Having been brought up on a steady diet of sci-fi movies in which robots betray their human masters, it is easy to envision a future in which rogue robots engage in unethical activity.
The opposite—a scenario in which robots are more ethical than human counterparts—is more difficult to imagine. From my perspective as a professional futurist this, however, is the more likely scenario
MSNC.com has published an excellent article entitled ”Robot warriors will get ethics guide.” Here is the operative quote: “Ultimately these (robotic) systems could have more information to make wiser decisions than a human could make.” In essence, because robots don’t get scared or become over-emotional they are unlikely to over-react and act in ways which society would consider unethical.
This is not to say that such ethical hardware and software packages have yet been fully developed but smart human computer and software programmers are working on such systems today and these system are only going to get better. The question we need to ask ourselves is this: In the heat of battle, would you rather have a scared, stressed-out 19 year-old behind the trigger or an unemotional robot which could quickly assess the range of options available to it and arrive at the most ethical conclusion?
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