14: Rights of Robots

In our class we spoke several times about if robots should have rights. It has been discussed in the texts such as The Bicentenial Man and in Star Trek. I don't know if robots should have a full set of rights but they should be protected. They shouldn't have to do anything that puts them at risk unless something is in direct harm to humans. In The Bicentenial Man there are laws to protect robots, however these laws are not strictly enforced. The laws that they have are adequate, if there is an adequate enforcement. If there is not an adequate enforcement people will use robots for whatever they want, whether it is for good, bad, or simply entertaining. Unless these laws would become strictly enforced the robot will never get a considerable amount of respect. They won't be respected as long as they are bound to do whatever a human tells them to just because the human is a human. As long as this exists the robot will never be seen as anything more than a common tool. The robot unlike the character, Andrew, will never fully become recognized as a human. Part of this is because humans would fear robots because they will be outlived by them.