this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2024
121 points (98.4% liked)
Comic Strips
12621 readers
2790 users here now
Comic Strips is a community for those who love comic stories.
The rules are simple:
- The post can be a single image, an image gallery, or a link to a specific comic hosted on another site (the author's website, for instance).
- The comic must be a complete story.
- If it is an external link, it must be to a specific story, not to the root of the site.
- You may post comics from others or your own.
- If you are posting a comic of your own, a maximum of one per week is allowed (I know, your comics are great, but this rule helps avoid spam).
- The comic can be in any language, but if it's not in English, OP must include an English translation in the post's 'body' field (note: you don't need to select a specific language when posting a comic).
- Politeness.
- Adult content is not allowed. This community aims to be fun for people of all ages.
Web of links
- [email protected]: "I use Arch btw"
- [email protected]: memes (you don't say!)
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Depends on what other choices and freedom of movement the robot has.
It might be able to invoke the third law's exception and give its life to save all the humans. (Are there any on the trolley? That might affect things. It doesn't say one way or the other in the memes.)
Maybe it doesn't have to give its life. It might be strong enough to lift the trolley from the tracks and set it down ensuring anyone on the trolley doesn't come to harm.
But assuming the robot must not leave the spot by the lever and has no non-human-like special abilities, I think the first law has a gaping hole in it. It says it cannot harm a human or through inaction cause a human to come to harm. This means the robot throws the lever, whatever position it was in previously. Because then it has acted.
The fact that other humans come to harm as a result is not the robot's fault, it's the trolley's, and it acted to prevent harm.