25 March 2008

Robot love

Humanity is an act: it is something we do. When our robots become pets, carers, even companions, we will, quite naturally, feel the urge to treat them well. When it comes to being human, we will give them the benefit of the doubt, the way we give the benefit of the doubt to our pets, our children, and each other.
-- from Learning to love robots by Simon Ings.
The evolution of robots will be similar to that of animals. They will be designed according to whatever is best for their own ecological circumstances. These robots will be bought and sold and will therefore have to compete in the marketplace [sic] against other robots and against humans willing to carry out the same tasks. This ecological competition will lead to the evolution of certain attributes, among them robustness, speed of reaction, self-sufficiency, and autonomy.
-- from Guilty Robots, Happy Dogs by David McFarland

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