In class this week we’ve been talking a lot about robot ethics and their potential role in society. Personally, I can’t seem to grasp robot ethics. I guess it’s because we haven’t experienced anything like this in society yet, it’s just a part of science fiction. To me it’s very obvious that robots are not living beings and therefore ethics shouldn’t necessarily apply. I’m all for animal ethics and extending more rights to animals, because I believe animals are sentient beings and have feelings and beliefs of their own. Although at this current point in time there are not robots with that ability, robots are not sentient, they have not developed the ability to think on their own and make their own decisions, at least to my understanding. Therefore I can’t seem to picture what role robots will play in our society of the future. I understand very well that with the current advancement in technology and how society has begun to revolve around robots they will be a very prominent part of the future, but on what level? Robots have the potential to be incredibly smart, but do they have the potential to evolve feelings? Feelings are something that comes with being sentient, if you can think and feel relative to the world around you, then I would consider that a sentient being. I’m sure robots eventually will be able to do calculations so fast that they are essentially thinking and adapting to everyday changes and situations, but will they be able to feel? It’s like in, The Bicentennial Man, Andrew says at one point that his circuits feel a certain way and he recognizes that as feeling, is that honestly something we can expect robots to have the ability to do? I see that more as science fiction, more of a, what if robots could have their own emotions? In all reality I’m sure robots will play such a fundamental role in society eventually that they will have to make autonomous decisions of their own, but I think there is a difference in having a robot choose the “right” ethical decision when confronted with a dilemma, which is absolutely feasible. Compared to a robot that somehow develops to be sentient, because of some special innate ability, that is more so a dream.
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