How Asimov’s 3 laws of Robotics when applied to governments can make earth a fantabulous place to live in for all humans
By: Kiran Krishnan
Tags: Robots, Law, Earth, Government, Safe

How Asimov’s 3 laws of Robotics when applied to governments can make earth a fantabulous place to live in for all humans Kiran Krishnan Dec 27, 2020·4 min read

Law of Robotics to World leaders give safe earth

Asimov’s Three Laws are as follows:

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Now replace “robot” with “government” as below

A government may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

A government must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

A government must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Let us take each of the point and understand how the three laws of robots when applied to governments across the world can make a heaven out of earth.

People choose their government and the government is only their representative. The head of the government is a mere replaceable apex of the iceberg whose greatest objective is to safeguard the collective welfare of the masses. Here nobody is master nor slave but only the power given to an individual to take decisions on their behalf with their consultation. This power is not the blood thirsty of the dynastic or alpha male animalistic mindset but of the humanistic potential to tolerate and propagate the intelligence potential of all humans towards their welfare.

A government may not injure a human being through acts of its policies. Any policy should be done in conjunction with the masses and not by force. It is understandable that it is extremely difficult to make someone better off without making anyone worse off. However, those who are better off can compensate for those who are worse off such that the position of the worse off is at status quo or improved. Only those policies should be proceeded. For eg., A few handful of people want to set up a cement factory to change their houses from tiled roofs to concrete ones. They also want to profit from this by selling the cement later to some others such that the houses in their locality all have concrete roofs. But, the raw material for the cement is found in another locality where few people are living. It is required to displace them to fetch the raw material.

For the above example, how should the government who is a representative for all should react? Considering Asimov’s laws, where no humans are harmed as per first law or the orders given by a section of powerful representatives to government do not conflict with first law or even if the government existence is suffering it should ensure no conflict with first and second law as per third law, the government should think of optimal solution and suggest the following:

a. Check with the people living in the raw material locality of whether they are willing to locate without any objections as the cause is for the development of locality? If the few people living are monks, they will be willing to locate unconditionally as monks are not attached to comforts

b. Check with the people who want to set up cement factory of why they want to convert to concrete roof, as how their productivity after that would improve? If the answer is that if converting to concrete roof can make them focus on more productive tasks like solving the Navier-Stokes equation then the government can consider.

c. Check with the people living in the raw material locality of whether they would like to relocate to another locality with similar or greater facility than the current one. If yes, consider, otherwise if they are reluctant due to emotional reasons advise them of the impermanence of life as how their great ancestors were migrating several places and development of community is more important than emotion. If still unwilling, drop the plan as force is more dangerous as it is disrespectful.

d. Check with the people who want to set up cement factory, if the people living in raw material locality are unwilling to give of their land, whether they would drop their plan? If the answer is yes, then advise them to channel their thoughts for other alternatives to strengthen their roofs. If the answer is no, teach them that the purpose of human intelligence is to make others life meaningful and to respect the emotion of others.

With the above four optimal solutions the government greatly obeyed Asimov’s three laws of robotics when applied to them as blood shed was avoided. It is easier to destroy life, but not to create. That is why it is highly essential for the government headed by a person of clarity rather than confidence. Until now, the world had never had a head with clarity, as the mentality is might is always right.