The Retro Robo Trucker.

Photo courtesy @starbuckmcDee copyright 2015

The retro-macho roboTrucker felt nothing when the endangered bird smacked the windshield and struggled at the edge of the highway. It didn't have any emotion chips installed. The roboTrucker kept driving and didn't even contact the roboAuthorities. It wasn't a part of its programming. The roboStreet sweeper would come around soon enough anyways. Would it at least be composted, or would it just become a part of the landfill? The other human drivers assumed the roboAuthorities would deal with it. The programmers of the roboAuthorities assumed that other programmers would deal with it. The bird, still barely alive, made its way into the nearby tunnel, looking for shade in its last moments. A little boy snapped a Vine post. It went viral across the Eastern Seaboard. The roboAuthorities were soon to be re- programmed, according to reports.

 Traffic was backed up for weeks while they worked out the tweaks. 12 confirmed suicides were reported in the tunnel from disillusioned bird watchers. Everybody's avatars voted for more roboAvatar suicide watchers. Traffic was soon restored as electro-magnetic bird nets were set up in key areas. This changed the birds nesting grounds in Florida, according to some biologists. The robo avatar authorities were looking into it. They eventually concluded to shut off the bird nets. Soon afterwards, another retro-macho roboTrucker hit a rare racoon this Wednesday. It felt a little sad and notified the roboAuthorities. The roboAuthorities felt absolutely terrible within their newly upgraded emotion chips across their neural network and completely shut their traffic control and monitoring systems down. The human programmers interceded and removed the roboAuthorities emotion chips to basic levels. Traffic was mostly restored. The same roboTrucker was running late one day. The human business owners and programmers of the roboTrucker, due to pressure from higher ups, installed a hacked speed control chip from overseas so that it could go as fast as possible in areas where the roboAuthorities didn't have cameras in rare spots. It ran into another hacked roboTrucker from a different company from the opposite direction. The uranium leaked all over the highway when the roboTrucker initiated the hacked self-destruct mode. The other roboTrucker was carrying illegal rare live chickens from South America (the ones that may have come into contact with last year's Avian Influenza strain.) The roboAuthorities were algorithmically and cybernetically dispatched once again. They kept the incident off the news through various means. They didn't want to have their previous high level emotion chips reinstalled. They gathered the injured people into the middle of the Nevada desert for questioning, along with the biological produce and the Uranium as well as the roboTruckers. The  injured were never heard from again and the whole incident went unreported except on conspiracy web feeds. By Friday of the following week everything appeared to be back to normal again.

Honey I’m Not Robo Anymore. Made in Canada and Destroyed in America

Honey I’m not Robo anymore. Made in Canada, Destroyed in America.

In the Star Wars movies, people who were more enlightened treated their robots with compassion, understanding, patience, tolerance. But those "were more civilized times,” Obi Wan Kenobi would have said once more. I can only imagine what people would do if a SocratesBot or BibleBot Companion or YogaBot Companion was unaccompanied by it’s human owner. But never mind the robots. Numerous owners or future owners are often hurt or killed in America every day. The Canadian robot experiment was NOT a failure. As a Canadian writing about techno and robot ethics issues, I was concerned that things like this would happen across different societies and would reveal peoples’ true natures. This is why I wrote the article called:

The Golden Rule and the better (nano)robots: Love, Life, Liberty and the pursuit of nanoHappiness for All. You can find the original post here:http://quantumnanotimes.blogspot.ca/…/life-liberty-and-purs…

This is also why an American Comic book writer (married to a Canadian) recently wrote a comic book about American led robot armies invading Canada. Technology can be an extension of our thoughts and actions. Some people make can openers, others make missiles. It’s time to beat swords into ploughshares before too many people are beaten into more swords. Need a ride to Joy? Going my way? These words can mean something else, depending on how, where, when and who says them to whom. To say nothing of the answer.
Honey, I’m not robo. I am not robo, robo...robo. Queen Amidala would have said that, “it is to be commended.” HitchBOT boldly went where no HitchBOT went before. And it never came back. What did come back though was the answer: It comes with the territory. As all things and creatures do.

~Paul von Dubrovnik 

Photo Courtesy CBC


We may have Asimov’s Laws of Robotics as an inspiration for robot designers, but we do not yet have set laws for human treatment of robots. If robots become more conscious how can we provide a conscience for them if many of us have consciences which are compromised by ignorance, the “greatest form of poverty” as someone once said. The Golden Rule amongst humans has not been observed across the world all too often and in too many places by too many people too many times. For a refresher of Asimov’s original 3 Laws, see below. For various human cultures’ nuances of the Golden Rule, see below

 

For various human cultures’ nuances of the Golden Rule, see below

photo courtesy J.R. Starbuck Mcdonald

Are Asimov's Laws able to function in a world based on greed?

Even with Asimov's Laws, would robots be hack proof? Or, what if someone hacks them, turning them into what the hackers or secret agencies want to do with them, and then make these new changes hack proof? Can we handle robots in a society that engages in war and harmful medical procedures and food systems and environmental behavior? Can robots and other technologies co-exist in a society based on greed? Will people who only care about XBOXs and McDonald's hamburgers really care about these things? If we can't follow the Golden Rule do we invent artificial beings that can? Will a publicly traded company based on profit, like Google or Microsoft save us? Will these encroaching scenarios drive a deeper wedge between God and man? Regarding the tin robots, it may be recommended to remove the 3rd Law...too much could go wrong. As of now, robots- as well as corporations- should not have the same rights as human beings. People should not be able to hide behind robots or corporations. Unfortunately, with respect to corporations, people are essentially hiding behind corporations and are able to get away with many nefarious deeds. If current corporate law and manufacturers warranties, liabilities and the like are seen as precedent, then unfortunately we will be at the mercy of not only of de-facto automatons of corporations, but automatons of corporations' who control robots, all subject to the mercy of the global marketplace which is only designed to run on human greed, needs and wants, running essentially on auto-pilot, conquering those attempting to mitigate or reduce their powers and machinations. Corporations and human technology is becoming like a giant manufactured zombie-like hammer, running amuck throughout the world where people are given the choice: work for the hammer, run from the hammer, fight the hammer, destroy the hammer, attempt to be a part of controlling the hammer, ignore the hammer and so on. This may explain why so many people are getting 'hammered'.... in it's myriad of meanings. Put on your full armor.

-Paul von Dubrovnik

see Asimov's Laws of Robotics below. You may also be interested in the following link about Google's robotics interests here:  http://www.geek.com/apps/google-could-be-the-first-company-to-implement-asimovs-three-laws-1583203/

"My Name is Robo Joe". A Video Poem about the meaning of love according to a synthetic creature.

Artist and technology ethicist Paul von Dubrovnik's short movie poem about a robot contemplating 'love' by lamenting its own being by tugging at the heartstrings of its creators in the language that its creators may understand.

My Name is Robo Joe....(Enjoy the show below):

-Paul von Dubrovnik

ROBOT ETHICS CRASH COURSE AVAILABLE FOR FREE. WHAT WOULD "YOU" DO WITH C3P0 IF YOU HAD ONE?

Stanford Law School's Center For Internet and Society is offering a limited time crash course on 'Robot Ethics', free of charge. Topics range from security to sex, privacy, social impact and more. It's well worth a crash course, as many people in the near future will be attempting to navigate what's socially acceptable. We can't have a society where Luke Skywalker* is doing 'nasty things' to C3P0....or can we?

We're certainly moving beyond battery operated sex toys, internet porn and Smart Phone   (mis) etiquette. People have cars and iPhones and Furniture and Clothing to define             themselves and their social status. Will having an Android Mistress (or Mistresses) or          Personal Robot Companion(s) or Automated Lawn Mowers or a RoboPet or two or three, be the new Vogue? The Jones' have 2 Robopets, a RoboMower and a RoboSnowBlower  and I hear Mister Jones,                                                                                                        
a RoboCompanion Salesman himself, has a couple of Android Mistresses on the side. No wonder his wife is always seen with her Harlequin Romance RoboCompanion all the time. The Jones' are rarely ever seen together nowadays, and the neighbours have often seen     their son bringing home his best friend's RoboTutor Wonderwoman Edition. He must  be struggling with his grades. I'm sure he's learning sooo much. I'm sure she's jailbroken  by now. Can you blame the Jones'?                                                                                    

We (the people who create, invent, design and market)  our toys and technology which ultimately changes our laws or behaviour. Our ethics have been timeless but our technology, its temptations and availability over the demographics of populations, can over rule our morals, making us into blind servants of our common self-induced de-humanization. When your toaster can link up with your hormones and more (through official design or unofficial hacking) no one will have the desire to fix the toaster. We will have been pre-occupied and distracted, unable to deal with systemic problems. It seems to have been heading that way for some time, in my view.

Ultimately, 'society' 'self-decides'....nevertheless, the following crash courses may help prepare us for what may come to pass. Like in the original movie, 'Total Recall' we may have to "get ready for a nice surprise!" See links below:

Robot Ethics Crash Course Paper.

Robots and Privacy   (Click download and then you may choose option: "Download anonymously," simply because it's easier.)



-Paul von Dubrovnik


*Any brand names are used as
artistic license only.