Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

https://theconversation.com/is-it-ok-to-...dog-197538

EXCERPTS: . . . a young woman out on the town in Brisbane saw a dog-shaped robot trotting towards her and did what many of us might have felt an urge to do: she gave it a solid kick in the head.

After all, who hasn’t thought about lashing out at “intelligent” technologies that frustrate us as often as they serve us? Even if one disapproves of the young woman’s action (or sympathises with Stampy the “bionic quadruped”, a model also reportedly used by the Russian military), her impulse was quintessentially human.

As artificial intelligence and robotics are increasingly deployed to spy on and police us, it may even be a sign of healthy democracy that we’re suspicious of and occasionally hostile towards robots in our shared spaces.

Nevertheless, many people have the intuition that “violence” towards robots is wrong. However, as my research has shown, the ethics of kicking a robot dog are more complicated than might be expected.

[...] the robots we have today are just machines and feel nothing, so kicking them cannot be wrong because it hurts the robot. Moreover, we still don’t know what makes us conscious and have no idea about how to produce sentience in a robot...

[...] One obvious reason to criticise those who damage robots is that the robots are often the property of another person...

[...] Some philosophers have argued violence towards robots is wrong because it makes it more likely the perpetrator, or perhaps witnesses, will behave violently towards entities that can suffer. Abuse of robots may lower the barriers to abuse of humans and animals... (MORE - missing details)

Robot dog owner offers $500 reward after his beloved pet filmed the exact moment a woman allegedly kicked it in the head with her horrified friend rushing to the machine's aid.
https://youtu.be/_Thhtf3Qas0

(Jan 12, 2023 04:08 PM)C C Wrote: [ -> ][...] One obvious reason to criticise those who damage robots is that the robots are often the property of another person...

And? If you leave your property unattended in public, it's very likely to be taken or vandalized. That's why people don't generally leave valuables laying about. Unless you robot can protect itself, with at lease a car alarm, you probably shouldn't leave it just anywhere.

Quote:[...] Some philosophers have argued violence towards robots is wrong because it makes it more likely the perpetrator, or perhaps witnesses, will behave violently towards entities that can suffer. Abuse of robots may lower the barriers to abuse of humans and animals...

Same debunked argument as violent video games supposedly making people more violent. Those philosophers should get a little real world experience.

If the path of a human and a robot (dog) look like crossing and the robot (dog) doesn't give way then I'd say kicking it out of the way was fine. If a robot or flesh and blood dog isn't trained to defer to humans then a good kick is exactly the training it needs.
Taking it to the American extreme..
If a dog/robot/mountain lion bars your way with unknown intent.. can you legally shoot it?
If you can shoot one of them then the rest are fair game.
I would expect some come-back from the owner of dead thing - like you killed my X.
No - the owner killed the X by failing to train it properly.
As an animal lover I'd hang fire on the mountain lion for longer than either the robot or dog.

(Jan 13, 2023 02:33 AM)confused2 Wrote: [ -> ]...I'd hang fire on the mountain lion for longer than either the robot or dog.

An aggressive dog won't stop, a robot dog is just annoying, but a mountain lion will give up once it knows you're not easy prey.

Robot dog owner probably kicks the thing when it stops working just like anyone would do to a machine that quits, give it a good whack, you never know.

(Jan 13, 2023 04:08 AM)Syne Wrote: [ -> ]

(Jan 13, 2023 02:33 AM)confused2 Wrote: [ -> ]...I'd hang fire on the mountain lion for longer than either the robot or dog.

An aggressive dog won't stop, a robot dog is just annoying, but a mountain lion will give up once it knows you're not easy prey.

"Hang fire" means wait before firing - in case that didn't translate properly.

We don't have lions in Blighty but we do have cows. Cows are sensible animals and deal with the cause of the problem..

"Of the 18 members of the public [killed by cows in the UK] , all were present on public footpaths or commonly used rights of way, all but one were accompanied by a dog .."

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho...27266.html

Not known what kind of stupidity was involved in the no-dog attack.

I suspect cows would take similar action against the owners of nuisance robots.

Cows officially the most deadly large animals in Britain [...] "As 70% of these deaths involved either a bull or newly calved cow, activities with these stock should be carefully planned," it said.

I was going to say, they're claiming "cows" rather than cattle (bulls added) being responsible? There had to be contingent circumstances like motherhood for cows to be singled out in the title as solely being responsible for the human deaths. (Which still isn't justified if bulls are indeed part of the count.)

I'm getting Westworld vibes.

That's the underlying premise of that series - can robots feel pain or are they merely programmed to ''behave'' in ways that mirror what we'd consider to be feelings of pain? At what point, do we decide that something is living?

A girl giving a robot a swift kick might have been reactionary.

Firstly a roboty steaming towards your leg might cause concern that it won't stop, so survial instincts could kick in, or more appropiately kick the robotic quadraped.

Secondly, is that a camera lens.... Cameras and skirts aren't something that girls and women of many ages are going to find particularly appropiate, so what better way of stopping a rogue autonomous k9 from getting jiggy with your privvy. Nickernackedpedowhacked that robotic dog is being sent home (Without a bone).

(Jan 13, 2023 10:24 PM)stryder Wrote: [ -> ]A girl giving a robot a swift kick might have been reactionary.

Firstly a roboty steaming towards your leg might cause concern that it won't stop, so survial instincts could kick in, or more appropiately kick the robotic quadraped.

Secondly, is that a camera lens.... Cameras and skirts aren't something that girls and women of many ages are going to find particularly appropiate, so what better way of stopping a rogue autonomous k9 from getting jiggy with your privvy.  Nickernackedpedowhacked that robotic dog is being sent home (Without a bone).

I think Stryder has it - whatever else - she was well within the bounds of reasonable behaviour to give the low level camera a kick or even destroy it completely.

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If I'd actually watched the clip first I wouldn't have gone off into mountain lions and cow territory - still applies but the immediate thing is about up-skirting.