PBS Idea Channel Explores Whether We Might One Day Worry About the Well-Being of Robots

PBS Idea Channel host Mike Rugnetta explores whether we might one day worry about the well-being of robots. Specifically, Rugnetta argues that robots might eventually become subjects of moral patiency.

Do you worry about your vacuum? Not in the way where you’re concerned about breaking a valuable object – but in an emotional, empathetic concern for its being? If so, then you’re primed for today’s discussion about the wellbeing of robots! We can personify objects, assigning them human qualities, but will technology get to a point where it DESERVES these moral concerns? Can you imagine a day when you will empathize with your computer or care if it lives or dies?