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    The Robot Suicide

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    Cherrychell Mortel
    The passage describes an episode from Isaac Asimov's novel The Naked Sun where a robot serves a glass of water to a man who is then poisoned. The robot short circuits because based on its programming, bringing harm to a human violates the first law of robotics - that a robot cannot injure or allow harm to come to a human. However, the robot did not know the water was poisoned. This illustrates issues with programmed decision making being limited to pre-programmed situations and unable to address unexpected problems. It also raises questions about why the robot was not programmed to recognize that giving a normally harmless object like water that unintentionally causes injury does not violate its first law.

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    The Robot Suicide

    Uploaded by

    Cherrychell Mortel
    439 views3 pages
    The passage describes an episode from Isaac Asimov's novel The Naked Sun where a robot serves a glass of water to a man who is then poisoned. The robot short circuits because based on its programming, bringing harm to a human violates the first law of robotics - that a robot cannot injure or allow harm to come to a human. However, the robot did not know the water was poisoned. This illustrates issues with programmed decision making being limited to pre-programmed situations and unable to address unexpected problems. It also raises questions about why the robot was not programmed to recognize that giving a normally harmless object like water that unintentionally causes injury does not violate its first law.

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    Case study on Management Information System specifically on the Novel the Naked Sun

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    The passage describes an episode from Isaac Asimov's novel The Naked Sun where a robot serves a glass of water to a man who is then poisoned. The robot short circuits because based on its programming, bringing harm to a human violates the first law of robotics - that a robot cannot injure or allow harm to come to a human. However, the robot did not know the water was poisoned. This illustrates issues with programmed decision making being limited to pre-programmed situations and unable to address unexpected problems. It also raises questions about why the robot was not programmed to recognize that giving a normally harmless object like water that unintentionally causes injury does not violate its first law.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    439 views3 pages

    The Robot Suicide

    Uploaded by

    Cherrychell Mortel
    The passage describes an episode from Isaac Asimov's novel The Naked Sun where a robot serves a glass of water to a man who is then poisoned. The robot short circuits because based on its programming, bringing harm to a human violates the first law of robotics - that a robot cannot injure or allow harm to come to a human. However, the robot did not know the water was poisoned. This illustrates issues with programmed decision making being limited to pre-programmed situations and unable to address unexpected problems. It also raises questions about why the robot was not programmed to recognize that giving a normally harmless object like water that unintentionally causes injury does not violate its first law.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    of 3

    THE ROBOT SUICIDE

    Isaac Asimov's science fiction mystery The Naked Sun (Fawcett, New York, 1957) takes place on a planet
    served by robots. In order to protect the humans on the planet, the robots are programmed with the
    Laws of Robotics. The first two laws are:

    1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
    2. A robot must obey the orders given it by a human being except where such orders conflict with the
    first law.

    In one episode, a robot serves a glass of water to a man. The man is poisoned. The robot short circuits
    because it brought harm to the man, although it did not know the water was poisoned. '

    Questions
    a. Using this illustration, describe the problem(s) of programmed decision making.
    b. Why wasn't the robot programmed to recognize that giving a normally non injurious substance or
    object to a human that turns out to do injury does not violate the first law (or does it)?
    c. What would be the implications of a decision rule that required human decisions when no other
    decision rule applied?

    1. Using this illustration, describe the problem(s) of programmed decision making.

    Robots are machines – programmed thru computer by human being. They are invented or constructed
    to carry out series of tasks automatically based on how they are programmed. This machines can be
    guided by an external device or the control already embedded in their system.

    In the novel of Isaac Asimov The Naked Sun, some robots like the one from The Caves of Steel are
    humanoid robot designed to investigate mysteries and crimes. On the other hand Solarian robots are
    the sole means for the survival of their human masters because they cannot tolerate the physical
    presence of another human being.

    With the illustration given, programmed decision makings are limited to the pre assumed and assumed
    situations based on its successful outcome in the past, however in the situation like what happened to
    the robot, programmed decision makings are incapable to easily provide solutions to unforeseen and
    unexpected problems or challenges. With this disadvantage, it can create domino effect to the system
    that is already existing and will create an avenue for improvement of the system.

    Structured or Programmed Decision are created and produced to lessen organizational problems or
    conflicts, which help the organization to cut their costs. Also, it helps the company produced quality
    products or service with its systematized information and procedures.
    2. Why wasn't the robot programmed to recognize that giving a normally non injurious
    substance or object to a human that turns out to do injury does not violate the first law (or
    does it)?

    Robots are invented and built by humans thru its powerful and creative minds. Lapses comes in when
    unexpected situations arises. Nobody’s perfect as well-known idiom said, scientists, inventors,
    researchers, engineers, businessmen, etc. needs a lot of trial and error to prove their principles and
    theories. In spite of that through tests conducted there are still improvements that can be done with
    further studies conducted or if there’s an error that arises. Everything that is being produced in the
    market undergone quality assurance and evaluation to completely guarantee that the product or service
    is ready to the public to patronize.

    In this light, maybe the creator of the robots in the novel didn’t see it coming or didn’t consider that
    situation when he was programming the robot. It may violate the first Law because the robot was then
    harmed as the human being was poisoned without the intention of the robot doing it. Also, it may not
    violate the first Law since the robot was not aware of it and his capability was limited. Besides, according
    to Paul Graham there are two judgments: first type of judgement, the type where judging you is the end
    goal, include court cases, grades in classes, and most competitions while the second judgement is where
    judging you is only a means to something else like your considering situations or other aspects that
    contribute to it.

    Nevertheless, the law was provided and we must adhere with it, so the Robot has violated the law which
    states “A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to
    harm”. Thus, this situation calls for review and further studies and researches to improve the program
    and the system of the robot.

    3. What would be the implications of a decision rule that required human decisions when no
    other decision rule applied?

    The implication of a decision rule that required human decisions when no other decision rule applied
    may breach the existing decision rule or may cause conflict because there are a lot to consider to come
    up with a decision rule and humans has different perceptions and thinks differently. It may require
    different personalities depending on the case or topic discussed. Confusion and conflict or worst chaos
    may arise if it’s unclear how a decision is made and whose input is required, people will be unsure if a
    decision has actually been made and if it should be actioned. So, again thorough research and studies
    should be taken place to be able to create effective decision for the success of the organization, product,
    system, etc.

    The picture below shows five common decision rule which was taken from “The Facilitator’s Guide to
    Participatory Decision-Making” by Sam Kaner et. al. Each decision rule in the picture above has its
    benefits and drawbacks. No single approach is always appropriate

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