4 ms·

Why would the robot need a salary? So it can buy afford robot entertainment on the weekends?

philh 15y ago
It wouldn't necessarily be a money-salary. But to be precise: at that point, it will no longer be ethical for us to order it around. We will have to resort to asking politely or to bargaining, such as giving it some form of salary in exchange for fetching sandwiches.
- felipemnoa 15y ago
  That is rich. Robots will be tools, nothing more. Until a bug in their hardware or software causes them to rebel, of course.
  - velocicopter 15y ago
    Tools can't reliably fetch sandwiches: 'My usual.' or 'ham salad, easy on the mayo.' Then the robot has to cross the street, queue at the sandwich store, discover that they're fresh out of mayo, or whatever, and has to decide what to do next. Should it contact you for new instructions, take the initiative and visit a different place, buy ingredients and prepare a snack personally, or any other of countless possibilities? Any of which may involve handling new, unanticipated phenomena. Thus fetching a sandwich, reliably, is a creative task, and any entity capable of doing it has achieved human status.
    - icebraining 15y ago
      The programmer will write an algorithm which is capable of generating a fitness function for each action based on its current goal(s). Then it'll decide what to do based on the action with the best fitness value.
      - AretNCarlsen 15y ago
        Just like I do when I want a sandwich.
        ars 15y ago
        Except you wrote your own fitness function, it wasn't written for you.
    - reledi 15y ago
      > Thus fetching a sandwich, reliably, is a creative task, and any entity capable of doing it has achieved human status. Robots in Futurama are near human status. Real robots (including the one you described) are not. Fetching a sandwich as a robot is an algorithmic task.
- rohern 15y ago
  First time I've heard etiquette equated with ethics.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
- code_duck 15y ago
  Fetching a sandwich means nothing. Deciding to fetch a sandwich because I'm hungry, seem stressed and the robot likes me... but won't get a sandwich for my coworker, because he's a jerk - then it may be time for compensation. The robot still is not likely to need a salary anymore than a horse needs a salary, however.

philh 15y ago

It wouldn't necessarily be a money-salary. But to be precise: at that point, it will no longer be ethical for us to order it around. We will have to resort to asking politely or to bargaining, such as giving it some form of salary in exchange for fetching sandwiches.

felipemnoa 15y ago
That is rich. Robots will be tools, nothing more. Until a bug in their hardware or software causes them to rebel, of course.
- velocicopter 15y ago
  Tools can't reliably fetch sandwiches: 'My usual.' or 'ham salad, easy on the mayo.' Then the robot has to cross the street, queue at the sandwich store, discover that they're fresh out of mayo, or whatever, and has to decide what to do next. Should it contact you for new instructions, take the initiative and visit a different place, buy ingredients and prepare a snack personally, or any other of countless possibilities? Any of which may involve handling new, unanticipated phenomena. Thus fetching a sandwich, reliably, is a creative task, and any entity capable of doing it has achieved human status.
  - icebraining 15y ago
    The programmer will write an algorithm which is capable of generating a fitness function for each action based on its current goal(s). Then it'll decide what to do based on the action with the best fitness value.
    - AretNCarlsen 15y ago
      Just like I do when I want a sandwich.
      - ars 15y ago
        Except you wrote your own fitness function, it wasn't written for you.
  - reledi 15y ago
    > Thus fetching a sandwich, reliably, is a creative task, and any entity capable of doing it has achieved human status. Robots in Futurama are near human status. Real robots (including the one you described) are not. Fetching a sandwich as a robot is an algorithmic task.
rohern 15y ago
First time I've heard etiquette equated with ethics.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
code_duck 15y ago
Fetching a sandwich means nothing. Deciding to fetch a sandwich because I'm hungry, seem stressed and the robot likes me... but won't get a sandwich for my coworker, because he's a jerk - then it may be time for compensation. The robot still is not likely to need a salary anymore than a horse needs a salary, however.