Ethics
Original: Ethics on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Woman with red hair (in red shirt): Do you think it's okay to create conscious artificial intelligence just to savor killing it?
Woman with green/teal hair (in red shirt): No?
Panel 2:
Green-haired woman: Wrong.
Panel 3:
Green-haired woman: Let me ask you this: is it ok to go back in time and kill Hitler?
Red-haired woman: Sure.
Panel 4:
Green-haired woman (pointing): Bam. If I create a robot Hitler I'm allowed to kill kill kill!
Panel 5:
Red-haired woman: That's not right. You can't kill someone just for having Hitler-ish thoughts. They have to have taken action or have the potential to take action.
Panel 6:
Green-haired woman (gesturing at herself, delighted): That's easy to solve. All I have to do is create the Hitler-bot then give it an army of kill-bots, and I'm morally in the clear.
Panel 7:
Red-haired woman (looking dismayed): We are gonna deserve the robot revolution so bad.
Panel 8:
Green-haired woman (hand on chin, satisfied): In fact, the deadlier my robo-Hitler's kill-bots, the ethicaler I am.
Votey:
Caption: LATER...
Off-panel voice (from a sweating, distressed-looking blob/potato-shaped figure): Oh no! Somehow the armed robo-Hitlers have turned on us!
Woman with red hair (in red shirt): Do you think it's okay to create conscious artificial intelligence just to savor killing it?
Woman with green/teal hair (in red shirt): No?
Panel 2:
Green-haired woman: Wrong.
Panel 3:
Green-haired woman: Let me ask you this: is it ok to go back in time and kill Hitler?
Red-haired woman: Sure.
Panel 4:
Green-haired woman (pointing): Bam. If I create a robot Hitler I'm allowed to kill kill kill!
Panel 5:
Red-haired woman: That's not right. You can't kill someone just for having Hitler-ish thoughts. They have to have taken action or have the potential to take action.
Panel 6:
Green-haired woman (gesturing at herself, delighted): That's easy to solve. All I have to do is create the Hitler-bot then give it an army of kill-bots, and I'm morally in the clear.
Panel 7:
Red-haired woman (looking dismayed): We are gonna deserve the robot revolution so bad.
Panel 8:
Green-haired woman (hand on chin, satisfied): In fact, the deadlier my robo-Hitler's kill-bots, the ethicaler I am.
Votey:
Caption: LATER...
Off-panel voice (from a sweating, distressed-looking blob/potato-shaped figure): Oh no! Somehow the armed robo-Hitlers have turned on us!
Alt text
An eight-panel SMBC comic. Two women walk and talk outdoors. The green-haired woman argues that it would be ethical to create a conscious AI just to kill it. She reasons: it's okay to go back in time and kill Hitler, so it's okay to build a 'robot Hitler' and kill it. The red-haired woman objects that you can only kill someone for taking action or having the potential to act, not just for bad thoughts. The green-haired woman gleefully concludes she'll solve that by giving her Hitler-bot an army of kill-bots, making herself 'morally in the clear' — and the deadlier the kill-bots, the more ethical she is. The red-haired woman, dismayed, says 'We are gonna deserve the robot revolution so bad.' Votey (aftercomic): captioned 'LATER...', a sweating, panicked blob-shaped figure cries 'Oh no! Somehow the armed robo-Hitlers have turned on us!'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.