Incorporating Robots into Human Law - An Analysis of Robot Prototyping in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and Alex Proyas’ I, Robot.

Katarzyna Ginszt

doi:10.17951/nh.2020.5.172-185

Abstract

Science fiction narratives have not only influenced the way the majority of people imagine the future, but they have also shaped the general expectations for the technological development. This phenomenon has been called “science fiction prototyping” by Brian David Johnson. The prototype of a robot is created by science fiction works. Robots as artificially created entities are often presented as potential “members” of future society. Therefore, their legal status in imaginary reality is worth considering. The analysis of Blade Runner (1982) by Ridley Scott and I, Robot (2004) by Alex Proyas juxtaposes features that, according to the legal tradition, are most often attributed to moral subjects of legal protection with human-like features of robots. The interdisciplinary approach adopted in this study involves applying legal reasoning to the study of science fiction.

Highlights

The urging dilemma that contemporary Western societies face is connected with a place of new technologies in legal reality
The vision of the development of humanized AI that aims at erasing the gap between robots and humans complicates the issue of legal status of robots even further as it touches upon the area of law that has always been reserved for humans only, namely human rights law
The idea of exemplifying legal reality through imaginary science fiction narratives stems from the phenomenon called “science fiction prototyping” which treats science fiction texts as sources of information about the future worlds

Summary

Introduction

The urging dilemma that contemporary Western societies face is connected with a place of new technologies in legal reality. The vision of the development of humanized AI that aims at erasing the gap between robots and humans complicates the issue of legal status of robots even further as it touches upon the area of law that has always been reserved for humans only, namely human rights law. This branch of law takes its fundamental assumptions from the natural law – and in this context the word natural is not without significance. U quo without being detached from both legal and moral reality

Science fiction prototyping

Blade Runner

Conclusion