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What would happen when robot-pets decide to rebel?

Francisco Miraval

There were times in my life, especially during my childhood, when I had pets at home. But now it seems our next pet (nonhuman companion) we may have could be an intelligent robot-pet. However, what could happen if the robot-pet decides to escape? Would we be able to stop it? What kind of problems could occur?

Those questions are not just a thought experiment or a nonsensical speculation. Recently, Boston Dynamic (a company associated with Google) presented SpotMini, a robot-pet of around 66 pounds and able to move on two or four legs and autonomously complete several times.

And also a short time ago, an experimental Russian robot, Promobot, designed to interact with human, “escaped” from its laboratory, went into the street, caused a traffic jam, and led to the intervention of police officers and scientists to deactivate it.

What would happen if SpotMini could learn everything that Promobot already knows? Would the robot-pet try to escape, as a couple of pets I once had tried to do it? If a robot-pet try to escape, could the reason be a programming bug or could it be a conscious decision?

The company in charge of Promobot said that, because this is still an experimental robot, there “problems” with its program. For that reason, the particular unit that escaped from the laboratory (or was it an intentional experiment?) could be destroyed. (Something similar happens, for example, to bears caught three times wandering too close to human areas.)

At the same time, SpotMini has all kinds of sensors and processor allowing it to mimic the movements of a dog, for example, entering small spaces or climbing stairs.

Everything seems to indicate that in the not so distant future we could have a “pets” intelligent robots, with the agility and the ability to complete task we can seldom imagine now. Can we really imagine what an intelligent robot-pet could learn and do once it get connected to the Internet of Things?

But the real topic is not robot-pets, but humans. After all, we have all kind of problems trying to coexist with other humans. So, it is almost unthinkable we will be able to peacefully coexist in the near future with intelligent robot-pets.

It doesn’t matter where you are, watching a movie at a theater or attending a prayer meeting, or just standing at an airport or dancing at a night club, somebody will assume that what you are doing is offensive and, therefore, you may be killed.

Every day we hear about some kind of incident between different religious groups and ideologies. And we hear how intolerance to “others” is promoted in the name of politics, faith or whatever the case may be.

If we can hardly live with other humans, how are we going to be able to live with intelligent robot? What would happen if they decide they don’t want to be our pets anymore? Who will then become the “pet”?

Is this just crazy science fiction? I don’t think so.

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