- joshmusser You mean to tell me I have never pl...
- joshmusser Thank you Mr. Zntrip. How I've...
- Zntrip That was great! I always like when ...
- rogre I especially like the part about hi...
- A Whole New World! (34)
- Ebolaworld Not So Live (31)
- New Cartoon in the Works! (19)
- A Message From Sam T (17)
- Home
- Advertise
- Archives
- Ask Taco-Man
- Cat and Fish
- Contact
- FAQ
- Grandpa
- History of Ebolaworld
- Messing with Seaman
- Products Page
- sidebar2
- Smokey the Cigarette
- Snowy the Frostman
- Store
- Taco-Man Plays a Video Game
- Taco-Man the Game Master
- The Good Life
- The Linda Show
- The Smurks
- The Stupid Adventures of Taco-Man
- Messed-Up Bible Stories
- Life in the Portal
Robots are people too.
Cute, right?
A new Movement has been sweeping the nation. A movement to stop the cruel treatment towards robots and machines. Spokesperson iHeart Bots had this to say “For too long, we have watched as robots are treated as second class citizens. Even though, they contribute more to society than any of else probably will. No longer! Or for little while longer, until our complaining starts to work. We demand action! Just look at this breathing dog. Look how cute it is. You can’t tell me that doesn’t matter. And look how many Neopets are going without food. If you don’t feed them, do they not hunger? If you kick a robotic dog, does it not feel pain? How can you justify such cruelty to these creatures?”
By Resident Robot expert, Tom Smith, disagrees. “These people are just basing their logic on feeling. We really need to protect the rights of less cuddly but more important robots. Such as manufacturing robots, robot vacuums, and even generic mp3 devices. They make our clothes and other goods, the sweep our floors, and allow us to listen to music, respectively. But manufacturing robots work long hours, no pay, and when they can no longer work they are tossed aside. Like, their replaceable. How many robots need of better batteries are unheard, just because they are made for non-glamorous jobs like a robot dog? I’m unsure of the number. But it’s probably on the high end.”
I’ll keep you updated on the movement as more informa….aww, screw. Nobody reading this anyways.
Image under Generic CC Attrubtion 2.0 by zerojay
Most of the arguments are about protecting the "rights" of those robots that simulate friendly conversation or other enjoyable interaction. some of the more advanced programs that allow negative reactions, such as a toy dog whining when its bone is taken away, cause people to think that these robots are actually capable of feeling. they aren't. the dog only "wants" the bone in the first place because its program tells it to act in a certain pattern due to certain stimuli, in this case probably an internal clock or random number generator. if the dog does not receive the bone after a time, it will either endlessly whine (such as a 'poochie' toy i once had when I was little. I lost the bone and had to shut down the dog because all it would ever do was whine.) or the progran will move onto another task in its list. To the program, all it is is things it must do. I don't really have a human example, as even actors or assembly line workers invest a little pride in their work, or at least derive benefit. the program simply executes machine code that boil down to simple physics. we have some incredibly advanced programs that can duplicate actual animals, though observers can deduce which is a real animal and which isn't.
a program doesn't have feelings, if only because we do not how to program feelings, just actions that simulate actions by a real creature or human given a similar stimulus.
this is even less true for factory robots, which aren't even programmed to simulate a behavior, just follow a series of actions to accomplish a task efficiently. a robot can monitor its battery status, and even may notify its operatior that a change is needed soon, but it can't "want" its batter changed because (a) it isn't programmed to "want" (b) it isn't harmed, or even "knows" what harm is. (c) it is not capable of pondering what the lack of battery power entails, it can't reflect on what it might mean to shut down. it has no consciousness! it has no sentience!
People die every day, are starving to death, and are the victim of atrocities knowingly and unknowingly by their fellow man, and people are worried about freaking ROBOTS? whats next? equal pay for screwdrivers? christ, some people…
Wow, excellent post. (especially, since you agree with me). You describe the differences between robots and humans quite well, and i believe you're right to say that robots aren't humans. and we should define what makes us human by more than emotion. However, even though we know this. we still tend to react as if they were alive. (which, I tried to hint a little bit in the second paragraph). Also our emotions tend favour the cuteness over other attributes. I'm reminded of the "survival of the cutest": http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/endangered_speci...
Anyways, i should note that this article is made up and the actual number of people who "care" about robots may have been exaggerated for comedic effect.
Robots will be the next illegal immigrants.