Episode 120: Robots, Data, and a New Category of Being
Strange New Worlds: A Science & Star Trek Podcast
English - August 08, 2021 19:35 - 43 minutes - 39.5 MB - ★★★★★ - 36 ratingsScience Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Previous Episode: Episode 119: The Familiar Unfamiliar
Next Episode: Episode 121: Climate Change & Star Trek
Guest: Thea Weiss
According to one line of thought, the emergence of robots and artificial intelligence has engendered a brand-new category of being. How should we flesh-and-blood creatures treat these synthetic entities? In part two of an interview with University of Washington psychologist and astrobiologist Thea Weiss, we discuss a study that examined whether children ascribed mental states, civil rights, and moral standing to a robot named Robovie—and how this study relates to the battle over Data's self-determination in TNG: "The Measure of a Man."
Short video describing Thea's lab's research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEKrTa_z-zk&t=2s
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