"Surrogates"

[joesteph]

I just saw the movie "Surrogates," starring Bruce Willis. Essentially, it's that a person can be at home in a special chair and control an android that will go about in the real world, with complete control by you.

The surrogate which, being an android, will have a human appearance, can do everything from have you at work to have you party. It can also enable the handicapped to do things they enjoyed in the past but can't any longer.

The surrogate can have your appearance exactly as you are, or be younger, taller, slimmer, etc.

Would you consider having a surrogate, or that's okay for others, but not for you? Would you be in favor of them being legal or illegal?

[BDPulver]

I keep thinking of terminator comeing alive

[bushido_man96]

I think I wouldn't go that route. I'd rather be in control myself, rather than putting a pretender out there.

[tonydee]

If the technology was really immersive - so you felt like you were really experiencing things first hand - then it'd be absolutely terrific. I'd love to have half a dozen of them and send them round the world, scuba diving, hiking, hanging out in dangerous but interesting places only the suicidal would go for real, taking photos of all kinds of things (another hobby), and of course android-vs-android sparring . Treat them like a glorified webcam with limbs. But I wouldn't mislead people into thinking that the surrogate was a real person - that's manipulative and raises all sorts of issues.

Makes me think of the U.S. military and their robot soldiers and planes... how depressing. All that stuff about nuclear disarmament: my bet's is that it's only because many countries have or may soon have significant nuclear capabilities, but everyone's still generations behind the U.S. in robotics, and that'll be the new dominant factor....

Regards,

Tony