Artificial Intelligence and a Dr Pepper

Sitting at my computer desk, cigarette in hand and a bottle of Mountain Dew at my beck and call, I had a silly little thought come to mind that I decided to post.

Right click. Mr Jones turns on his Stereo and listens to what I tell him to. He dances for a while and gets bored, typical. So I send him to his fridge and force him to drink a Dr Pepper.

He doesn't seem too grateful.

"Excuse me, Mr Computer Game Player... please DON'T make me drink Dr Pepper anymore."

I look at the screen and blink. I've had too much Mountain Dew.

Petty rambling aside, if we developed Artificial Intelligence that truly could think for itself, what implications would that have?

If a Computer Character murdered another in cold blood, should it be charged? Many would say 'No' simply for the fact that they aren't REAL anyway.

What if a Computer Character somehow hacked itself into the program of a military Fighter Jet and unleashed a night of missile firing and general mayhem, should it be charged then? After all, it knows what it's doing, and caused death and destruction to REAL people.

We could easily say that it is the fault of the A.I creators for making something so smart, but we all know it was bound to happen. Are the parents of a Serial Killer to blame for the actions of their murderous child? The child has free will, much as an Artificially Intelligent being does.

Should a 'Death Penalty' exist for such violent and saddistic creations? Should they have the benefit of a Lawyer?

Would we allow them to vote? If they were highly intelligent, then they could even run for President.

What if a virus should infect their programming? Are we obliged to fix it for them? Would we deny Cancer Treatment for a human sufferer? If the A.I being truly expressed a kind of discomfort, that to me poses a real debate.

Would they be allowed to procreate? All they would have to do is write up a few more lines of code and they'd have some progeny. Thing is, they'd need the computing memory, a place to live.

Could they 'pay' for their homes and right to bear 'children' by taking on jobs?

We all know that a super smart computer can do many jobs if given the chance.

All in all, a million possibilites exist. Marriage, Divorce etc etc.

What could we expect to encounter in the future in regard to this kind of man-made technology which is bound to come to pass?

Good start but computers cant have chldren yet

reply to post by Unrealised


If you have not already, read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Excellent, excellent book. The series is great, but the first book was fantastic. I think you would enjoy it.

Originally posted by jstarrthc24
Good start but computers cant have chldren yet

I would be referring more towards the actual program itself being able to procreate/replicate than the actual hardware giving birth through some sort of mechanical Vagina.

Originally posted by Libertygal
reply to post by Unrealised

 

If you have not already, read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Excellent, excellent book. The series is great, but the first book was fantastic. I think you would enjoy it.

I see. I just read the synopsis and it does look intriguing.

It reminds me of a post I put up on ATS a year or two ago. Basically it followed the same principles as Ender's Game, using children who play a Computer Game (highly addictive, of course) to control battle-droids on the battle-field.

It is a very interesting concept. Thankyou for pointing me in the direction of that story, I will definately look into it some more.