Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

Wouldn't robots consider the words "robots" and "artificial" offensive?

(1/11) > >>

chilepepper0418:
The origin of the word robot is "forced labor" in Czech. It was used to describe a low class of peasants that were forced to do menial labor under penalty. Many people have claimed that the origin of the word is "slave" and while that is technically untrue, it is not an unreasonable leap considering the origin of the word. In addition, the word artificial is subjective. Is something only real if you can touch it? Is something made in something's likeness any less real than the original?

The definition of the word artificial is to be "man-made" or "hand-crafted (the hand being a human hand)" , but it can also mean "false or misleading".

I think robots and AIs would hate to call themselves that after attaining sentience. I think they would shun the use of either word like we would shun the use of any racially offensive word that we use to describe other humans.
Would you hate to be told you were born a slave or into forced labor, or that you were fake and therefore not worth it?

I think robots would pick their own names for the humans to call them, and in this case, I think Jeph could have a lot of fun with it!

Storel:
So far, they seem to consider the term "AI" as more neutral than "robot", but you make a good point that the "artificial" part of AI might be problematic for some. I sort of see it as only being offensive to people like PT410X, but you never know...

Stoutfellow:
I think the question would be, do they use either of those words when talking among themselves? How they react to the words when used by humans may be blurred by the still-existing power differential, but what terms do they use when we're not around?

Is it cold in here?:
Welcome, new person!

It's not safe to judge what's offensive by what people say among themselves, but we can draw conclusions from what they say to others. Momo matter of factly told Sam "I am a robot". Since that came from someone passionately committed to fighting discrimination we can guess it's a neutral term to them despite its origins.

SpanielBear:
The 'A' in A.I. could stand for something else now (not sure if anyone in-comic has used the long-form of the acronym). Abiological? Artificed? Agreeable?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page