Science fiction sheds light on robot debate | Letters

Reading Laurie Penny's article about AI will not pose many surprises for readers of classic science fiction (Opinion, 20 April). She suggests that we may have to "build robots with a capacity for moral judgment", which presumably would entail their having basic commands capable of overruling experience (experience of language being what so rapidly turns 'bots racist and sexist). Isaac Asimov long ago turned this idea into a series of books about his three laws of robotics. She also points to the role of language in forming preconceptions, citing our rigid system of pronouns. Poul Anderson, also long ago, proposed a whole new system, with "e" as the third-person pronoun, "uz" as its possessive, and the lovely word "marry" as a noun denoting a partner of whatever gender ("uz marry"). I wonder why we haven't yet succeeded in imitating him.
Jeremy Cushing
Exeter

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