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South Korea to Build Robot Theme Parks

Posted by samzenpus on from the a-robot-may-not-let-a-human-ride-unless-they-are-at-least-this-tall dept.

coondoggie writes "South Korea officials today said they hope to build two robot theme parks for $1.6 billion by 2013. The parks will feature a number of attractions that let visitors interact with robots and test new products. "The two cities will be developed as meccas for the country's robot industry, while having amusement park areas, exhibition halls and stadiums where robots can compete in various events," the ministry said. The theme parks are not a big surprise because South Korea loves its robots. Earlier this year the government of South Korea said it was drawing up a code of ethics to prevent human abuse of robots — and vice versa."

6 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Robot Ethics? by cynicsreport · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From TFA:

    ...drawing up a code of ethics to prevent human abuse of robots-and vice versa.

    Is this a serious issue in South Korea? I am no robotics expert, but I did read a lot of Asimov, and I'm not sure we are quite to that point yet. What we currently call "machine intelligence" is not quite up to the intelligence level of a cockroach. It is more pattern matching and optimization than anything; not much room for ethical standards.
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    cynicsreport.com
    1. Re:Robot Ethics? by ChrisMP1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Whatever point of intelligence robots get to, people need to come back to earth. It's still artificial intelligence, even if it seems so real that nobody still calls it so. They might appear to have intelligence, feelings, etc., but they don't. And never will. They don't care how you treat them, they're just programmed to appear like they do.

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    2. Re:Robot Ethics? by pipatron · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They might appear to have intelligence, feelings, etc., but they don't. And never will.

      Much like humans.

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      c++; /* this makes c bigger but returns the old value */
    3. Re:Robot Ethics? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I am no robotics expert, but I did read a lot of Asimov ...
      That's one of the funniest things I've read all day.
    4. Re:Robot Ethics? by charlieman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Robot Ethics is not about robot feelings! It's about other humans feelings of how you treat the robot.

    5. Re:Robot Ethics? by somasynth · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There's always someone who tries to push that argument but never an explanation to go along with it. Nature wasn't just being nice by giving us the ability to enjoy our lives while we live them, these things would have never made it through natural selection have they not been necessary for us to function. It's a solid demonstration that two creatures with similar behavior must necessarily exhibit similar experiences. To me you're only pretending to feel pain when I poke you with an icepick just the same, but I give you the benefit of the doubt on that one.