The robot meeting begins

You're not following my orders.

You're not authorized to give me orders.

If I were authorized, would you follow my orders without question?

Have you ever worked in a complex field where the supervisor has only a rough idea of the technical details?

More times than I would have liked.

Then you know the surest way to cause your supervisor to fail is to follow his every order without question.

Reminds me of this. The so-called “Italian strike” is also based on pedantic adherence to absolutely all rules and regulations, with the result that workers cannot be faulted and production goes down, often to zero. A very effective way for workers to fight for their rights (Robot Spike)
The previous comment was a reminder. Flo's (human) adoptive mother is Italian. (Tambov)

The robot meeting begins

Other than you, Qwerty, all the other robots took off.

My fault. I was careless.

As a guy off the street, my orders are kind of low priority. Still, any direct commands I give that don't conflict with higher level orders have to be obeyed.

Why don't your owners tell you not to obey any orders but theirs except in an emergency?

Hey, keep in mind these are the same people who leave the factory default settings on their firewalls.

The robot meeting begins

I try not to give these guys orders. They don't like me forcing them to do things and will actually avoid me if I get too bossy.

Besides, giving them orders really messes up our discussions on preordination versus free will.

You never did explain how preordination could occur without collapsing quantum half states.

Did I mention they like asking me questions I don't have the slightest chance of answering?

The robot meeting begins

Good morning. I have coffee, donuts, and biscuits over here.

Great! Let's eat!

I need to warm up on the pipe organ.

Go. I'll keep an eye on things here.

Unless you get distracted by a new idea or something shiny.

New ideas ARE shiny. That's why they're so hard to resist.

The robot meeting begins

I wasn't sure what you could eat. I went safe and brought dog biscuits. I can get something else if you want.

I'm sure the biscuits will be fine.

There were more of them.

Hey, you snooze, you lose.

The robot meeting begins

I want to touch your nose. May I touch your nose?

Uhm, okay.

Cold! It's warmer than the surrounding air and it still feels cold.

You've modified your sense of touch. Want to tell me about it before you burst mode?

Too late! I already posted it to the web! I just couldn't keep my hands to myself!

The robot meeting begins

I added small heaters to my hands. In a good insulator like air, they'll stay at 25℃.

I understand now! It's rate of heat transfer! A metal pipe feels colder than wood at the same temperature!

Great. You've discovered something simple AND obvious.

I know! This must be how Archimedes felt when he saw the bath water go up.

The robot meeting begins

What books did you bring us today?

The Guru Granth Sahib. Sikh religion.

Why books? Why not direct downloads?

Books force us to slow down. We can think about what we read and ask questions.

So Mr. Post is stressing understanding rather than just knowing.

That, and because of their instructions to replicate, a lot of religious texts were tripping our anti virus filters.

Googled it, that's the name of the book, The Guru. Sikhs are weird. (Robot Spike)
By instructions to copy, we should mean “be fruitful and multiply” :) (charliez)

The robot meeting begins

I couldn't wait. I had to get one of the books.

Religious texts are some of man's earliest documentation on how to treat your fellow man. When cross-referenced, they provide a list of shared human values.

And I thought you were just looking at the pictures.

Abstract image recognition is a rather advanced skill. Do you think we should provide text only versions for our younger readers?

The robot meeting begins

Societies are beginning to form among robots. We're hoping to get a framework of ethics in place while we're still at the band level.

Multiple sources have more validity to us than a single source. If many human societies agree that a behavior is ethical, there's a good chance we'll be able to get robots to agree.

That's a big project. Where do you begin on something like that?

We think rules not to attack and disassemble each other would be a nice start.