I was fortunate enough to attend the 71st World Science Fiction Convention (LoneStarCon 3) back in 2013. It was my first World Science Fiction Convention and I’m hoping it won’t be my last. Got to meet a lot of authors whose work I admire. Got a lot of free books. Bought a lot of books. I remember George R.R. Martin wandering around the convention and people shocked that he didn’t have an entourage of bodyguards around him every second to keep him alive until he finished of A Song Of Fire and Ice (which of course became the popular TV series Game Of Thrones.)
One of the many panels I went to centered on the topic of the Terminator movies and the likelihood of a robot uprising happening. The audience took the topic very seriously. They discussed how the development of military robots armed to the teeth and turning on the human race in order to wipe us out was inevitable. One guy got up and said he was in the military and if we really knew what was being developed, we’d be scared spitless.
As I listened to this a counterargument formed in my head. I waited for my turn to have my say among all the other members of the audience. When it came I stood up an outlined my argument.
“All I have to say is a, if you build an army of military robots, and b, arm them heavily, and c, imbue them with artificial intelligence and give them autonomy, then you have no right to complain if they turn on you and wipe you out because you could have NOT built them in the first place.”
This turned out to not be a popular message among that crowd. My comments were quickly dismissed and the discussion returned to how we are all doomed from the coming robopocalypse.
I can’t help this planet.
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