>First prove that a computer is capable of 'free speech' and forming opinions Alright, let's try some plausible examples with present-day technology. Let's sup

>First prove that a computer is capable of 'free speech' and forming opinions Alright, let's try some plausible examples with present-day technology. Let's suppose I think people who use prostitutes are filthy perverts. I can say "People who use prostitutes are filthy perverts" with no fear. On the other hand, if I accuse a particular individual of being a filthy pervert, I may be liable for slander. Suppose I set up a computer outside a brothel using face-identification technology to determine who is going in and out of the brothel, and then program my computer to automatically publish a list of pronouncements: "Phil is a filthy pervert, James is a filthy pervert", and so on. Are those my slanderous opinions, or those of the computer? Similarly I can imagine all sorts of fun you could have with a computer programmed to automatically look through all available data for the correlation between race and IQ, identify whatever the lowest-IQ race may be, and then start sending racist letters to the editor of every major newspaper, saying "Man, [RACE P] is so stupid". A computer may not have opinions, but potentially objectionable speech can be algorithmically generated.