Planck's Constant Print Edition

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Killer robot
Flickr User: SoulCookie.

As much as we in the civilized world like to think we have advanced since the Dark Ages, we are still callous and insensitive to our fellow man. Consider the sad tale of an Australia man who had to resort to constructing a robot in order to end his life (1). It is ironic that robots are now more humane than human beings toward those who cannot abide living any longer.

That robots can be more sensitive and kind to the human species than our own kind is perhaps why sex with robots will be more desirable than sex with humans.

Can Skynet be far behind?

This is not the first instance of robots causing the death of a human.

The Economist,
8 Jun 2006,
Trust me, I'm a robot

IN 1981 Kenji Urada, a 37-year-old Japanese factory worker, climbed over a safety fence at a Kawasaki plant to carry out some maintenance work on a robot. In his haste, he failed to switch the robot off properly. Unable to sense him, the robot's powerful hydraulic arm kept on working and accidentally pushed the engineer into a grinding machine. His death made Urada the first recorded victim to die at the hands of a robot.

Actually, the Economist has it wrong, 2 years earlier a Michigan man was done in by a Ford auto plant robot (2).

Here is one good reason to hire an immigrant to mow your lawn instead of using automation:

Engadget,
31 May 2007,
Robot lawnmower kills Danish man

In what we surely hope isn't the opening salvo of the robot insurrection, a 45-year old Danish municipal worker was tragically killed by an industrial robotic lawnmower this afternoon, after the unit tumbled off a slope and onto the poor fellow doing his job. Although we've seen quite a few robotic lawnmowers, we're not too familiar with the RC-controlled Dvorak Spider 01 unit the man was using; our only hope is that this is, of course, an isolated incident.

I will not be able to look at my Roomba in the same way ever again. Obviously Human Collision Avoidance software (3) would not have helped the robotic lawnmower in this particular case.

But what about robots built specifically to kill others?

Responsible Nanotechnology,
15 Mar 2008,
Battlebots with a Conscience?

Thousands of robots are already on the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan, but what happens when you hand the robot a gun and turn it loose?

Some researchers fear that giving military robots autonomy as well as ammo is the first step toward a "Terminator"-style nightmare, while others suggest that in some scenarios, weapon-wielding robots could someday act more humanely than humans.

Planck's Constant,
and a cup of Euthanasia please

"A group of Florida businessmen has created a company called Euthanasia Cruises, Ltd. Each month the company takes 25 passengers on The Last Supper, a three-masted luxury sloop, for three days at sea before the passengers voluntarily end their lives by jumping into the ocean. Although a few passengers are terminally ill, most are able-bodied adults."

What is it about Euthanasia that threatens Americans? Spill some hot coffee on your hand and then ask yourself, would you want to live for years on end with that exact pain you are experiencing? We are kinder to our pets than we are to fellow human beings.