portegys (02/14/83)
Speculating some more along the lines of what robots may be
like, an interesting case would be if they were like us. The
question may be raised as to how this may be when they and us
will probably be made out of different stuff, but I think a
number of fairly recent arguments have stressed the idea that
things which are not at all like each other on one level may be
very similar on another. I will take that as a given for current
purposes. The level I am interested in here is the behavioral
level.
Suppose robots were like us in that they required a reinforcing
environment to prop up acceptable behavior. In other words,
if your household utility robot needs some sort of payoff to
keep it doing its thing for you. ("If you make the beds, I'll
give you a nice juicy plutonium pellet"). If that is true, then
they may fall into a behavior that humans frequently do, which is,
if the obstacle to the reward can be eliminated, then why not do
it. If I can get to the cookie jar by myself, then who needs you
mom?
But the dangerous possibility is if the human race comes to be seen
by an intelligent race of robots as an obstacle to the goals which
we have built into them. Considering our track record with other
species which we have viewed as obstacles, we would be in trouble.
PS: I may be sending this article into the great void, since
a number of net newsgroups seem to have died on my machine.
Tom Portegys, BTL IH, (...ihuxv!portegys)