

Art knows no bounds, no decency.


The Laws, invented by science fiction legend Isaac Asimov, were meant to counteract the the status quo of sci-fi, what Asimov felt were dreary ministrations about the potential dangers of technology. First, a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Second, a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. And third, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws. These simple concepts powered Asimov's "Robot" series and have driven the idea that robots can help humanity.

It's an idea that Reben felt was worth messing with. The arm of his machine, which he tellingly has not named, used to be an automated head-scratcher. Noticing the intimacy of head-scratcher, Reben decided to flip that feeling on its head. Now when you subject yourself to the arm, there's a chance it will prick your skin. Not enough to cause serious pain, but enough to bleed a bit.

The entire machine is very small, with a base no larger approximately the size of an 8 x 10 piece of paper. A sensor, similar to a laptop track pad, detects a finger beneath the arm. Then, using a process Reben will not divulge, the robot decides to prick the person's finger or not. He notes that it does not contain a neural net or any sort of artificial intelligence, but insists that it is more complex than a coin flip.  "The decision to hurt a person," Reben says, "happens in a way that I can't predict."

Inflicting pain has a long history in art, often with more severe consequences. The artist Chris Burden famously had a friend shoot him with a rifle in 1971 in a piece called "Shoot," which was intended as a commentary on the Vietnam War and to question the idea of what it meant to get shot. While Reben has no intention of exhibiting his robot, he wants to challenge the idea of responsibility in causing harm. "It's clear that I programmed this, and easy for people to say I'm responsible," he admits. But when a person subjects themselves to a system, and when that system has an independent decision-making process for causing harm, "where does that accountability lie?"

Good questions to ponder while a Boston Dynamics' bot is hunting you down to seek revenge.

Source: Washington Post

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