The Washington Post is carrying a fascinating story about the emotional bonds US Armed Forces form with their robots. From the article,
“Ours was called Sgt. Talon,” says Sgt. Michael Maxson of the 737th Ordnance Company (EOD). “We always wanted him as our main robot. Every time he was working, nothing bad ever happened. He always got the job done. He took a couple of detonations in front of his face and didn’t stop working. One time, he actually did break down in a mission, and we sent another robot in and it got blown to pieces. It’s like he shut down because he knew something bad would happen.” The troops promoted the robot to staff sergeant — a high honor, since that usually means a squad leader. They also awarded it three “purple hearts.”
And later in the article, possibly even more fascinating:
“I’ve been a proponent for a long time of painting a mouth and eyes on the Global Hawk,” the Learjet-size surveillance bot, says retired Col. Tom Ehrhard, a former chief of the Air Force’s “Skunk Works” — its strategy, concepts and doctrine division. “It looks like a blind mole. Give it some character. Make it easier for humans to deal with — more animate. Humans are social animals. Make that other thing part of your family, your social structure. Try to animate and make either fearsome or lovable your implements of war.”
Pretty amazing stuff, brings to mind all kinds of thoughts about evolving ethics that I should probably channel into what I’m supposed to be doing instead of blogging.
Wow. Plain old mechanical ‘bots gets this kind of reaction. Interesting. I guess that being through combat with a ‘bot, which often might play a significant role and might save your life, would give you a more appreciative view of it.
I’m reminded of Picard’s speech defending Data as a sentient being in Star Trek: TNG, and Data’s defense of “exocomp” drones. And I have a nerdy enough reputation to survive making Trek references, I think.
Still, is it anthropomorphism? If we had, say, an abused but disembodied AI ( a la HAL or Durandal, though perhaps less psychotic ), would humans sympathize just the same?
I’m not sure it’s anthropomorphism so much as social substitution. I suspect soldiers aren’t imbueing their robots with human qualities because they they appear like humans (Kismet) or sound human (HAL), but rather because they fulfil a social role of vital importance (saving lives through self-sacrifice). I think if we had good reason to believe a disembodied AI was sacrificing itself similarly, or we had evidence to that effect, then we would probably give it the same social treatment.
Also, both your ability and willingness to cite Trek and Marathon in one comment cows me into nerd submission.
Also also, anyone interested in a TNG marathon some time this summer? We could all vote on the best 5 eps or something and hole up somewhere and watch them. We could invite Coye.