Congress calls for robot caucus

Apparently adrenalized by Bill Gates's rousing Scientific American manifesto A Robot in Every Home, Congressmen Mike Doyle and Zach Wamp have called for the first robot caucus to convene in Washington. Spurred into action by the idea that "the robotics industry is developing in much the same way as the computer business did 30 years ago", Doyle hopes to promote robot awareness, work on robot policy, and educate Congress on issues in robotics to ensure "that our nation remains globally competitive". Wamp added that he looks forward to the caucus's first order of business: identifying which congresspeople are, in fact, robots themselves.

[Mile @ Jun 21st 2007 9:52AM]

I think the existing three laws are enough and cover every concievable possibility.

[Bogsnogger @ Jun 21st 2007 10:13AM]

Hasn't Hollywood warned us enough?

[Gil @ Jun 21st 2007 10:14AM]

Didn't the I Robot short stories explain that the laws are ineffective? Oh wait... they did.

I'm not even going to go into the fact that they're impossible to implement.

[Mile @ Jun 21st 2007 10:37AM]

That was fiction!

[John Doe @ Jun 21st 2007 2:31PM]

"That was fiction!"

So is any agenda put forth by Congress so it work out in the end.

[Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Jun 21st 2007 10:17AM]

My tax dollars are going to this shit?

[Lurker007 @ Jun 21st 2007 10:25AM]

What?! No Al Gore jokes? You guys are loosing your creative edge.

[DJBro @ Jun 21st 2007 1:59PM]

Everyone knows Al Gore is the one who actually invented the robot caucus. I mean, its pretty much common knowledge that Al Gore is going to accelerate global warming by the increased electricity consumption of said robots, causing the world to be taken over by robots who are highly adapted to the temperatures caused by the impending ice age.

[L. Cyphre @ Jun 21st 2007 10:29AM]

I for one welcome our-ouch! What's with the rocks guys!?

[tiuk @ Jun 21st 2007 10:48AM]

Awesome picture.

[Ari B. @ Jun 21st 2007 11:41AM]

The Cylons were created by man...
:-)

[Ari B @ Jun 22nd 2007 11:10AM]

There are many copies.
(this is a DIFFERENT Ari B replying...)

[club @ Jun 21st 2007 11:53AM]

0. A robot may not harm humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
1. A robot may not harm a human, or through inaction, allow a human to come to harm unless this action conflicts with the zeroith law.
2.A robot must follow human orders, unless these orders conflict with the first or zeroth laws.
3. A robot may defend its own existence, as long as this protection does not conflict with the zeroth, first, or second laws.

We don't want the robots taking over to protect us do we? We need the 0th law to protect our souls! :[

[John Doe @ Jun 21st 2007 2:34PM]

The problem is what happens if the robot thinks its actions are helping humanity....harm is a in the eye of the beholder. Physical injury or death isn't the sole defining characteristic of "harm".

[mastershake3 @ Jun 21st 2007 1:14PM]

All I have to say is 30 years from now when robots start protesting for civil rights and the destruction of man is on the horizion, just remember this guy tried to get us on track ahead of time and everyone laughed at him....just like they did when there was talk about freeing slaves, or giving women the right to vote, or enviromentalism etc.