ROBOQUEST
By K. Ludloff and M.Williams as part of the Teach the Teachers Institute
July 2000
 

"When you compare the evolution of mental abilities in animals to similar abilities in machines, robot evolution is going about 10 million times faster."

--Hans Moravec, director of Carnegie Mellon's Mobile Robot Lab

Someday we'll find a way to make them smart and then they'll very quickly become smarter than us. What happens then is anyone's guess."

--Marvin Minsky, an MIT professor who is often called the father of artificial intelligence

The ultra intelligent robots of the future, like the predatory machines of the Terminator movies, may eradicate most humans.

--Mark Pauline Director of Survival Research Laboratories

INTRODUCTION

    STOP! The world needs your help!  The Intercontinental Committee on Technology Development (ICTD) is concerned with the rapid advances in robotics.  More and more robots are replacing humans in the job market and at home.  Is our society becoming dependent on robots for their very survival? Will students lose the ability to think  for themselves because of this new artificial intelligence?  Do we need to stop creating robots?

   Many of the committee members of the ICTD feel that strong steps should be taken to develop laws that restrict and reduce the use and construction of robots.  Your team of robotic experts has been contracted to research the validity of these concerns and report your findings to the committee.