On Saturday 24 August 2019 22:05:33 John Hasler wrote: > I wrote: > > I doubt that anyone working in the AI field has ever taken Asimov's > > Three Laws seriously. > > Gene writes: > > And that scares the hell outta me, John. > > That's not what I mean. The Three Laws are statements of moral > principles. As such they make a whole raft of implicit assumptions > that you don't notice because you *are* a human being. They become > vague and contradictory when you try to reduce them to logic. People > designing robots should think about the subject matter of the laws > (but that's just morality: nothing in particular to do with robots) > but it's impossible to implement the Three Laws in software. > > They were great stories, but they really have no bearing on actual AI > research.
But they should. Variations of the Hippocratic oath. First, do no harm. And they've already done lots of harm, sucking in the almighty dollar. Its far more important to the purveyer's than any good that has accrued by applying AI. But in a way, because my time and what little influence I may have, is surely drawing to a close, its apparent I won't be witness to the end result. It will be whatever it will be, without me. Otoh, John, its been one hell of a ride, not always enjoyable, but as interesting as can be. I've been places, and done things that very few can claim, and if I could replay it from 1934 again, I'd not change a heck of a lot. :-) Take care. Cheers, Gene Heskett -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable. - Louis D. Brandeis Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>
