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At 08:48 AM 5/3/2004, you wrote:
>I was thinking of building a trooper based on this guy:
>
>Sony QRIO
>http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/QRIO/
>
>Just imagine having a humanoid at scale 1/6 running around with an
>anti-tank rocket!!!
What an amazing coincidence. Just this afternoon I heard of QRIO for
the first time, in an article on
"roboethics". http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.05/view.html?pg=4
>Sony created a major success with its dog-shaped Aibo, but the follow-up
>may never reach consumers. The new product, known as the Qrio, is
>technically good to go and would be hopping off shelves in the Akihabara
>district right now - except for one hitch. The Qrio is a human-shaped,
>self-propelled puppet that can walk, talk, pinch, and take pictures, and
>it has no more ethics than a tire iron.
>
>In his 1950 classic, I, Robot, Isaac Asimov first conceived of machines as
>moral actors. His robots enjoy nothing better than to sit and analyze the
>ethical implications of their actions. Qrio, on the other hand, knows
>nothing, cares nothing, and reasons not one whit. Improperly programmed,
>it could shoot handguns, set fire to buildings, and even slit your throat
>as you sleep before capering into a crowded mall to detonate itself while
>screaming political slogans. The upshot is that you're unlikely to be able
>to buy one anytime soon.
I don't see what the big deal is. Most of the people I know have no
more ethics than a tire iron. (A lot less, usually.)
Bill
--
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr.
Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers
come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of
ideas that could provoke such a question." -- Charles Babbage