Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Robots Unplugged: Will We Face a Man-Machine Conflict?

Man makes robots. Now, a robot has killed a man. Though not the first time, the tragic incident that involved an assembly robot reportedly grabbing a young worker at a Volkswagen plant in Germany and crushing him to death between metal recently has been labelled in some quarters as “a man-machine” conflict (as opposed to the age-old man-animal one). In this context, it is pertinent to reflect on the idea of a possible apocalypse that may be unleashed, if all the science fiction stories we read and movies we watch are to come alive some day.

If we create a conscious robot and copy its brain, there are going to be two brains. Will they have different consciousnesses?

This is a question of individuation and the answer will entirely depend upon the given theory of consciousness. I will answer in the context of the theory I have developed over the past ~12 years and to appear in my book On The Origin Of Experience the first draft chapter of which can be found here: On The Origin Of Experience .

I begin by dismissal of the idea that you can construct an electronic brain for reasons given in the following answer: Steven Ericsson-Zenith’s answer to What is the computing power of the average human brain, including all […]