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Why Asimov's Laws of Robotics Should Be Updated For the 21st Century


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Asimov's Laws of Robotics.

A professor at the University of Warwick in the U.K. suggests Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" need updating for the modern era, in which robots of increasing sophistication are being employed to conduct ever-more-complicated tasks designed to prot

Credit: Quora

Tom Sorell, a professor at the University of Warwick in the U.K., suggests Isaac Asimov's famed "Three Laws of Robotics"--envisioned as moral safeguards against robots harming humans--need updating for the modern era, in which robots of increasing sophistication are being employed to conduct ever-more-complicated tasks designed to protect and care for people.

For example, Sorell says the laws are problematic when applied to human-guided military drones designed for remote killing, which can be argued to be both adhering to and violating the First Law.

The laws are appropriate when the robot's purpose is to keep seniors safe, but robotics often falls into a spectrum of assistive tools designed to promote seniors' independence. The First Law would be violated, for example, if a robot allowed its human to make independent decisions leading to injury.

However, Sorell contends human autonomy must be maintained by both robots and other people.

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