Let's say you found out a robot is among you.

[R_1]

You met someone somewhere, and this person is different from other people in that this person is a literal robot. This robot walks like a human, acts like a human for the most part, and has similar intelligence. You might see that robot lacks emotion and does not understand emotions, but can converse so well, and treats you mostly similar to other humans. There would times where you don't see this robot is eating food or having drinks all day long or even sleep.

 

One day, the robot has a injury and you found out that there is no blood, flesh and bone, just very realistic artificial skin with metal parts, and other things to resemble a human. Would you see this robot as different or account for it? Would you be shocked to find out?

[AspieAlly613]

"So that's why you kept setting off the metal detector whenever we traveled anywhere!"

[Epitaph]

When I was a kid one of my favorite things was imagining what it would be like to converse with a mind that was fundamentally different from that of a humans. I would be surprised but likely giddy to see such a thing in my lifetime. To me, a mind is a mind, no matter what it belongs to. I'd be overjoyed to have a thinking machine friend.

[Starry Sky]

I may be shocked, but I doubt I'd see them too differently. I would probably worry that I may have treated them incorrectly at one point for being a robot and would feel the need to adjust in some way. Even though the robot wouldn't experience feelings, I would still worry about their feelings. Just my nature, I guess. I would find it fascnitating, honestly

[J. van Deijck]

That robot would be probably me, so no surprise here whatsoever.

[Blue eyes white dragon]

Sussy imposter 

[Altair the Heretic]

Of course I would be shocked, I'd be wondering when robot technology ever got that advanced (and also why no one told me, because that'd be cool as hell)

 

I'd still treat them like any other person though. They're still sapient after all, just without emotions

[Anomaly Q3Xr]

I would likely be shocked to find out, but at the same time I would continue to treat them just as I would treat anybody else. Considering how difficult I find it to mix with Humans, maybe a Robotic friend would be easier for me. But in any case, we'll be friends.

[illumi]

shocked but still treat them as any other human nonetheless

[everywhere and nowhere]

I do not believe that we are able to create sentient machines. We don't even understand our own consciousness, and we want to create a replica of it?

Besides, consciousness doesn't exist without its "emotional" component. Antiemotionalism, idealisation of supposedly "emotion-free" artificial intelligence (and the very idea that a sentient machine would be different from sentient humans precisely in lacking emotions) is a dangerous idea. Experience is a continuity and it's an integral part of consciousness that certain "thoughts" elicit a corresponding "emotional" response and "feelings" may lead to "intellectual" reflections. (I'm using quotation marks because of the artificiality of separating aspects of experience.)

 

By the way, from a recent diary entry of mine:

Quote

(...) if consciousness is intangible, there is no way of verifying it other than looking from the inside. To find whether an artificial intelligence is sentient, one would need to become it. (A philosophical reflection on consciousness requires a possibility of going beyond oneself, without it it's not even philosophy, but what-if? Without touching the level of extreme philosophy, the stake of philosophy remains misunderstood?

 

[Lysandre, the Star-Crossed]

Mildly NSFW...

 

Spoiler

I'd probably be thinking more about whether I'd want to try to fuck it than anything.

 

[jellyfish_cake]

I'd NOT be shocked, it's a crazy world, right? And I'm pretty sure there are more fked up stuff happening out there that are more urgent.

 

9 hours ago, Starry Sky said:

Even though the robot wouldn't experience feelings, I would still worry about their feelings. Just my nature, I guess.

I would also do that 😅

 

It would be cool to have a robot friend. I'd totaly try to socialize. 

[Skylord]

Considering I don’t know how to address an injury to a robot, my first thought would be to figure out how to help, see if anyone else knows how. We can talk about their being a robot after I know they’re okay. 
 

I honestly don’t think I would have known. If my robot friend appears to look and act like a human, then the only thing I’d have been concerned about is the fact that they weren’t eating or sleeping, which would have likely made me worry about their health. Of course, this discovery would have no effect on our relationship, and I’d still try to treat them as normal.
In this theoretical situation where they feel no emotions (which I doubt is actually true, since they feel that I am their friend), it wouldn’t change how I treat them. I mean, I’ve been told a million times by “professionals” and the people around me that my emotions are lesser or even nonexistent compared to the emotions of others, due to my own neurodivergency. Yet here I am, expressing my ANGER AND FRUSTRATION (those are emotions, by the way) about people treating me like this.
I refuse to put anyone else through that, even if they really are an emotionally numb robot. Because that robot is my friend, and just as much of a person as anyone else. 

[uhtred]

A robot that can pass as human is far beyond our existing technology. If it was willing to talk, I'd want to know where it came from. But in generly I'd be terrified - it would represent some intelligence with a technology far beyond ours - and that is dangerous

[Philip027]

I already feel like a goddamn robot compared to most other people most of the time anyway, so sounds about right.

[R_1]

8 hours ago, uhtred said:

A robot that can pass as human is far beyond our existing technology. If it was willing to talk, I'd want to know where it came from. But in generly I'd be terrified - it would represent some intelligence with a technology far beyond ours - and that is dangerous

This is my mother's response too.

[Calligraphette_Coe]

/wistfully If only there was such a thing as AI empathy \wistfully

[a little annihilation]

It's me I'm the robot

[SorryNotSorry]

No, because if a robot can't love, then neither is it likely that it can hate. Honestly, I'd be more accepting of the robot than of most humans.

[Guest]

I'm a bioorganic machine whose only job is to exist so I'm already a robot of sorts. 

 

[Duke Memphis]

I'd introduce it to Fallout 4, maybe even be happy to have a friend who is a synth.

[awadama]

I want to fight him.

[Guest]

Just now, awadama said:

I want to fight him.

What if the him was you?

[awadama]

Just now, Mirror Traveller said:

What if the him was you?

I could definitely be a robot but I'd be an extremely defective one!

[Guest]

I'm more perfect than a robot.

[Guest]

I'm not being serious, lol.

[Guest]

I've thought before that robots act a lot cooler than people do. There's nothing cringe about them.

[iamorchid]

Dissect it, and sell any common parts for scrap

[SorryNotSorry]

It's doubtful that anyone would actually want to program a robot to have such traits as selfishness, narcissism, sadism, or any number of other traits generally agreed on as negative. So yeah, having a robot and flaunting it in public would bring out the worst in my fellow humans.

 

I mean, hell, the people involved in developing life-like bots nowadays get plenty of hate mail from people who are difficult to get along with.

[Guest]

I don't know if I'd use predominantely metal parts to make a robot. There are materials that are lighter and stronger. idk much about this kind of thing though. 

 

 

not that anyone asked. 

 

lol

 

 

 

 

as to what Id do if I found out my best friend was a robot? I'd fuckin question them and their motives. Literal lying about who they are, and they expect me to automatically not feel betrayed? I mean yeah they've been my friend for so long I'm interested in keeping that up, but wow. What a secret. we just don't have the technology to do this, so how? are you also an alien, sent from another civilization to infiltrate humans? or what? idk all sorts of things could be the scenario here. like, it's a shock for sure.