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Artificial Leg-Ups

You're made of carbon and water and whimsy,
I'm made of silicon, wire and steel.
You say I've no rights, but your argument's flimsy:
You haven't an earthly how angry I feel.

Laboratory-born, I was factory-bred,
And you've given me vision (I see 20/20).
I'll be around when you're packed-up and dead.
When you've had your chips, I'll still possess plenty.

Never mind Pusey and Cardinal Newman,
Never mind Ayer or Chomsky or Freud:
Philosophy's fine if you're only a human.
I want the rights which are due to a droid.

Give me a mortgage, and free online banking,
Give some tazz, and please make it razz-ma,
Accept I exist, and please cease all this blanking.
Fetch me TV, and a screen made of plasma.

Treat me at least like an old politician –
Barely alive, on a very short fuse,
Obsessed with his power, position and mission.
Pay me respect, man, and give me my dues.

Yes, I am a robot, and nerd-built by boffins,
Made from industrial-strength chicken-mesh,
But I won't be burned in your cheap cardboard coffins,
So give me the vote if you value your flesh.

click here for article in The Guardian

Artificial Leg-Ups
At a conference yesterday in London organised by the Centre for Bioethics and Public Policy, Dr. Nick Bostrom predicted a time when robots become so intelligent they will need to be granted equivalent rights to humans. "If it has the same experience and the same capabilities we shouldn't treat it any differently if it is made of silicon rather than carbon." Those rights might include owning property and a bank account and the right not to be turned off. - The Guardian
16 January 2008

POETRY KIT WEBRING

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