MSGID: 1:317/3 64703610   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Robots and Rights: Confucianism Offers Alternative    
      
     Date:   
         May 25, 2023   
     Source:   
         Carnegie Mellon University   
     Summary:   
         As robots assume more roles in the world, a new analysis reviewed   
         research on robot rights, concluding that granting rights to robots   
         is a bad idea. Instead, the article looks to Confucianism to offer   
         an alternative.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   Philosophers and legal scholars have explored significant aspects of   
   the moral and legal status of robots, with some advocating for giving   
   robots rights. As robots assume more roles in the world, a new analysis   
   reviewed research on robot rights, concluding that granting rights to   
   robots is a bad idea. Instead, the article looks to Confucianism to   
   offer an alternative.   
      
   The analysis, by a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU),   
   appears in Communications of the ACM, published by the Association for   
   Computing Machinery.   
      
   "People are worried about the risks of granting rights to robots,"   
   notes Tae Wan Kim, Associate Professor of Business Ethics at CMU's   
   Tepper School of Business, who conducted the analysis. "Granting rights   
   is not the only way to address the moral status of robots: Envisioning   
   robots as rites bearers -- not a rights bearers -- could work better."   
   Although many believe that respecting robots should lead to granting them   
   rights, Kim argues for a different approach. Confucianism, an ancient   
   Chinese belief system, focuses on the social value of achieving harmony;   
   individuals are made distinctively human by their ability to conceive of   
   interests not purely in terms of personal self-interest, but in terms   
   that include a relational and a communal self. This, in turn, requires   
   a unique perspective on rites, with people enhancing themselves morally   
   by participating in proper rituals.   
      
   When considering robots, Kim suggests that the Confucian alternative   
   of assigning rites -- or what he calls role obligations -- to robots   
   is more appropriate than giving robots rights. The concept of rights is   
   often adversarial and competitive, and potential conflict between humans   
   and robots is concerning.   
      
   "Assigning role obligations to robots encourages teamwork, which   
   triggers an understanding that fulfilling those obligations should   
   be done harmoniously," explains Kim. "Artificial intelligence (AI)   
   imitates human intelligence, so for robots to develop as rites bearers,   
   they must be powered by a type of AI that can imitate humans' capacity   
   to recognize and execute team activities -- and a machine can learn that   
   ability in various ways."  Kim acknowledges that some will question why   
   robots should be treated respectfully in the first place. "To the extent   
   that we make robots in our image, if we don't treat them well, as entities   
   capable of participating in rites, we degrade ourselves," he suggests.   
      
   Various non-natural entities -- such as corporations -- are considered   
   people and even assume some Constitutional rights. In addition, humans   
   are not the only species with moral and legal status; in most developed   
   societies, moral and legal considerations preclude researchers from   
   gratuitously using animals for lab experiments.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Mind_&_Brain   
                   # Racial_Issues # Intelligence # Perception   
             o Matter_&_Energy   
                   # Robotics_Research # Engineering # Microarrays   
             o Computers_&_Math   
                   # Robotics # Artificial_Intelligence #   
                   Computational_Biology   
             o Science_&_Society   
                   # Scientific_Conduct # Disaster_Plan # Bioethics   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Industrial_robot o Humanoid_robot o Robot o Robotic_surgery   
             o Nanorobotics o Due_process o Robot_calibration o Education   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by Carnegie_Mellon_University. Note:   
   Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Tae Wan Kim, Alan Strudler. Should Robots Have Rights or Rites?   
         Communications of the ACM, 2023; 66 (6): 78 DOI: 10.1145/3571721   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230525141526.htm   
      
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