Is this the next step in PC for the US too?

Question

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/5ae9b434-8f8e-11db-9ba3-0000779e2340.html

I asked the question below and people didnt agree with the Denmark group for pedophila because it wasnt consenting Adults but how about this group? will they have the rights of marriage?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ai1osDGNtaUQPlrIpnGfUfjsy6IX?qid=20061212145122AAwIU5G

Answer 1

The article raises an interesting point, if Robots one day are programmed to have a conscience, they may be entitled to at least limited rights. If Robots of the future have a desire to get married (and I cannot figure out why humans would program them as such) and they can form decisions, then possibly they can have some sort of legal arrangement. We can't possibly conceptualize the possibilities and how people will react to advancing "robot's rights" - the phrase sounds outlandish and silly now. I bet in the future, they will not want to be called robots too. Intersting question.

Answer 2

Welcome to the brave new world.

Two questions come to mind:

If something is sentient, does that entitle it to the same rights as other sentient beings?

Can something that is created and programed by people ever be truly sentient?

If it is assumed that we should become so technologically advanced as to create sentient beings, we have become gods, and as such, we do owe it to our creations to endow them with certain rights. However, I can not imagine a way that this would be possible. It doesn't seem possible to program a machine that would be the equivalent of a human being. It would seem that the best that we could come up with would be some imitation of human emotions, cognitions, personality and "soul."

Answer 3

It's going to be quite a long time before robots are actually self-aware - possibly never...

I'm not going to lose sleep over this one.