Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1047665
25 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 NOVEMBER 2018 OPINION decides to create that progeny of robots according to its own (as opposed to 'our') designs and intentions? And what if this future race of ultra-pow- erful, ultra-intelligent robots takes one look at humanity, and concludes (not unreason- ably, it must be said) that we're actually just a blight on this planet, to which the only solu- tion is… EXTERMINATE! Honestly: is it possible that none of this even remotely occurred to the people who are seriously (or so it seems) contemplating this madness? Like many others I heard Sofia speaking Maltese, too… and though she didn't say it in as many words, I also I heard her prophesy the Doom of Man- kind. But no matter. Let's face it, those future robots won't be too far wrong. Maybe we do need a little extermination here and there. So, if we're all committed to this new-fangled idea of paving the way to our own extinction, we may as well make darn sure that it happens as quickly as possible. And what better way than to give our future exterminators the exact same 'rights and respon- sibilities' as ourselves? Let's try and guess how this will all pan out, shall we? Last I looked, 'civic rights and responsibilities' also included the right to vote in elections, and – because the two rights are actually just the flipside of each other – also the right to contest elections. We cannot talk of granting citizenship to robots, without including those two rights. (Otherwise, we'd only be creating an unjust, two-tier citizenship model… and do I even have to add that robots will be intelli- gent enough to understand the injustice, and strong enough to rebel)? Where is Isaac Asimov when you need him? There are so many ways this could go hor- ribly wrong that I can barely keep track of the possibilities as they enter my mind. In the short-term, you can rest as- sured that the Nationalist and Labour Parties will invest in vast underground facilities for the endless mass-production of Nationalist and Labour 'robo-voters'. Future elections will be won by the party that can afford to churn out the largest number of mindless, automated paranoid androids, programmed only to offer unconditional support to their party, and to automatically agree with it in everything it says and does… Erm… come to think of it, we actually reached that stage a long time ago. A bit late to be worrying about it now. After all, what difference does it make if your standard mindless party stooge is made of flesh or bone, or computer chips and digital circuitry? None that I can see… Ah, but what if the robots get together and form a party of their own? I can see it already: PDM, 'Il-Partit Droidiku Malti'… honestly, what chance could either Labour or PN pos- sibly stand, against an entire assembly of clinical, precise, Kasparov-beating robotic chess masterminds? It would be a massacre. Heck, even I'd vote for the robots, over the current lot of humans on either side… Hmmm. I shall have to admit some of these possible con- sequences no longer seem all that scary all of a sudden. Just imagine a Parliament com- posed of efficient, diligent, problem-solving machines… immune to corruption (for what would a robot do with money, anyway?), and perfectly capable of taking necessary decisions on the basis of dis- passionate, clinical reasoning… instead of the hot-headed, emotional tribalism that we, as humans, never seem able to rise above… But then, that niggling little voice starts pricking at my conscience again: "Open the pod bay doors, please, Hal […] Hal, open the pod bay doors. […] Please, Hal, open the pod bay doors […] Do you read me Hal? […] Hal, I said open the bloody pod bay… [...] Hal, what are you doing with that chain-saw? […] Look, Hal, I'm sorry I called you a useless rust-bucket yesterday […] wait, no […] Hal? HAL! HA-A-E-E-ELP! AAAAARGH…!" And just remember: it all started with 'rights for ro- bots'…