
Image by: Seth Shostak
Robots Call the Shots
From medical fields to battlefields -the latest generation of silicon intelligence and the new field of robo-ethics. Read the full description.
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Piece Description
Dr.Robot, I presume? Your appendix may be removed by motor-driven, scalpel-wielding mechanical hands one day. Robots are debuting in the medical field… as well as on battlefields. And they’re increasingly making important decisions – on their own. But can we teach robots right from wrong? Find out why the onslaught of silicon intelligence has prompted a new field of robo-ethics.
Plus, robo-geologists: NASA’s vision for autonomous robots in space.
Guests:
- P.W. Singer – Director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution, and the author of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century
- Wendell Wallach – Chair of a technology and ethics working group for Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, and the co-author of Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong
- Pablo Garcia – – Principal engineer working on medical robotics at SRI International, Menlo Park, California
- Robert Anderson – Planetary geologist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Broadcast History
First aired 6/1/09
Additional Files
- Listing - Robots Call the Shots (Robots_Call_the_Shots.doc)
Additional Credits
Seth Shostak - Host and Producer
Molly Bentley - Co-host and Executive Producer
Gary Niederhoff - Assistant Producer
Barbara Vance - Production Assistant
SETI Institute - Producer
Sun Microsystems - Underwriter




