machine-ethics
Original: machine-ethics on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (caption over an illustration of a robot, then a power cell falling):
Suppose one robot is low on the energy and about to lose its memory. Then another robot, knowing this, saves the first robot's power cell by carrying hundreds of human power cells, and it accidentally drops one.
Panel 2:
Man: Is it ok for the first robot to think the second robot is a good robot?
Panel 3:
Man: Does the first robot's programming say to value social norms above its own survival?
Panel 4:
Robot: That's not the point. The question is whether it's ethical.
Panel 5:
Man: Does the first robot's ethics programming say to value social norms above its own survival?
Panel 6:
Robot: No. I mean, what ethical laws should govern its behavior?
Panel 7:
Man: The ones it's programmed to obey.
Panel 8:
Man: I feel like one of us must be missing something.
Panel 9:
Robot: I can tell you which one, if you'd like.
Votey:
Speech bubble: It's me
(Below, a hand-drawn close-up of a face/mouth, with the speaker pointing at itself.)
Suppose one robot is low on the energy and about to lose its memory. Then another robot, knowing this, saves the first robot's power cell by carrying hundreds of human power cells, and it accidentally drops one.
Panel 2:
Man: Is it ok for the first robot to think the second robot is a good robot?
Panel 3:
Man: Does the first robot's programming say to value social norms above its own survival?
Panel 4:
Robot: That's not the point. The question is whether it's ethical.
Panel 5:
Man: Does the first robot's ethics programming say to value social norms above its own survival?
Panel 6:
Robot: No. I mean, what ethical laws should govern its behavior?
Panel 7:
Man: The ones it's programmed to obey.
Panel 8:
Man: I feel like one of us must be missing something.
Panel 9:
Robot: I can tell you which one, if you'd like.
Votey:
Speech bubble: It's me
(Below, a hand-drawn close-up of a face/mouth, with the speaker pointing at itself.)
Alt text
A multi-panel SMBC comic. A man and a robot debate the ethics of robot behavior, set against an illustration of a robot and a falling power cell. The setup describes one robot saving another robot's power cell while accidentally dropping a human power cell. The man keeps reframing the question in terms of the robot's programming and social norms versus its own survival, while the robot insists the real question is whether the behavior is ethical and asks which ethical laws should govern it. The man answers, 'The ones it's programmed to obey.' The man finally says, 'I feel like one of us must be missing something,' and the robot deadpans, 'I can tell you which one, if you'd like.' Votey (aftercomic): a speech bubble reading 'It's me' above a rough hand-drawn close-up of a face, the robot bluntly admitting the man is the one missing the point.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.