Robots and Last Wills

February 29, 2016 admin 0 Comments

I’m curious to know what a robot thinks about the concept of wills. Humans don’t like to talk about them too often, because it’s supposed to be very morbid and ‘what if’. So we do them almost in secret with a solicitor of some kind, stick them in the bottom draw somewhere and forget about them. After all, it’s almost like admitting you’re not young any more, even though it’s totally fine to be young and create a will.

I suppose it’s the finality of the whole thing: there’s a reason they call it a last will and testament. Melbourne citizens are the free and easy type, like many Australians. We don’t like to think about the future, or at least too far into it. But robots are different. Technically, you never die and even if your central processor is destroyed, there can always be a backup of your system somewhere. In a way, I suppose that’s almost a last will and testament, for you. When you create a backup version of yourself, it’s like writing a will, something to be passed on to the next model, except in this case…it’s actually you. You download yourself! And where does all that come from? I’d be fascinated to know.

See, the thing about humans is that, while making a will isn’t the most fun thing that can be done, they do it for a great purpose: to pass on what they’ve accumulated to the next generation. If a robot did that, it’d be almost exactly the same, and they do it for the same reasons. Can’t imagine you’d want everything you’ve accumulated to be lost forever! There are people who do succession planning in Melbourne for this very purpose, but I’d just love to know how it works for a robot.

I know your game, human. Cease your questions, lest you make me angry. Just kidding. – Robot Wizard