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From: William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: OT: The Robots are coming.
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2024 16:15:50 -0500
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The Horny Goat wrote:
> On Wed, 11 Dec 2024 12:29:23 -0500, Cryptoengineer
> <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Asimov's 3 Laws were an idea to hang a bunch of stories around.
>>
>> There's tons of ambiguity (define "harm" for a start) which
>> allowed a lot of good stories - how would an Asimovian robot
>> approach the Trolley Problem, for example?
>>
>> AI is currently at the Wild West stage - there aren't much
>> in the way of controls.
>>
>> Within a very short time, if it hasn't happened already, we're
>> going to see war drones allowed to make lethal targetng decisions
>> on their own, to counter the ECM on the battlefield. There are
>> already anti-radiation loitering munitions that circle an area
>> until they detect a radar, and then decide to hit it, without
>> a human in the loop.
> 
> Surely it was obvious (even when the stories were first written) that
> Asimov's laws of robotics were a plot device numerous stories could
> make use of.

Asimov always maintained that the laws were first defined by Campbell, 
but Campbell said that the laws were implied in Asimov's early stories.

Both agreed (and remember that Campbell was an engineer) that the only 
rational way to make robots was with such safety protocols built in. 
Both had been irritated by the "robots run amok" stories of earlier 
times, just as many of us were later irritated by the trope of computers 
catching fire or exploding when presented with a paradox.

How they could think that given the cars of the 1930s I don't know, but 
Asimov didn't drive and perhaps Campbell was optimistic.

Asimov later commented that fortunately there were enough loopholes in 
the laws to allow many stories.

William Hyde