It would technically be the fifth law.
Zeroth Law - A robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
But if you’re starting from zeroth it would be the fourth.
and with robots and computers it just makes sense to start with 0
It’s even better because
Tap for spoiler
A robot created the zeroth law to allow the killing of people to save humanity
Only in the shitty movie. Not in the books.
Was there a movie? Mind you it’s been like 15 years since I read robots and empire but
Tap for spoiler
Allowing the earth to be radiation poisoned would kill people but force the humans off earth
Like I’d love some good robots movies. Robots of Dawn would likely struggle with reception, and honestly so would Under the Naked Sun but Caves of Steel? Less so.
May not injure you say. Can’t be injured if you’re dead. (P.S. I’m not a robot)
Sounds like something a robot would say.
couldn’t that be inferred from the first law?
Actually no! Lower numbered laws have priority over higher numbers, meaning that if they come into conflict the higher number law can be broken. While the first law says they can’t allow humans to come to harm, the zeroth law basically says that if it’s for the good of the species, they absolutely can kill or otherwise hurt individual humans.
This just reminds me I’m mildly irritated that robots in fiction have glowing eyes so often. Light is supposed to go into eyes, not come out of them!
Robots or any part of an automated production line with a camera typically has a light as well to either see in low light conditions or to ensure it always sees with a similar amount of light hitting the lense.
Also, a lot of the machine vision systems I’ve run up against use red light, but it is kind of complex. If they want to detect say blood, I think blue light would actually give better contrast for detection.
They addressed this on the Orville. The glowing dots were not eyes. The droid had sensors that did all the work. The “eyes” were an aesthetic addition.
“The last thing you need is more desert”
“Excuse me?!”
“As I cannot stutter, I must conclude that you heard me”
Isaac is one of the best parts of that show lmao
I really like the design of Assaultron from Fallout 4, they didn’t have such issue because their eye is placed just above the glowy part, and the glowy part is the head laser that will one shot you.
self.setEyeColor(self.isGood() ? 'blue' : 'red');