suddenly jobless people?[/QUOTE] Train them in designing, maintaining, and monitoring the robots.

Fuck people and their jobs. If a machine can do it better and longer and cheaper why would you bother keeping them?

I am cool with it as long as the robots don't run Windows

[QUOTE=Turrngait;16856743]Fuck people and their jobs. If a machine can do it better and longer and cheaper why would you bother keeping them?[/QUOTE] I somewhat agree with this. For jobs that can be performed cheaper, easier and better with a machine rather than a human, that would be fine by me if they replaced humans with machines for those jobs. But there are many jobs that a machine simply can't perform, and I believe giving a job to a machine that is not suitable for said job is a huge mistake as the machine could do something horribly wrong and possibly cause a disaster. So until machines are as smart as or smarter than humans, I think that those jobs should only be done by humans. But when machines are capable of doing every job that a human could ever do, we will need to re-think our entire economy. I don't even know what we're going to do when that time comes.

[QUOTE=Micr0;16856991]I somewhat agree with this. For jobs that can be performed cheaper, easier and better with a machine rather than a human, that would be fine by me if they replaced humans with machines for those jobs. But there are many jobs that a machine simply can't perform, and I believe giving a job to a machine that is not suitable for said job is a huge mistake as the machine could do something horribly wrong and possibly cause a disaster. So until machines are as smart as or smarter than humans, I think that those jobs should only be done by humans. But when machines are capable of doing every job that a human could ever do, we will need to re-think our entire economy. I don't even know what we're going to do when that time comes.[/QUOTE] If once robots really do all the work, world could end in real utopia.

This reminds me of "The Evitable Conflict" from Asimov's [I]I, Robot.[/I] To say it broadly for you guys, Humanity becomes enslaved by machines, but it's a figurative enslavement created by ourselves, the Robots never intended it to happen and, in fact, don't know they enslaved Humanity.

[QUOTE=Turrngait;16856743]Fuck people and their jobs. If a machine can do it better and longer and cheaper why would you bother keeping them?[/QUOTE] Because some of us like to be able to eat, and live under a roof. If a machine can do it better, that's fine and all, but you have to respect basic human needs to survive. We shouldn't just replace our species with robots.

If there is a robot revolution all we have to do is EMP nuke key places

[QUOTE=Athena;16856314]Train them in designing, maintaining, and monitoring the robots.[/QUOTE] Indeed, but who's going to pay for the education?

With robots to do jobs people don't want to, it will help get all the illegal Mexicans out! :v:

How is IS the self-driving car concept anyway?

[QUOTE=smurfy;16858075]How is IS the self-driving car concept anyway?[/QUOTE] I honestly don't trust robots to drive cars yet. If an animal jumps into the middle of the road would it stop? How would it know to even drive on a road? What if the car drives off a cliff or something because it thinks there's a bridge there?

As soon as people start discussing robot ethics, you know we're in the future.

[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;16858303]As soon as people start discussing robot ethics, you know we're in the future.[/QUOTE] I know, it's amazing how we're talking about this already. I thought it would take until at least 2020 to be considering robots taking over human society. We're really starting to move forward in technological advancements quickly nowadays.

<heart surgery> *BSOD* FUUUUUUUUUUUUU- *dead*