[Robotgroup] Mission statement discussion

[Marc Emerson]

I think rights apply to information more than machines. 
Machines obey physics.  
I always assumed robots to be the marriage of electrical engineering,
mechanical engineering, computer engineering, and software engineering.
Is there such a thing as a robot that doesn't move?





-----Original Message-----
From: robotgroup-bounces at puremagic.com
[mailto:robotgroup-bounces at puremagic.com] On Behalf Of Vern Graner
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 12:39 PM
To: brooksdesign; Austin Robotgroup Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Robotgroup] Mission statement discussion

brooksdesign wrote:

 > This may seem like a joke but ,we should have some
 > mention of the respect or preparation for :ROBOT RIGHTS
 > I know this sound nuts

I started to try and think about how we could codify this.. I guess, for

example, if you used some organic material as a key component of the 
robot i.e. a roach:

http://www.intercorr.com/roach.htm

You could then start to try and describe or codify "rights" for the 
organic component.... But then, if you reduce it, you would have to say 
this is more like "roach rights" rather than "robot rights" as the roach

is just "wearing" the robot...

"Robot Rights" might be a good way to get publicity, or as a theme to 
explore for a sci-fi type article, but in reality assemblies of chips, 
sensors & code do not have self-awareness nor emotional states so laws 
to protect them from harm or abuse are unnecessary...?

Also, since we don't really have a definition of "robot" that everyone 
can agree on, so how would we define rights for something we cannot
define?

Vern

-- 
Vern Graner CNE/CNA/SSE    | "If the network is down, then you're
Senior Systems Engineer    | obviously incompetent so why are we
Texas Information Services | paying you? Of course, if the network
http://www.txis.com        | is up, then we obviously don't need
Austin Office 512 328-8947 | you, so why are we paying you?" (c)VLG
_______________________________________________
Robotgroup mailing list
Robotgroup at puremagic.com
http://lists.puremagic.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/robotgroup