Bounded Robots Confusion over whether robots are alive, make choices, or might be incarnated with spirits lies in understanding what is seen versus what is unseen on the surface. On the surface, humans see robots able to entertain focus on a task at hand to the exclusion of all possible distractions, and thus, for instance, win at a game of chess over a human chess master. To primitive peoples, a simple computer program appears to be thinking, as it can rapidly arrive at a conclusion while entertaining a problem it has been programmed to address. Computer programs are not considered brains by most humans only because they can gaze at and understand the program, and can see that the computer is simply following instructions.
Robots can concentrate on a bounded task, such as a game of chess, far better than humans.
Robots can operate without attention or direction from their human masters. Humans get distracted by their biological needs. Humans can have intractable prejudices or cultural viewpoints that they refuse to drop. What is unseen is that robots are bounded in ways that DNA is not bounded. Humans are bounded by their biology, an inability to put aside their biological needs, so that they cannot travel where robots can, exclusively concentrate on a task as robots can, or remain calm in disturbing circumstances such as a burning building or the torture of another human might present.