Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by lobochrome 811 days ago
Self driving cars seem tame in comparison.
1 comments

I don't think so. To my knowledge, nobody has ever been killed by a Roomba. The robot problem is a lot less scary if there are essentially no life-and-death consequences for random innocent bystanders.
a robot arm capable of doing the dishes is also capable enough to manipulate a knife (commonly found in kitchens) in a stabbing motion. Not intentionally, of course, but the sci-fi story of this going bad writes itself. That doesn't mean we shouldn't do it, I'll be the first in line to buy a robot arm sink dishwasher, but robotics is dangerous, even when not piloting a several ton vehicle down the road.