Giant brains; or, Machines that thinkBerkeley, Edmund Callis
Science
Giant brains; or, Machines that think
Berkeley, Edmund Callis
Computers -- Popular works
Probably the most widely used type of control in this country is
private and public control working together, as private ownership
and public regulation—for example, railroads, banks, airlines, life
insurance companies, telephone systems, and many others. It would be
reasonable to expect private ownership and public regulation of a
great many classes of robot machines, to the end that they would never
threaten the safety of people.
Another common type of control is public ownership and operation;
examples are toll bridges, airports, city transit systems, and
water-supply systems. Atomic energy was so clearly fraught with
serious implications that in 1946 the Congress of the United States
placed it entirely under public control expressed as the Atomic
Energy Commission. There is a class of robot machinery which has
already reached the stage of acute public concern: guided missiles and
automatic fire-control. It would be reasonable that in this country
all activity in this subdivision should be under close control by the
Department of Defense.
In the international arena, again, the problem becomes soluble if
we assume men to be reasonable. An international agency, such as an
organ of the United Nations, would take over inspection and control of
robot machine activities closely affecting the public safety anywhere
in the world. Particularly, this agency would concern itself with
guided missiles, robot pilots for planes, automatic gunfire control,
etc. Much manufacturing skill is needed to make such products as
these: the factories where they could be manufactured would thereby
be determined. Also, a giant brain is a useful device for solving
scientific problems about weapons of mass destruction. So the agency
would need to inspect the problems being solved on such machines. This
agency would be responsible to a legislature or an executive body
representing all the people in the world—if men were reasonable.
In regard to the effects of robot machines on unemployment, again,
if men were reasonable, the problem would be soluble. The problem is
equivalent to the problem of abundance: how should men distribute the
advantages of a vast increase in production among all the members of
society in a fair and sensible way? A vast increase in production is
not so impossible as it may seem. For example, in 1939, with 45 million
employed, the United States index of industrial production was at 109,
and, in 1943, with 52½ million employed, the index of production was at
239.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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