June 15, 2016 by Douglas Black
One step closer to a very dangerous Rise of the Machines, researchers have created a robot that crawls right out of its mothership-slash-3D-Printer. Humans at the MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab have created a process that in a single run can create a solid and liquid robot, including all of the hydraulic liquid-filled tubes that help our future foe move.
The only parts lacking are blood, battery, motor, and the ability to inflict pain. And now that scary last part is emerging from the soup of bleeding edge technology. The creation of an artificially intelligent machine capable of deciding whether or not to prick a person’s finger is the bright idea of Alexander Reben, a roboticist and artist based in Berkeley, California.
ABC News reported that Reben said he wanted to create a machine that would spur debate around sci-fi author Isaac Asimov’s “First Law” of robotics, which says a robot may not harm a human being, or by its inaction allow a human being to be harmed.
“I tried to develop something that was the least amount of injury possible and a pin does that because it makes you bleed,” Reben said. “The interesting part, to me, are the ethical and philosophical ramifications of this existing.”
If a person dares to put their finger near the robot, it will make a decision using an algorithm as to whether or not to prick the person’s finger. Reben said the algorithm is set up in a specific way so even he cannot predict the robot’s decision.
“From a philosophical point of view, it is important I cannot predict the outcome of what will happen because people will wonder am I responsible or is the robot?” he said.
When was SKYNET supposed to become self-aware? Was that anytime soon?
Douglas Black is a writer, historian and amateur astrophysisist in Chicago, cowing in fear of the future. But not a Luddite. Really.