Stanford CIS

Robot rights rule!

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"An ethicist says that now is the time to ponder the enigmatic questions of cyber law: “Robotic systems accomplish tasks in ways that cannot be anticipated in advance; and robots increasingly blur the line between person and instrument,” says Ryan Calo, a professor at the University of Washington School of Law. If, in the future, a demonstrably sentient machine claims the right that humans have to procreate, or build copies of itself, who can say nay? When the multiplying machines petition for the right of representation in governance, men and women born of nature will face an ethical dilemma. “Which right do we take away from this sentient entity, then,” Professor Calo asks, “the fundamental right to copy, or the deep, democratic right to participate?”"