According to the Financial Times on Dec. 19, 2006
"We may one day give sentient machines the kind of rights traditionally reserved for
humans, according to the British government-commissioned Horizon Scan report. "If granted full rights, states will be obligated to provide full social benefits to them including income support, housing and possibly robo-healthcare to fix the machines over time," it says."
"If we make conscious robots they would want to have rights and they probably should,"said Henrik Christensen, director of the Centre of Robotics and Intelligent Machines at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The idea will not surprise science fiction aficionados. It was widely explored by Dr
Isaac Asimov, one of the foremost science fiction writers of the 20th century. He wrote of a society where robots were fully integrated and essential in day-to-day life. In his system, the "three laws of robotics" governed machine life. They decreed that robots could not injure humans, must obey orders and protect their own existence -- in that order.
Robots and machines are now classed as inanimate objects without rights or duties but if artificial intelligence becomes ubiquitous, the report argues, there may be calls for
human rights to be extended to them. It is also logical that such rights are meted out
with citizens duties, including voting, paying tax and compulsory military service.
© 2005-2006
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