Nell Watson - Robots Could ‘Kill Us Out of Kindness’ If We Don’t Teach Them To Appreciate Human Values

Nell Watson - Robots Could ‘Kill Us Out of Kindness’ If We Don’t Teach Them To Appreciate Human Values

3 October 2014, 15:11
EmmeMe
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A well-known futurist warns that one day robots could “kill us out of kindness” if we don’t teach them to appreciate human values.

This is what Nell Watson, a leading engineer and futurist, said at The Conference in Malmo, Sweden, speaking of the potential dangers that threaten humanity in case robots become extremely intelligent but lack values.

In her opinion, machines will soon reach the level of cognition of bumblebees, which are aware of the environment and social structure: “Machines are going to be aware of the environments around them and, to a small extent, they’re going to be aware of themselves.”

Ms Watson thinks that advances in robotics will soon dramatically change our society. Not only will we have robot servants at home, but a number of professions, including certain medical care and law jobs, will be undertaken by machines. However, the futurist does not see it as a negative thing, noting that robots could help us better understand ourselves and even persuade us to have healthier and more productive lifestyles.

"We're starting to understand the secrets of the human brain," Watson points out, while at the same time we're getting better at programming computers with deep learning. Soon it will be the case that a chip has the same level of cognition as a bumblebee. Bumblebees aren't smart, but they are capable of navigating both a social structure and the environment. This, she says, will probably be the first real example of machines exhibiting system one thinking. "Machines are going to be aware of the environments around them and, to a small extent, they're going to be aware of themselves."


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