Richard sez:
}Possibly there is an issue of why a robot would want to
}pass as a human. It's the civil rights issue. "When is X sentient?"
}"Wehn is Y _sapient_?"
Well, depending on your views, the question might be better phrased as why
would the designters of a robot want it to pass for human. And in the
traveller universe full of guns, starships, intrigue etc. I think the answer
to THAT one is obvious.
If on the other hand, the robot is sufficiently sophisticated to WANT anything,
It is above the common tech levels of traveller. Artificial Intelligence with
wants/needs/desires is tech level Seventeen. Not a common problem to deal
with.
As to the question of civil rights, It would completely depend on the local
culture I'm afraid. In the Solomani rim, forget it! What I'm after is more
a role playing example for robots of differing tech levels. After all, a
player could choose to play his TL 21 artificial intelligent pseudo-bio robot
as a very wooden version of Mr. Data, and another player might choose to play
his TL 12 pseudo-bio robot as a perfectly normal human being. How do you know
what to act like?
}Well that gets us to, .. why not just do it virtually and let an automaton
}take all the risks? If we can build an automaton that's capable of holding
}my awareness well enough without being sentient in and of itself...
Jacking into a system, I have always thought of as TL-13 technology. There
are rules for doing it @ TL15, but that was for a specific implant that was
highly mobile and you could access a computer remotely. I would imagine that
TL 13 would allow you to control a robot-body from a specially designed
console. Ok, so the controlled body won't be sentient, but you could pick up
the sensations from it easily enough. Of course at TL 13 that would require
that you have a bunch of stuff installed into your head that you mightn't want
there, it might be dangerous, but it might be possible. I seem to remember
reading a story a long time ago about exploring Jupiter, not from a robot body,
but a genetically engineered body. It was using a radio link bettween the
operator in a satellite and the body on the 'surface'. (Yeah it was an old
story when Jupiter still had a 'Surface'.)
As to Cyborg stuff:
Regrown/cloned/prosthetic/bionic
I would imagine that most insurance would cover the regrowing of limbs. If it
is the cheapest option, I'd guess it would be workable. After all, most
insurance has clauses about loss of limbs included in life insurance, and most
companies provide employees w/ such insurance now. But for the cases of
people who can't get regrown through wierdness and die rolls, then the
insurance would have to try to replace the limb somehow. Prosthetic or
whatever. The ones who will be outta luck are those w/out insurance or those
who get hit by those without insurance. I seem to remember my life insurance
has a lot of money riding on my arms, legs, eyes and ears.
But, I don't see prosthetics being all that easier to have than bionics,
clones, regrowns or whatever. After all, as it is now, Prosthetic limbs ARE
custom made. After all, how many people have their limbs severed in exactly
the same way? It's not like a shoe store!
"Hey Bob? Looks like this guy's gonna need a size six left arm...
Check in the back ok?"
As for cyber/prosthetic psychosis, Well, how many of the handicapped go through
psychosis when they are fitted with an artificial leg now? I'm afraid I
haven't met many of people who are missing limbs, but they're pretty normal.
(except that they actually LIKE the new Star Trek! :-P )
And with the option of regrown, I don't see where the army of cyborgs we've
been hearing about lately is coming from. How many people out there are gonna
have artificial parts? My guess is not many (apart from the odd cultures and
botched medical cases.) Wouldn't it be easier to get a TL9 regrown arm than
a TL 12 bionic arm?
Scott
"Help! I've fallen, and I can't reach my arm!"