Isaac Asimov: The Three Laws of Robotics 1942

[MeccaNoid Madness]

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders conflict with the first law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law. )

Is this outdated or still applies, what do you think?

[mklrobo]

  Hello!
The three laws, I think, are really for humans to design robots by. no one (human) would want a
robot to bring injury to another person.(unless, it was a terminator!)
Does the class of robot dictate philosophy of the morals of the robot? Meaning, if there are terminator
robots made for war, then domestic robots made for personal use, what is to stop someone from
transferring one "mindset" of one robot to another? If that is done, then how would we know if an
accidental software transfer at the factory was done, and a "mutant" robot was created?
The best thing to do, is to limit the "mind" of the robot to dedicated work related areas, and avoid
using them for war. This limitation will never happen, as any advantage will soon be used to obtain
supremacy. Having said all this, maybe we should use the laws for robots on ourselves(1st law);
and lead by example. What are the odds of that happening?    Good thought invoking question. 

[MeccaNoid Madness]

I think the primary application (beside industrial robots) will be the military, people would rather have robots blown up, then their sons or daughters. The drones that the military has now is the first step in to this scary subject.

If it evolves and it will, in a couple of decades, the drones will become more self dependent and much more powerful(weapons).

You are right, if humans follow the 1st law, we would not have to worry about this, but they won't.

[gtabasso]

You may enjoy reading The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee.