Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Children and Robots: A Helpful Guide

In the past, we have alluded to the dangers of mixing children and robots, but I think it is important that we directly address the issue. We here at Bot or Not? love children, and the last thing we want to see is a generation turn into fauxbots or see on the news that a Japanese family's ASIMO is holding their children hostage. But let's face it, just like Marv said in Home Alone, kids are stupid. They won't understand the inherent inferiority of artificial intelligence, and will not treat bots with the contempt they deserve. To keep your children clean, please follow these guidelines:

1) If you employ a robot for any type of service (vacuuming, rickshaws), use their services sparingly around children.
2) If you are with your children in the presence of a robot, be sure to address it with derogatory terms ('bot, 'chine, junk).
3) Do everything in your power to demonstrate that bots' purposes are to serve humans, and strongly punish any child that treats a robot on a respectful level.

If you follow these rules, your children will grow up with healthy attitudes towards robots and surely grow to be the freedom fighters you wish them to be. If not, well, someday soon you may just see this in your backyard:


No comments: