The reason for a robots code of ethics, says Nicole Pasulka: "Because the more human these robots become, the more likely they are to act like assholes."
I thought this was a nice combination: Pasulka reviews the coming age of the robots (because it is always the coming age of the robots) at The Morning News as Ravi Mangla reports on a day in the life of Baby 2.0 at McSweeneys.
The robots, that is, are already here.
Baby 2.0's day starts like this:
9:00 a.m. Baby takes Daddy's cell phone, makes $500 worth of calls to Venezuela, and sends 74 text messages. No, no, Baby. They can't wait until next year when Baby is finally old enough for her own cell phone. For now, they tell her to only use Daddy's phone for local calls.
9:01 a.m. Baby is flagged by U.S. intelligence.
10:00 a.m. Baby swallows Mommy's iPod Nano. Grandpa says, "Baby needs discipline." They take away Baby's coloring e-book and give her a box of crayons. She can't figure out how to fill in the pictures and pokes herself in the eye. They give Baby back her coloring e-book.
And ends just after this:
10:30 p.m. Baby resets TiVo to record reruns of The Wiggles. Mommy's show, The Hills, is skipped over. Bitter over the evening's transgressions, Daddy tells Baby off. Baby cries and complains on her blog. It is a sad day for Baby.
Although it all reminds me of Leave it to Roll-oh, that loveable metallic scamp from the 1940 World's Fair whose video clip I can't figure out how to embed in this post, it also makes me wonder what's with the obsession with robots as if robots are only mechanical, metallic, tin-canned, blocky grease-needing relics from Oz? Pasulka and Manga are right. Robots are everywhere.
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