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Robot Warriors Will Get a Guide To Ethics

thinker sends in an MSNBC report on the development of ethical guidelines for battlefield robots. The article notes that such robots won't go autonomous for a while yet, and that the guidelines are being drawn up for relatively uncomplicated situations — such as a war zone from which all non-combatents have already fled, so that anybody who shoots at you is a legitimate target. "Smart missiles, rolling robots, and flying drones currently controlled by humans, are being used on the battlefield more every day. But what happens when humans are taken out of the loop, and robots are left to make decisions, like who to kill or what to bomb, on their own? Ronald Arkin, a professor of computer science at Georgia Tech, is in the first stages of developing an 'ethical governor,' a package of software and hardware that tells robots when and what to fire. His book on the subject, Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots, comes out this month."

20 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. Yeaahhhh... by XPeter · · Score: 4, Funny

    Last time robots were confronted with "ethics" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics, they turned on the world and Will Smith had to save us all.

    --
    "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits" - Albert Einstein
  2. Good News/Bad News by hey! · · Score: 2, Funny

    The good news: Robots are going to get a guide to ethics.

    The bad news: It was drafted by Focus on the Family.

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    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    1. Re:Good News/Bad News by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well, I guess that homosexbot won't be making it out of the lab; but crusadebot is a go...

  3. Free association? by FlyByPC · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm not even British, and I'm hearing "EX-TER-MI-NATE!" in my head...

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    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
  4. "How goes the battle, Sgt?" by v1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sgt: We lost sir! badly!

    Gen: What happened?

    Sgt: We're still gathering up the details, but it looks like they hacked our network and uploaded Asimov Strain B.

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  5. Great book title... by GPLDAN · · Score: 4, Funny

    Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots


    That is the title of the book you tell your 7th grade teacher you are GOING to write when you grow up.

    Sounds like the FAQ for Robot Battle.
    http://www.robotbattle.com/

  6. Re:Been there, done that by geekoid · · Score: 2, Funny

    You do realize they were flawed, right?

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    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  7. Re:Need a good spell checker by MarkvW · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah! Or, or "How to Serve Man."

  8. Re:Been there, done that by Red+Flayer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Since Homo sapiens only natural predator is itself,

    Well, itself and wolves. And tigers. And lions.

    And don't forget bears. Definitely bears.

    I think we should build giant ethical bear robots. That would scare the SHIT out of our enemies.

    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  9. Re:Been there, done that by JustOK · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think we should build giant ethical bear robots

    playing bagpipes

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    rewriting history since 2109
  10. Re:Been there, done that by Falconhell · · Score: 3, Funny

    And there I was thinking the US had given up torturing people. (-:

    Do we really need the piper?

  11. Re:Been there, done that by T+Murphy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think we should build giant ethical bear robots. That would scare the SHIT out of our enemies.

    ...I fail to see how robots saying "Only YOU can stop forest fires" would be terrifying.

  12. Re:That would be really cool... by hairyfeet · · Score: 4, Funny

    Shiiiiit, you think those damned bots would make it out of South Central intact? The gang bangers would have robot heads mounted on their rides like trophies. I'm sure that any of them that managed to roll out the other side would have the weapons stripped off of them faster than a Toyota Camry ends up on blocks and it would be so covered in tags that the poor thing couldn't even see where it was going.

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    ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  13. New meaning by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 2, Funny

    I suppose that would bring new meaning to "the blue screen of death".

  14. Re:Been there, done that by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Funny

    He said ethical!

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    The enemies of Democracy are
  15. Re:Been there, done that by Red+Flayer · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was going to add sharks, but the parent did specify "natural predators".

    Sharks with FLBs are decidedly unnatural.

    Also, I don't believe that homo sapiens is naturally an aquatic creature.

    Unless you're talking about the dreaded landshark, but I simply don't believe they exist.

    Wait, someone's knocking at the door. [pause] I didn't order any pizza.

    Aaaagh!

    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  16. Re:Tough calls by The+Grim+Reefer2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    But what about when dealing with robot on robot action?

    I'm confused, are you talking about war or robot porn?

  17. Re:Been there, done that by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2, Funny

    Since you can never be 100% certain of a target, the robots would have to use fuzzy logic. That is something that humans are better than robots at; I'm not really comfortable with hardware designed to be lethal making decisions like this. Truly autonomous killer robots are probably not a good idea -- haven't 60 years of B movies taught us anything?

    The solution is simple - just program in a preset kill limit, after which the autonomous killer robots (let's call them "killbots", for argument's sake) will shut down. Problem solved!

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    #DeleteChrome
  18. Re:Been there, done that by mckinleyn · · Score: 3, Funny

    The three NEW laws of robotics: 1. A robot will not harm authorized Government personnel but will terminate intruders with extreme prejudice. 2. A robot will obey the orders of authorized personnel except where such orders conflict with the Third Law. 3. A robot will guard its own existence with lethal antipersonnel weaponry, because a robot is bloody expensive. --David Langford

  19. Re:A better idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Who said enemy casualties are a bad thing?

    The enemy?