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586 points mizzao | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.207s | source
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akie ◴[] No.40665987[source]
Pretty sure Asimov didn’t consider that when he wrote his three laws of robotics.
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jazzyjackson ◴[] No.40666069[source]
Asimov wrote the three laws as a parody of rationalists who are so uncreative they expect a ruleset can actually impose control

Or, as Dr Malcom would say: life, uh, finds a way.

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tomcam ◴[] No.40666519[source]
Don’t think so. Asimov wrote that his editor John Campbell established the 3 Laws. I think it was to tighten up Asimov’s work, though I’m less sure of that part.
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1. LeonardoTolstoy ◴[] No.40669586[source]
The Complete Robot has a lot of stuff about this and it is interesting. The person above I would argue is flat wrong about the three laws.

Asimov wrote his robot short stories in which the three laws played a primary role at a time when robot as Frankenstein's monster was the norm. His short stories attempted to create a more positive optimistic note about how humans and robots could collaborate. The three laws were a way to make it crystal clear that robots could not hurt us, by rule. And the fun was then imagining all the unexpected ways that psychologically that might play out. But in the short stories the robots never actually hurt anyone although they often caused a lot of frustration and fear.

If anything the three laws seemed to show the inate fear of humans to the unknown. The laws were completely impossible to circumvent and people knew this ... And yet they remained staunchly opposed to having robots on earth. Completely illogical.

Anyways, looking at the way LLMs are playing out it seems to me Asimov was wrong. It is quite the opposite. Humans seem to have no fear of robots hurting them, and as a matter of fact seem to get frustrated when a robot isn't allowed to cave their head in with their super human strength when asked (metaphorically).