After watching the movie I, Robot and analyzing it with the concepts of ethics in minds, there are many ethical issues that arise with the technology shown in that movie. The movie takes place in 2035 and is about robots that are programmed with Three Laws: First Law-A robot must never harm a human being or, through inaction, allow any harm to come to a human; Second Law-A robot must obey the orders given to them by human beings, except where such orders violate the First Law; Third Law- A robot must protect its own existence unless this violates the First or Second Laws.
These robots were to be used by humans as servants for common tasks. The questions concerned with ethics that this movies raises have to do with the ability of the robots to make emotional or ethical decisions, whether they should have the same rights as humans or not, and if robots should be used for battles or wars. In the movie I, Robot, Will Smith playing the role of a detective, gets saved by a robot when he and a little girl were drowning trapped in a car that fell into the river.The reason, as we find out, that the robot save Smith is because calculations showed that he had a better chance of survival than the little girl did.
This causes Will Smith to dislike robots and not trust them with anything throughout the entire movie. This is also a part of the movie that makes the audience think about the decision making abilities of robots. The robot that saved Will Smith instead of the little girl decided solely based on his calculations on which one had a better chance to survive.The question that comes with that is, "what would a human have done? " Due to the fact that Smith had a better chance of surviving, it would have made more sense to help the little girl who was also trapped but because the robot that saved Smith could not make decisions based off of emotion compassion and the little girl drowned.
The other concern with this is the ethics of the dicision this robot made. In the article, World Future Review, it talks about robots the "Huamn-robot emotional relationship" as a concern that comes with the advancement of this technology.This relates to the movie and particularly the scene in which the little girl drowns, because the robot had not emotions to begin with. All it had was calculations which is used to save the person who had a better chance of survival. This decision was unethical because saving someone who has a better chance of survival solely for that reason is immoral.
The little girl was helpless and needed more assistance than the fully grown Will Smith, a fact that any human would have been able to see and consider when making such a decision.The other issue that the movie I, Robot brings forward with robots, is whether or not they should be given the same rights as humans are. In the movie they live by three laws, which can be seen as unethical. The First Law basically says that a robot can not harm a human and can not allow any harm to a human, in essence it has to protect a human from any harm. The issue with this law is that every situation is different and it may be unethical to protect some people, for example a criminal, who has committed a crime or harm to another person.
The second law tells robots that they must obey every order they are given, unless the order violates the first law. The problem with this is that if an order is unethical, even though it does not violate the first law, the robot must comply and do what it is told. These are two of the three laws that robots were to live by in the movie, but to give them the same rights as humans have would set them free from these laws and create chaos. The reason for that is because these robots are not programmed to generate emotion and they do not have the complexity of human brain to make ethical decisions.In the movie robots are showm slmost like slaves, until the system that powers them is tweaked and they all turn to take over the human race.
This is another ethical issue with this technology because slavery is an unethical act. Humans were given the freedom from slavery a very long time ago and using a robot to protect you or teling it what to do is very relatable to the concept of slavery. The third biggest ethical concern related to the technology of robots that comes from the movies is whether or not robots should be used to fight wars and battles.This connects with both of the other concerns because like the other ones, this one also the emotional difference of a robot and a human. In the article Technology moves faster than Ethics the author, Frank Kaufmann states that, "There is something inherent in human beings, perhaps in all sentient creatures that knows to constrain violence to within the limits of utility and never allow excess, even in self-protection or protection of others.
" (Kaufmann) Given that robot are made for the protection of someone or to be used in battle, it is higly unlikely that it would know when to stop its attack like a human would.With technology advancing at the pace that it is, robots similar to those in the movie I, Robot are not an unlikely possiblity. As a matter of fact they very much becoming a reality but the ethical concerns are also growing without being adressed. In an article by Marc Goodman called How technology makes us vulnerable, Goodman mentions that, "Last year, the FBI arrested a man in Boston who planned to use remote-controlled robotic aircraft packed with explosives to attack both the U. S.
Pentagon and Capitol building." (Goodman)Techonology is already being used in unethical ways, it is only a matter of time before robots are made accessible and used in the same manner whether it is intentionally or unintentionally. The time to understand the importance of ethics related to technology has never been more important. People must be educated on the importance of ethics in relation to technology and this knowledge must be spread constantly because the code of ethics is not going anywhere but technology is continuing to grow with no signs of slowing down.
