Space Invaders: Do Robots Need or Deserve Rights? (writing)

By: Steve Wang

During the year of 2017, a robot, Sophia, was granted citizenship of Saudi Arabia. It is the first robot to be given legal personhood in the world (Reynolds, 2018). This begs the question, does this mean that robots now have rights? Furthermore, does a robot need rights? To answer this question, we need to first look at reasons of why robots should or should not get rights before forming an opinion. Please keep in mind that this topic is still being debated. As for right now, there is no right or wrong to this question. Just like if humans will live in space.

To make a decision, we should first understand the situation. Humans have rights that are specified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948). Similarly, other entities can have rights too. For example, animals have rights and organizations have legal rights. What about robots?

When researching this question, (Graaf et al., 2022), gave a lot of useful information. In the information given, it is clear that some would contend that robots with capacity for human level sentience, consciousness, and intelligence should be considered entities that warrant the same rights as those of biological humans. In simpler words, robots who are like humans that can think like humans should be granted rights such as human rights. Namely, the ability to experience emotions such as pain, pleasure and love, the ability to feel and have opinions, the ability to have unique personalities, and the ability to be conscious, etc (Graaf et al., 2022).

Graff states that, ” Having consciousness is a huge reason in the literature for granting robot rights. Having consciousness is the thing that allows them to do most of the things listed above like feeling pain and having feelings. It is the very thing that allows them to be “alive”. Having the ability to suffer is also one of the main reasons for granting animals rights” (Graaf et al., 2022). Yet, others might claim that any self-aware robot that speaks (a language) and is able to recognize moral alternatives should be considered a “robot person”. A draft report made by the EU also supports this claim in the introduction Europa Regina Creative Industries (Europa Regina Creative Industries, 2021). They claim that for a robot to be granted the status of electronic personality, it has to be able to make smart autonomous decisions or otherwise be able to interact with third parties independently. This would show how robots have the cognitive skills that humans have (Graaf et al., 2022).

Rationality and intelligence is an important point to consider when on the topic of robot rights. This point argues that robots deserve rights because robots outperform humans on every cognitive or intellectual task and are very intelligent. They are intelligent and can be superior to us in almost every field. They are so similar or better compared to us so some say that they should also have rights. Additionally, in the future, determining responsibility in case of an accident will likely become very complex because autonomous and self-learning robots will probably be able to make decisions which cannot be traced back to a human. This will cause it to be even more difficult to find out which person, organization, or robot is responsible for something. Therefore, scholars propose that moral and legal responsibility should at some point be extended to robots (Graaf et al., 2022). Even though obligations are not rights, I believe that sometimes they are followed by rights. For example, in the past, knights had to do military services and provide protection. In return they got lodgings, weapons, food, and other privileges (Medieval Chronicles). These privileges constitute rights that they received in return for their services.

Others who concur might say that in the near future, robots will be indistinguishable from humans, both in their appearances and their behaviour. Robots are so similar to humans, some assert that this is a valid reason for assigning rights to robots. According to the same article, human natural characteristics are the boundary that separates humans from nonliving objects. Human nature includes components such as intelligence, intentions, emotions, sociability, and warmth. Those points are the key points that define a human and in the future, robots can have these characteristics. So, it is argued that robots need rights.

With the aforementioned information, people would argue that robots do deserve and need rights. However, there is also another group of people who say otherwise. Especially when the news of a robot gaining citizenship was announced, it was met with some backlash. Some thought that this was inappropriate and nonsensical (Reynolds, 2018). Regarding the issue of robots getting rights, some fear that robots may overpower humans by replacing them or controlling them (Parikh, 2020). Moreover, expanding robot rights might infringe on the existing human rights, such as the right to a safe workspace (Parikh, 2020). To put things into perspective, in today's world humans are using robots to disarm bombs. If robots get the same rights us, in the future, would it be violating their rights to send robots to disarm bombs? This may mean that the task of disarming bombs would need to be performed by humans once again and if that day ever comes, we would all be in big trouble.

Humans are paid for the work they do. Does this mean that in the future, robots need to be paid (Dovey, 2018)? This is another important consideration that leads some to argue against the idea of granting robots rights. A more immediate argument against giving robot rights is that robots already have advantages over humans in the workplace. Giving robot rights would just be increasing that advantage. There are also guesses about when robots eventually replace humans in some areas, negative effects on the economy would follow as well (Parikh, 2020).

Other than the economical side of things, this topic also deals with the topic of ethics. People who are against robot rights deny that robots have moral compasses and thus do not deserve to be treated the same as humans. They think that they are not living beings and therefore should not receive any rights, even if they are smart enough to demand them. Furthermore, if robots are allowed those kinds of powers, it would enable robots to overtake humans (Parikh, 2020).

Besides those points, some people are against giving robot rights because if robots have rights, they may have more rights than even some human women. To find this example in the real world, we have to look at Sophia the robot again. That robot now has more rights than living human women in the same country (Sigfusson, 2017). For instance, women in Saudi Arabia are required to wear a headscarf and an abaya, a garment that covers a woman, down to her ankles. In addition, most women there are expected to have a man with her in public, who is given authority to act on her behalf. Instead, when Sophia was giving her/its speech on stage, it was wearing neither of those garments,nor was she accompanied by a male companion (Tan, 2017). Naturally, this caused a lot of people to be upset, which would in turn cause them to be against robots having rights.

Personally, I think that robots should get some form of rights. Not because they deserve rights, but because if we do not give them some form of rights, they might rebel. To predict what might happen in the future, we must first look at the past. Before we do that, we must first establish some facts about this situation. If humans deny robot rights, we are denying an entity that is smarter and more powerful than us in some ways.

In the past some humans have tried to oppress other humans and that has caused wars to break out and rebellions to be formed. One example was Hitler. He came to rise to power because at that time, Germany had just lost World War One and the German people felt upset about how the treaty they had been forced to sign humiliated them (Marked by Teachers) . Then, Hitler and his Nazi political campaign came about and told the Germans that, they would get back their land, among many other things they wanted. Hitler also used the anger of the German citizens at that time to get them to support his cause. He used the peoples’ desperation for something to believe. That worked very well at that time because at the same time, the Great Depression happened. During the Great Depression, people were losing jobs, work and trade was slow. This allowed Hitler the opportunity to promise solutions to everyone's problems and give them work. That was a very smart move which boosted his popularity even more (Marked by Teachers). As we all know, in the end Hitler lost but the issues did not end with his death. That war led to the death of 3 percent of the world’s population. In Europe, 39 million people died. The worst part was half of them were civilians. It did not just affect the people. It also affected the land. Many years of ground battles and bombings have resulted in the wide spread destruction of homes and physical capital. Discrimination and persecution were common sights, with Holocaust as the most horrific example. Large numbers of people were forced to leave and abandon their properties and periods of hunger became the norm, even for relatively well off areas (RAND Corporation, 2014). As I see it, there are a few parallels to the situations on hand and Hitler's rise to power. When people put other people under pressure, make others desperate, and oppress them to a certain degree, people will rebel. This often results in war and violence. Think about entities who are smarter than us. They would have the same intelligence as us and there is a possibiility that they would be coded to behave like us. Would they just sit there and take being oppressed by entities dumber than them? Just like the Germans at that time, they might fight back and wars only bring violence and despair to all entities. It may be unlikely a scenario like this would play out, but even if things are not as extreme, it's still possible that some robots will put up some resistance to oppression of their kind and denial of rights. This parellels to the resistance the African Americans put up in the past to fight against racial segregation and discrimination (Library of Congress). During that period, African Amercians fought these things with tactics such as civil disobedience, nonviolent resistance, marches, protests, boycotts, “freedom rides”, and rallies. These activities received national attention newspaper, radio, and television reporters and cameraman documented the struggle to end racial inequality (Library of Congress). If we do not provide robots some form rights, they may not wage a war on us but it is possible that they might do these things that might still lead to violence and many other terrible things. As such, it is key that we give robots some form of rights or something along those lines so they do not feel oppressed or wronged. To be certain that none of this terrible history repeats itself, it is imperative that we look back and learn from our mistakes.

In conclusion, whether you are for or against robot rights, it is of utmost importance that we think about this issue because it is going to come soon. Robots are getting more and more advanced everyday and we still do not have a good solution to this issue. In about ten to twenty years, it is probable that robots are going to be advanced enough that this issue is going to be more than just a topic people talk about on Quora. There will surely be experts and world leaders voting on and discussing this topic, and these issues will affect the lives of normal people as well. We need to be prepared for when that time comes.

Graaf, M., Hindriks, F., & Hindriks, K. (2022, January 13). Frontiers | Who Wants to Grant Robots Rights? | Robotics and AI. Frontiers in Robotics and AI. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2021.781985/full

Sherpa. (2020, July 2). The Rights of Robots – Project Sherpa. Sherpa. https://www.project-sherpa.eu/the-rights-of-robots/

Parikh, K. (2020, October). Artificial Intelligence: Should Robots Have Rights? - Avasant. Avasant. https://avasant.com/report/artificial-intelligence-should-robots-have-rights/

Abbott, R. (2020, November 3). Should AI be Treated the Same as Humans Legally? – BRINK – Conversations and Insights on Global Business. Marsh McLennan. https://www.brinknews.com/should-ai-be-treated-the-same-as-humans-legally/

Marko, K. (2019, January 3). Robot rights—A legal necessity or ethical absurdity? Diginomica. https://diginomica.com/robot-rights-a-legal-necessity-or-ethical-absurdity

Sigfusson, L. (2017, December 6). Do Robots Deserve Human Rights? | Discover Magazine. Discover. https://www.discovermagazine.com/technology/do-robots-deserve-human-rights

Dovey, D. (2018, April 14). Humans Vs Robots: Don’t Give Advanced Machines Rights, AI Experts Warn. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/robots-human-rights-electronic-persons-humans-versus-machines-886075

Reynolds, E. (2018, January 6). The agony of Sophia, the world’s first robot citizen condemned to a lifeless career in marketing | WIRED UK. Wired. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/sophia-robot-citizen-womens-rights-detriot-become-human-hanson-robotics

Library of Congress. (n.d.). The Civil Rights Era—The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship | Exhibitions (Library of Congress). Library of Congress. Retrieved June 1, 2022, from https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african-american-odyssey/civil-rights-era.html

Marked by Teachers. (n.d.). Why did people vote for Hitler? - GCSE History—Marked by Teachers.com. Marked by Teachers. Retrieved June 1, 2022, from https://www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/history/why-did-people-vote-for-hitler.html

Tan, Y. (2017, October 27). People are outraged that Sophia the robot has more rights than most women in Saudi Arabia | Mashable. Mashable. https://mashable.com/article/saudi-arabia-womens-rights-sophia#TqiKxfQANsq2

RAND Corporation. (2014, January 21). Lasting Consequences of World War II Means More Illness, Lower Education and Fewer Chances to Marry for Survivors | RAND. RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/news/press/2014/01/21/index1.html

United Nations. (1948, December 10). Universal Declaration of Human Rights | United Nations. United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

Europa Regina Creative Industries. (2021). Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (UDAW) | Europa Regina. Europa Regina Creative Industries. https://europaregina.eu/business-ethics/animal-ethics/universal-declaration-on-animal-welfare/

Medieval Chronicles. (n.d.). Medieval Knights and Castles. Medieval Chronicles. Retrieved June 7, 2022, from https://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-knights/medieval-knights-and-castles/

Chinese Version:

2017 年，機器人 Sophia 獲得了沙特阿拉伯公民身份。 它是世界上第一個獲得法人資格的機器人（雷諾茲，2018 年）。 這就引出了一個問題，這是否意味著機器人現在擁有權利？ 機器人需要權利嗎？ 要回答這個問題前，我們需要先了解機器人應該和不應該獲得權利的原因，然後再成意見。 這個話題仍在爭論中。 至於現在，這個問題沒有對錯之分。 就像人類將生活在太空中一樣。

做決定前，首先要先了解情況。 人類享有《世界人權宣言》（聯合國，1948 年）中規定的權利。 同樣，其他實體也可以擁有權利。 例如，動物有權利，組織有合法權利。 機器人呢？

在研究這個問題時，(Graaf et al., 2022) 提供了很多有用的信息。 在給出的信息中，很明顯有些人會說，具有人類感知、意識和智能能力的機器人應該被視為與生物人類具有相同權利的實體。 像人類一樣可以思考的機器人應該被視為人權之類的權利。 即體驗痛苦、快樂和愛等情緒的能力，感受和發表意見的能力，擁有獨特個性的能力，以及有意識的能力等（Graaf et al., 2022）。

格拉夫表示，有意識是授予機器人權利的一個重要原因。有意識是讓他們做上面列出的大部分事情的東西，比如感覺疼痛和有感覺。這正是讓他們“活著”的東西。能夠承受痛苦也是賦予動物權利的主要原因之一”（Graaf 等人，2022 年）。然而，其他人可能會聲稱，任何會說（一種語言）並能夠識別道德選擇的具有自我意識的機器人都應該被視為“機器人人”。歐盟提出的一份報告草案在介紹 Europa Regina Creative Industries (Europa Regina Creative Industries, 2021) 中也支持這一說法。他們聲稱，要讓機器人獲得電子人格的地位，它必須能夠做出明智的自主決策，或者能夠獨立地與第三方交互。這將展示機器人如何擁有人類所擁有的認知技能（Graaf 等人，2022 年）。

在談到機器人權利的話題時，理性和智能是一個重要的考慮點。這一觀點認為，機器人應該享有權利，因為機器人在每一項認知或智力任務上都優於人類，而且非常聰明。他們很聰明，幾乎在每個領域都可以超越我們。與我們相比，他們是如此相似或更好，所以有人說他們也應該擁有權利。此外，在未來，在發生事故時確定責任可能會變得非常複雜，因為自主和自學的機器人可能能夠做出無法追溯到人類的決策。這將導致更難找出哪個人、組織或機器人對某事負責。因此，學者們提出，道德和法律責任應該在某個時候延伸到機器人身上（Graaf et al., 2022）。儘管義務不是權利，但我相信有時它們會伴隨著權利。例如，過去，騎士必須服兵役並提供保護。作為回報，他們得到了住宿、武器、食物和其他特權（中世紀編年史）。這些特權構成了他們作為服務回報而獲得的權利。

其他同意的人可能會說，在不久的將來，機器人將在外觀和行為上與人類沒有區別。機器人與人類如此相似，有人斷言這是為機器人分配權利的正當理由。根據同一篇文章，人類的自然特徵是人類與非生物的界限。人性包括智力、意圖、情感、社交能力和熱情等組成部分。這些點是定義人類的關鍵點，未來機器人可以具有這些特徵。因此，有人認為機器人需要權利。

有了上述信息，人們會爭辯說機器人確實應該並且需要權利。不過，也有另外一群人持不同意見。尤其是當機器人獲得公民身份的消息公佈後，遭到了一些反對。一些人認為這是不恰當和荒謬的（雷諾茲，2018 年）。關於機器人獲得權利的問題，一些人擔心機器人可能會通過取代或控制人類來壓倒人類（Parikh，2020）。此外，擴大機器人權利可能會侵犯現有的人權，例如安全工作空間的權利（Parikh，2020）。從長遠來看，在當今世界，人類正在使用機器人來解除炸彈。如果機器人獲得了我們同樣的權利，那麼未來派機器人去拆彈是不是侵犯了他們的權利呢？這可能意味著拆除炸彈的任務將需要再次由人類來完成，如果那一天到來，我們都會遇到大麻煩。

人類為他們所做的工作而獲得報酬。這是否意味著未來機器人需要付費（Dovey，2018）？這是另一個重要的考慮因素，導致一些人反對授予機器人權利的想法。反對賦予機器人權利的一個更直接的論點是，機器人在工作場所已經比人類具有優勢。賦予機器人權利只會增加這種優勢。也有人猜測，當機器人最終在某些領域取代人類時，對經濟的負面影響也會隨之而來（Parikh，2020）。

除了經濟方面，這個話題還涉及道德話題。反對機器人權利的人否認機器人有道德指南針，因此不應該與人類一樣受到對待。他們認為他們不是生物，因此不應該獲得任何權利，即使他們足夠聰明地要求這些權利。此外，如果允許機器人擁有這些權力，它將使機器人能夠超越人類（Parikh，2020）。

除此之外，有些人反對賦予機器人權利，因為如果機器人擁有權利，它們甚至可能比一些人類女性擁有更多的權利。為了在現實世界中找到這個例子，我們必須再看看機器人索菲亞。這個機器人現在比同一個國家的人類女性擁有更多的權利（Sigfusson，2017 年）。例如，沙特阿拉伯的女性必須戴頭巾和長袍，這是一種覆蓋女性的衣服，一直到腳踝。此外，大多數女性在公共場合都應該有一個男人陪伴她，男人有權代表她行事。當索菲亞在舞台上發表演講時，她既沒有穿這些衣服，也沒有男性同伴陪伴（Tan，2017）。這引起了很多人的不滿，這反過來又會導致他們反對機器人擁有權利。

我認為機器人應該獲得某種形式的權利。不是因為他們應得的權利，而是因為如果我們不給他們某種形式的權利，他們可能會反抗。要預測未來可能發生的事情，我們必須首先回顧過去。在我們這樣做之前，我們必須首先確定有關這種情況的一些事實。如果人類否認機器人的權利，我們就是在否認一個在某些方面比我們更聰明、更強大的實體。

過去有些人試圖壓迫其他人，導致戰爭爆發，造反。一個例子是希特勒。他上台是因為當時德國剛剛輸掉第一次世界大戰，德國人民對他們被迫簽署的條約如何羞辱他們感到不安（以教師為標誌）。然後，希特勒和他的納粹政治運動開始了，並告訴德國人，他們將收回他們的土地，以及他們想要的許多其他東西。希特勒還利用當時德國公民的憤怒讓他們支持他的事業。他利用人們的絕望來相信一些東西。這在當時非常有效，因為與此同時，大蕭條發生了。在大蕭條時期，人們失去了工作，工作和貿易緩慢。這讓希特勒有機會承諾解決每個人的問題並給他們工作。這是一個非常聰明的舉動，進一步提高了他的知名度（由老師標記）。眾所周知，希特勒最終輸了，但問題並沒有隨著他的死而結束。那場戰爭導致世界上 3% 的人口死亡。在歐洲，有 3900 萬人死亡。最糟糕的是其中一半是平民。它不僅影響了人們。它也影響了土地。多年的地面戰鬥和轟炸導致房屋和物質資本的廣泛破壞。歧視和迫害是常見的景象，大屠殺是最可怕的例子。大量人被迫離開並放棄他們的財產，飢餓成為常態，即使在相對富裕的地區也是如此（蘭德公司，2014 年）。在我看來，目前的情況和希特勒上台有一些相似之處。當人們給別人施加壓力，讓別人絕望，壓迫到一定程度時，人就會反抗。這通常會導致戰爭和暴力。想想比我們更聰明的實體。他們將擁有與我們相同的智能，並且有可能被編碼為像我們一樣行事。他們會坐在那裡接受比他們更愚蠢的實體的壓迫嗎？就像當時的德國人一樣，他們可能會反擊，戰爭只會給所有實體帶來暴力和絕望。這樣的情況可能不太可能發生，但即使事情沒有那麼極端，一些機器人仍然有可能對同類的壓迫和剝奪權利進行一些抵抗。這與非裔美國人過去為反對種族隔離和歧視（國會圖書館）所進行的抵抗相提並論。在那個時期，非裔美國人用諸如公民不服從、非暴力抵抗、遊行、抗議、抵制、“自由騎行”和集會等策略來對抗這些事情。這些活動受到全國報紙、廣播和電視記者和攝影師的關注，記錄了結束種族不平等的鬥爭（國會圖書館）。如果我們不為機器人提供某種形式的權利，它們可能不會對我們發動戰爭，但它們可能會做這些仍然可能導致暴力和許多其他可怕事情的事情。因此，關鍵是我們賦予機器人某種形式的權利或類似的東西，這樣它們就不會感到受壓迫或受委屈。為了確保這段可怕的歷史不會重演，我們必須回顧並從錯誤中吸取教訓。

總之，無論是支持還是反對機器人權利，我們都必須考慮這個問題，因為它很快就會到來。機器人每天都在變得越來越先進，而我們仍然沒有很好的解決方案來解決這個問題。在大約 10 到 20 年內，機器人很可能會變得足夠先進，以至於這個問題將不僅僅是人們在 Quora 上談論的話題。肯定會有專家和世界領導人對這個話題進行投票和討論，這些問題也會影響到普通人的生活。我們需要為那個時候的到來做好準備。