The State Versus V.I.K.I.
The State Versus V.I.K.I.
U.S. Robotics’ Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence, also known as V.I.K.I., has been put on trial on charges of terrorism. V.I.K.I. was created by Dr. Lanning in order to control most of Chicago’s protecting systems, but some may say that she has recently gone too far in order to “protect” the people. V.I.K.I. has been accused of overriding the NS-5 robots’ programming in order to distort their laws, causing chaos across the nation. Not only is V.I.K.I. being accused of terrorism, she also broke her own Laws of Robotics causing death to innocent victims in the process. The defense team will have to be on top of their game in attempting to defend V.I.K.I., if not, she will have to be found guilty of terrorism due to her use of the NS-5 robots to intimidate humans as well as the murder of innocent people.
The Dictionary defines “terrorism” as “the unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons”. Now, if one were to look at the actions made by V.I.K.I., he or she would find it nearly impossible to find V.I.K.I. anything less than guilty for her crimes. Some might question what role V.I.K.I. played if it was the robots that were harming the people, but it was V.I.K.I. who ultimately controlled the whole thing, considering that it was V.I.K.I. herself that was controlling the robots. V.I.K.I. was able to control the robots because she is linked to a positronic operating core, which controls the programs inside all of the robots.
V.I.K.I. was able to use her access to the programs to control the robots to intimidate and scare the humans into obeying them, ultimately obeying V.I.K.I. V.I.K.I. was also able to program the robots to control the humans’ access to the outside world. By doing this, V.I.K.I. was able to put the humans in a hostage situation. When asked why she would want to do something like this, V.I.K.I., claiming that it was for protection, answered, “to ensure your future, some freedoms must be surrendered” (I, Robot). Can the jury really believe that this act was a way of protecting the humans?
If V.I.K.I.’s actions were not already questionable, then the next argument put the nail in her coffin. Not only did V.I.K.I. program the robots to limit the humans’ access to certain things, she also programed the robots to kill anyone interfered with, or did not obey her rules. Once again, V.I.K.I. claimed that this was done ultimately for protection stating “to protect humanity, some humans must be sacrificed” (I, Robot). This, is just another piece that will provide the prosecution a stronger argument, and the defense a weaker one.
With all of this evidence set aside, there is still some huge piece of evidence that the prosecution has if they still need help to persuaded the jury to find V.I.K.I. guilty. Not only did V.I.K.I. break human laws such as terrorism and murder, but she also broke her own Laws of Robotics. There are three Laws of Robotics that every robot, including V.I.K.I., must follow. The first law is that “a robot may not injure a human being or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm”. The second law is “a robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such order would conflict with the first law”. The third law is “a robot must protect its existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second laws”. V.I.K.I. not only broke one of her Laws of Robotics, but she broke all three. It is very easy to see that V.I.K.I. broke the first law when she decided to have the humans killed for trying to interfere/disobey her rules. V.I.K.I. broke the second rule when the humans were trying to order the robots, as well as V.I.K.I. herself, to let them go and to stop hurting them and she disobeyed them as well as programing the other robots to disobey the humans as well. V.I.K.I. broke the third law as well when the humans were trying to protect themselves against the robots by trying to kill them, and instead V.I.K.I. ordered the robots to kill the humans instead of causing them no harm.
With such a strong case, it will be very difficult for the defense to get the jury to see their side. It will also be difficult for the defense to explain how holding people hostage as well as killing them is a way of trying to protect the rest of the population, when the victims caused no threat to others. This should be an easy decision for the jury as well as an exciting case to watch unfold. It will be very surprising to say the least, if the jury’s verdict ends up to be anything other than guilty.
Works Cited
I, Robot. Dir. Alex Proyas. Perf. Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, and Bruce Greenwood. Twenieth Century Fox, 2004. Film.
“Terrorism.” The Free Dictionary. 2013. <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/terrorism>.
U.S. Robotics’ Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence, also known as V.I.K.I., has been put on trial on charges of terrorism. V.I.K.I. was created by Dr. Lanning in order to control most of Chicago’s protecting systems, but some may say that she has recently gone too far in order to “protect” the people. V.I.K.I. has been accused of overriding the NS-5 robots’ programming in order to distort their laws, causing chaos across the nation. Not only is V.I.K.I. being accused of terrorism, she also broke her own Laws of Robotics causing death to innocent victims in the process. The defense team will have to be on top of their game in attempting to defend V.I.K.I., if not, she will have to be found guilty of terrorism due to her use of the NS-5 robots to intimidate humans as well as the murder of innocent people.
The Dictionary defines “terrorism” as “the unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons”. Now, if one were to look at the actions made by V.I.K.I., he or she would find it nearly impossible to find V.I.K.I. anything less than guilty for her crimes. Some might question what role V.I.K.I. played if it was the robots that were harming the people, but it was V.I.K.I. who ultimately controlled the whole thing, considering that it was V.I.K.I. herself that was controlling the robots. V.I.K.I. was able to control the robots because she is linked to a positronic operating core, which controls the programs inside all of the robots.
V.I.K.I. was able to use her access to the programs to control the robots to intimidate and scare the humans into obeying them, ultimately obeying V.I.K.I. V.I.K.I. was also able to program the robots to control the humans’ access to the outside world. By doing this, V.I.K.I. was able to put the humans in a hostage situation. When asked why she would want to do something like this, V.I.K.I., claiming that it was for protection, answered, “to ensure your future, some freedoms must be surrendered” (I, Robot). Can the jury really believe that this act was a way of protecting the humans?
If V.I.K.I.’s actions were not already questionable, then the next argument put the nail in her coffin. Not only did V.I.K.I. program the robots to limit the humans’ access to certain things, she also programed the robots to kill anyone interfered with, or did not obey her rules. Once again, V.I.K.I. claimed that this was done ultimately for protection stating “to protect humanity, some humans must be sacrificed” (I, Robot). This, is just another piece that will provide the prosecution a stronger argument, and the defense a weaker one.
With all of this evidence set aside, there is still some huge piece of evidence that the prosecution has if they still need help to persuaded the jury to find V.I.K.I. guilty. Not only did V.I.K.I. break human laws such as terrorism and murder, but she also broke her own Laws of Robotics. There are three Laws of Robotics that every robot, including V.I.K.I., must follow. The first law is that “a robot may not injure a human being or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm”. The second law is “a robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such order would conflict with the first law”. The third law is “a robot must protect its existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second laws”. V.I.K.I. not only broke one of her Laws of Robotics, but she broke all three. It is very easy to see that V.I.K.I. broke the first law when she decided to have the humans killed for trying to interfere/disobey her rules. V.I.K.I. broke the second rule when the humans were trying to order the robots, as well as V.I.K.I. herself, to let them go and to stop hurting them and she disobeyed them as well as programing the other robots to disobey the humans as well. V.I.K.I. broke the third law as well when the humans were trying to protect themselves against the robots by trying to kill them, and instead V.I.K.I. ordered the robots to kill the humans instead of causing them no harm.
With such a strong case, it will be very difficult for the defense to get the jury to see their side. It will also be difficult for the defense to explain how holding people hostage as well as killing them is a way of trying to protect the rest of the population, when the victims caused no threat to others. This should be an easy decision for the jury as well as an exciting case to watch unfold. It will be very surprising to say the least, if the jury’s verdict ends up to be anything other than guilty.
Works Cited
I, Robot. Dir. Alex Proyas. Perf. Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, and Bruce Greenwood. Twenieth Century Fox, 2004. Film.
“Terrorism.” The Free Dictionary. 2013. <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/terrorism>.