X-Message-Number: 17936
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2001 06:48:46 -0600
From: " - www.IGGY.net - Kansas City Homes" <>
Subject: Robots & Consciousness

> Message #17933
> From: Dave Shipman <>
> Subject: Re: The Old Consciousness Thing
>
> There are two reasons why I care about whether a machine is conscious or
> not. First, I think we have ethical responsibilities toward conscious
> machines. For example, we should not leave the robot's "pain test circuit"
> on for long periods of time, especially if the dial is set to
> "Excruciating". And many have asked whether it is ethical to turn a
> conscious machine off. Is that equivalent to murder? But I believe the
more
> important question may be whether we should turn it on in the first place.
> I think the responsibilities are similar to those we have in bringing a
> child into the world. Before we build robot factories churning out
> conscious entities by the billions, we should think about what we are
> doing.
>


I cannot speak about factories churning robots out by the millions, but I
have just obtained my first robot lawn mower!

For more information and many photos see my web site
http://www.iggy.net/robot.htm - enjoy! You can also request a one minute
mpeg movie with him as a mowing star :o) Send a request to my autoresponder


The site for the manufacturer is http://www.FriendlyRobotics.com.

In Kansas City area mowing season starts in April and actually looks like my
lawn will be still mowed around Thanksgiving! That is 8 months X 4.2 Weeks =
33 weeks approx X 1.5 hrs = lots of time per year saved for me and given to
my family and my business. My front and back yard looks perfect. My kids pet
"Robie", wish him good night, my son enjoys taking him out of the garage or
back to recharge off the wall socket with the Nintendo like control, push
one button and off he goes! I wash him once in a while :o) to make me feel
good :o) - after all, I am not working, "Robie" is! :o) . I took the robot
to my son's second grade. It was a blast! You should have seen the eyes of
the kids lit up when they saw the robot actually mow! My daughter is talking
to her 4th grade teacher about a demonstration like this.

I wonder sometimes if it is the thrill of having something like this as a
novelty or just the future coming
The above e-mail got me thinking if all the future gadgets to come out are
just for people's convenience and we'll be using them as the regular lawn
mower or there will be a certain bond between our robots and us? Will there
be "Rules of Robotics" postulated, would there be relationships built? Will
there be Isaac Azimov's future eventually?

For this Thanksgiving I am working on a postcard that'll go out to my real
estate clients. One of the suggestions from other real estate agents was to
"dress up" Robie in feathers, have a belt with a buckle around him, put a
Pilgrim hat on and put his picture on the front of the postcard with a
caption "Guess what I am thankful for?... No more mowing for me!"

This is where sanity and reality meet, according to my wife :o)

Signing off as "I, Robot" :o).........

Sincerely,

IGGY Dybal

RE/MAX - KANSAS CITY

E-mail:    Web site:  http://www.IGGY.net
Ph: (913) 894-4024 Toll-free: (877) 550-IGGY/ 550-4449 Fax: (913) 894-4024

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