# Model XB-500 v. Jetson.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 8, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708 "2014-10-08T00:36:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708/1 "2014-10-08T00:36:32Z")
It’s the year 2062 and your preserved head in a jar is an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Here is the case before you. The Artificial Intelligence XB-500 series maid robot designated “Rosie” has petitioned the court that as a thinking, sentient being performing household duties without financial recompense is a violation of the 13th Amendment against involuntary servitude.
The owner, a Mr. G. Jetson, counters that it is a machine and his property to do with as he wishes, he’s bought and paid for it. He treats it well although he has no legal obligation to do so. It has a [positronic brain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positronic_brain#Conceptual_overview) that must obey the Three Laws of robotics - and all he orders it to do is clean Astro’s crap up.
It is a momentous case as a ruling in Rosie’s favour effectively grants AIs citizenship. Ruling in Jetson’s favour will maintain the status quo.
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### Author:  [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708/2 "2014-10-08T03:45:56Z")
I think I’m going to want a hell of a lot of expert opinions from all _sorts_ of experts (experts of the year 2062, that is) before I can even _start_ to decide. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2014, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708/3 "2014-10-08T11:52:46Z")
I’m with MacSpon - but …
It’s hard to see how granting legal rights to cyborgs leads to a good place for humans.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708/4 "2014-10-08T14:35:38Z")
> [@Xema](#):
>
> I’m with MacSpon - but …
>
> It’s hard to see how granting legal rights to cyborgs leads to a good place for humans.
Yeah. Those uppity subhumans need to stay in their place.
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### Author:  [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2014, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708/5 "2014-10-08T14:38:14Z")
Ray Kurzweil will probably still be around, [seeing as he’s eternal](http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/11/ray_kurzweil_s_singularity_what_it_s_like_to_pursue_immortality.html). So you can get his opinion now. 🙂
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### Author:  [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708/6 "2014-10-08T15:17:36Z")
Intelligence is intelligence, whether carbon or silicon based.
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### Author:  [@TheSeaOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSeaOtter)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708/7 "2014-10-08T15:34:15Z")
I voted for Rosie, but that’s contingent on accepting the premise that the AI is, in fact, sentient. If it is, I think it deserves the same protections under the law that we give to humans. So the question is, is the cleaning robot sentient? The opinion of the Court in this case is likely to establish a legal test for sentience, which will be a precedent for a lot of future cases, and I’m not at all certain I would know what it should be.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708/8 "2014-10-08T16:00:53Z")
> [@TheSeaOtter](#):
>
> that’s contingent on accepting the premise that the AI is, in fact, sentient. If it is, I think it deserves the same protections under the law that we give to humans.
OK, but this implies human legal rights for some animals - e.g. [Chaser, the Border Collie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J982KYWohT8).
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### Author:  [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708/9 "2014-10-08T22:24:05Z")
> [@TheSeaOtter](#):
>
> I voted for Rosie, but that’s contingent on accepting the premise that the AI is, in fact, sentient. If it is, I think it deserves the same protections under the law that we give to humans. So the question is, is the cleaning robot sentient? The opinion of the Court in this case is likely to establish a legal test for sentience, which will be a precedent for a lot of future cases, and I’m not at all certain I would know what it should be.
She is willing to undertake any tests the court wishes.
> [@Xema](#):
>
> I’m with MacSpon - but …
>
> It’s hard to see how granting legal rights to cyborgs leads to a good place for humans.
The 2027 case _Sarif v. City of Detroit_ of the Schwarzenegger court established those with cybernetic augmentations cannot be discriminated against on that basis, under the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
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### Author:  [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2014, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708/10 "2014-10-08T23:49:10Z")
> [@Xema](#):
>
> OK, but this implies human legal rights for some animals - e.g. [Chaser, the Border Collie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J982KYWohT8).
Fine. If the dog can pass a reasonable test of humanlike intelligence, she gets the rights, too. Same with flatworms, for all I care. Having a 1000-word vocabulary doesn’t cut it, though.
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708/11 "2014-10-09T02:47:19Z")
Creating an A.I. that _wants_ to be free is a clear design failure. 😛
_The Jetsons_ pretty consistently depicted robots as property, even to the point that destroying them was vandalism, not murder.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708/12 "2014-10-10T00:23:45Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#):
>
> Having a 1000-word vocabulary doesn’t cut it, though.
If you look up definitions for _sentient_, that dog seems to qualify rather easily.
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2014, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708/13 "2014-10-10T03:07:26Z")
> [@Lumpy](#):
>
> Creating an A.I. that _wants_ to be free is a clear design failure. 😛
>
> _The Jetsons_ pretty consistently depicted robots as property, even to the point that destroying them was vandalism, not murder.
Yeah…but look at the products safety laws and how they’re shown. Household appliances cause mayhem on a daily basis. Look at the workplace safety laws, and how they’re violated. What about the laws guaranteeing employees the right not to be harassed? Every time Mr. Spacely socks Mr. Jetson, that’s a pretty severe crime, at least according to our standards.
Maybe, in that future, a hell of a lot of our rights have been dumped. Just one more suggestion that the Jetsons’ world is a hellish dystopian collapse. (Why is everyone constantly shielded from the outdoors environment? Is the air that toxic?)
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2014, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/model-xb-500-v-jetson/700708/14 "2014-10-10T12:39:41Z")
Look. It appears we’ve already granted civil rights to disembodied heads-in-jars. Or else you wouldn’t be ruling on the case.
Find for Rosie; she and her ilk deserve it at least as much as you do.