the laws of robotics

[miriam_e]

I guess most science fiction readers would know of Isaac Asimov's 3 laws of robotics. How many of you realise that there is a fourth law? I didn't... till today. Apparently Isaac Asimov added a law zero to the other three:

0 - A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
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 the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would 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 Laws.

Comments

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

The three laws are really neat. Inventing them caused Mr Asimov much glee, I suspect, in finding new ways to circumvent them in his stories. :)

In the end I think the three laws will be unusable. Robots will never be simple enough to program straightforward laws like that if they are complex enough to wash the dishes and take out the trash and feed the dog. And by the time they get to be able to understand the laws in a conceptual fashion they will no longer apply anyway because they will then be equal to humans and deserving of emancipation... though I believe they won't want independance, even when they are our superiors. See my short story Love Honour and Obey on my website at
http://werple.net.au/~miriam/#stories
for an explanation of why.