CS 4002
Robots and Society
Debates
Due dates:
Requirement:
You are required to participate in a series
of debates.
For the first part of the assignment, write a
short letter to the TA (zkira@cc) with the subject line "CS4002 debates"
sorting the topics below in your order of preference.
See below!
The Setting:
It is the near future. You are experts who have been assembled to address a particular issue in debates that have been organized by the United Nations.
Your audience is composed of staff members
who will be advising their bosses on policy decisions. Thus, the debates will
be judged primarily on the cogency and relevance of the arguments rather than
on technical debating skill. You will, in fact, be graded primarily on how well
you present your argument, the quality of your research and preparation, and
your presentation skills.
As in traditional debate, the affirmative
side has the burden of proving its case. The negative must simply refute the
resolution and need not propose any action on its own.
Mechanics:
·
Debate teams consist of
four-six students.
·
All members of the
debate team must participate (speak). A single member of the team should take
each segment.
·
A coin flip prior to the
start of the debate will determine which team has the affirmative and which has
the negative.
·
The debate format is:
Other submissions:
Each group must submit a three page document before the start of the debate.
The first page outlines the argument for the
affirmative side. The second page outlines the argument for the negative side.
The final page cites the references searched.
Some advice:
You have to be prepared to argue both sides. This means that your team must have researched both sides extensively from in-depth and reputable sources.
Listen very carefully to your opponents.
Rebuttal speakers should directly address the points made by their opponents.
Rebuttals are only as strong as your ability to undermine their arguments with
evidence or carefully constructed counterarguments of your own.
Arguments should be supported with supporting
evidence, gathered from your research. Avoid citing sources that seem dubious
or that are unsupportable unless they are personal anecdotes designed to create
the foundation for a point.
You will be cut off at the end of the time
limit. This means that you need to practice timing your responses to ensure
that you've made your argument within the time allowed. Otherwise the audience
will be left hanging.
The first and last impressions are most
important. Make sure that you have good openings and closings for your debate.
Make sure your closing statements address the arguments of your opponents.
Don't worry about getting every little bit of
information out there. Your listeners will respond much better to clear
argumentation. Speak slowly and clearly. This is very important to remember,
especially under the stress of speaking in front of an audience.
The restriction
prohibiting private companies from using offshore labor when bidding for
government contract work (Senate Bill 2094 "United States Workers
Protection Act of 2004") should be amended to include robotic labor and
then enacted into law.
Currently, robots
are being built for surgical use. For example, research by various faculty
across the nation (like Howie
Choset at CMU) is resulting in snake-like robots that should soon be
capable of working their way through capillaries and arteries to assist in
heart surgery. In order to prevent repeats of, for example, the Therac-25 incidents, laws should be passed that require
shared liability between the doctors that use the new technology, and the
hardware and software developers of the products. In particular, patients can
sue doctors for malpractice when using one of these robots, but doctors are
then allowed to receive twice the damages received by their patients if they
can show that the programmers of the system introduced a bug into the system.
Congress recently
mandated that 1/3 of military vehicles be unmanned robots by 2015. In order to
ensure that all military robots in the future are not used in the commission of
war crimes, the mandate should be amended so that all robotic
systems--autonomous or otherwise--have the Geneva convention protocols and US Military Doctrine as defined by the US ARMY Training and Doctrine
Command programmed into them. As such, this might prevent creativity in the
robot (for good or for ill), the idea is that the rigid boundaries would give
the robot the power to refuse to work or co-operate when said doctrines was
violated thus preventing war crimes.
In the future, robots may be able to learn about the world through experience and become inventors, devising new mechanical devices or useful artifacts. These inventions should immediately be placed into public domain for all to use, as robots do not need monetary incentive to create.
In some states, adultery may be provided as a reason for a "fault divorce", leading the non-guilty party to getting more alimony or assets, for instance. Sexual relations with a robot (without permission from the partner) should be considered adultery, and be allowed to bring a fault divorce against a spouse.