“I, Robot” – the 3 laws considered harmful
shkspr.mobi
“I, Robot” – the 3 laws considered harmful
1–10 of 67 posts
Re: “I, Robot” – the 3 laws considered harmful
#2The point of "I, Robot" was to show how these laws can lead to dangerous results if followed to the letter, and their inherent contradictions. I agree with the author: applying the Three Laws to actual AI research and engineering is dangerous. Thankfully, I haven't seen too many people in AI research that actually advocate for their use.
Re: “I, Robot” – the 3 laws considered harmful
#3I think Asimov knew all this – his stories are about how the laws can be twisted into having surprising consequences. It's meant as a Sci-Fi version of the "literal genie" [0].
Has anyone actually taken them as a serious suggestion in AI ethics?
[0] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LiteralGenie
Re: “I, Robot” – the 3 laws considered harmful
#4"Considered harmful" has become a lazy writing device. There's nothing valid here that even says why these are harmful except possibly that they are "vague". The only thing that looks even remotely like a real concern (that people, even scientists, believe these are somehow magically hard-wired laws) is not cited and appears to be entirely manufactured.
Re: “I, Robot” – the 3 laws considered harmful
#5I think Asimov knew all this – his stories are about how the laws can be twisted into having surprising consequences. It's meant as a Sci-Fi version of the "literal genie" [0]. Has anyone actually taken them as a serious suggestion in AI ethics? [0] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LiteralGenie
Having taken the Udacity Robotics Nanodegree I can say that they actually teach these laws in full seriousness as part of the first week of the course. When I saw that I started to regret signing up.
Re: “I, Robot” – the 3 laws considered harmful
#6Leaving aside the literary purpose for the moment - when I go back and look at them now, some multiple decades after I first read them, I see a massive human-centric focus that I never did before. WHY is a human life more valuable than a robotic one? WHY is human "harm" so bad? WHY are human commands so powerful?
I mean, for story purposes it all makes sense, but I'm fascinated that I never raised these questions myself before. I accepted human divine right unquestioningly.
Re: “I, Robot” – the 3 laws considered harmful
#7This actually comes up a lot - people writing about problems inherent in Asimov's laws.
What I never see is what you would replace them with, and the problems inherent in that. That omission to me is scarier than these 3 laws.
Re: “I, Robot” – the 3 laws considered harmful
#8This actually comes up a lot - people writing about problems inherent in Asimov's laws. What I never see is what you would replace them with, and the problems inherent in that. That omission to me is scarier than these 3 laws.
"An it hurts no one, do what thou wilt shall be there whole of the law."
Re: “I, Robot” – the 3 laws considered harmful
#9Leaving aside the literary purpose for the moment - when I go back and look at them now, some multiple decades after I first read them, I see a massive human-centric focus that I never did before. WHY is a human life more valuable than a robotic one? WHY is human "harm" so bad? WHY are human commands so powerful? I mean, for story purposes it all makes sense, but I'm fascinated that I never raised these questions mys…
Path dependence. If we build the robots from ground-up, from dumb pieces of metal through single-purpose tools to multipurpose bodies inhabited by semi-sentient AI, and given that this is the first time we're attempting something like this, it's only natural to apply precautions. There may be a time for the hypothetical human civilization, when it's so sure with its work that it decides to give those advanced robots full rights of sentient beings, without silly firmware restrictions - but that would be an explicit step.
At least, this is how I always reasoned about the "human-centric" focus in this context.
Re: “I, Robot” – the 3 laws considered harmful
#10I think Asimov knew all this – his stories are about how the laws can be twisted into having surprising consequences. It's meant as a Sci-Fi version of the "literal genie" [0]. Has anyone actually taken them as a serious suggestion in AI ethics? [0] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LiteralGenie
Seconded. Somehow, the fact that the Three Laws are broken and Asimov's works are all about showing how and why they're broken is something that most people missed. The popular culture ran off with the Laws, forgetting the context.