Enter the MatrixAnd all of this is well within our lifetimes.
But what consequences could there really be?
Assuming the end of the oil bell-curve and impending ice-age aren’t factors, and we have “living†machines roaming around us, what next?
Should we really be giving them rights? This implies they actually care enough to have rights, and if they care enough to have rights, what is preventing them from violently giving it to themselves?
If a robot could sue you, wouldn’t that imply it had some mechanism for determining it has been wronged in some manner?
If it has a sense of self such that it feels it should not be wronged, and should be treated on an equal level with humans, what exactly dictates its retaliatory actions and where do they draw the line?
If humans are an indication, they would be capable of murder, and what stops them from taking over the earth?
Would some robots be “good†and some be “bad�
Would we be at war with robots, in an us-vs.-them-style combat?
Would some of them join in with us?
Would they plan to exterminate us entirely?
Would they just to decide to kill off humans they felt unfit for society but protect the “worthy†ones?
Would they play a decent game of chess and argue over the Internet?
L. Spiro