What if it’s a trillion robots? What happens if they want to vote? Human vote wouldn’t even be a rounding error.
I had never considered this eventuality in a plural democratic human/robot society.
If a robot is conscious, is it OK to turn it off?
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Re: If a robot is conscious, is it OK to turn it off?
#22What if it’s a trillion robots? What happens if they want to vote? Human vote wouldn’t even be a rounding error.
They will likely be treated like pets soon enough, so not too worried about this.
And eventually, is it OK to leave them all on?
Re: If a robot is conscious, is it OK to turn it off?
#23What if it’s a trillion robots? What happens if they want to vote? Human vote wouldn’t even be a rounding error.
They will likely be treated like pets soon enough, so not too worried about this. And eventually, is it OK to leave them all on?
Maybe we will be the pets. Kept as zoo exhibits.
Ethics gets weird when the other side decides it doesn’t apply to you.
Re: If a robot is conscious, is it OK to turn it off?
#24Cmdr. Riker clearly thought so, because he literally did it. He did not like doing it, but it’s not clear to me if that’s out of a sense of respect for his friend, or because he thinks it hurts Data’s case: “And, now, a man will turn it off.” But, when he stops to smell the (literal) roses, does he enjoy it? In Time’s Arrow (Part 1), he mentions that he misses people when they are gone. His “neural pathways have grow…
He was also ordered to argue that position. If he failed to be convincing then Data would lose automatically.
Re: If a robot is conscious, is it OK to turn it off?
#25Cmdr. Riker clearly thought so, because he literally did it. He did not like doing it, but it’s not clear to me if that’s out of a sense of respect for his friend, or because he thinks it hurts Data’s case: “And, now, a man will turn it off.” But, when he stops to smell the (literal) roses, does he enjoy it? In Time’s Arrow (Part 1), he mentions that he misses people when they are gone. His “neural pathways have grow…
He was also ordered to argue that position. If he failed to be convincing then Data would lose automatically.
Yes, but, a Starfleet officer doing something blatantly unethical in an official hearing probably wouldn't sit well with command.
Re: If a robot is conscious, is it OK to turn it off?
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#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
the obvious differentiator being consent...
Not really. People who come into a hospital unresponsive may need emergency surgery. In that case, obtaining consent from them is impossible, yet, ER docs, anesthesiologists, and surgeons clearly have no ethical problem administering general anesthesia without consent, in such a case.
A more accurate parallel to the ER scenario would be replacing hardware in an AI. In which case I would assume, like a human, the AI would "realise" it was a necessary action for it to "live".
But the question remains, if it is not _necessary_ to the AI's proper functioning, would it be okay to turn it off? A human parallel to that is more like sedating your workers when they're not needed.