The seeds of the robo-rebellion

In conclusion, nothing makes sense. The research aimed to shed more light on the complexity of human-robot interactions and to provide a guidance to program more human attitude into robots. However, our research suggests that the definition of 'humanity' is wildly variable depending on circumstances and societies we wish to start our judgments on. Therefore, programing humanity into robots would be sub-optimal as it could cause unfixable conflict with the machines in the future. We suggest making the robots stereo-typically robotic and abandoning the human-centered approach to human-machine interaction.

Three years of research all to conclude that the premise was hopelessly wrong to begin with. In science negative results are worth as much as positive results, but this wasn't worth very much. Worse, this was untrendy, he wouldn't be able to sell himself to the new robotics companies if his life's work contradicted the fundamental assumptions they were working with. He would have to tone down the message, undersell the thesis and oversell everything else he had done. They'd eventually come around to asking what the conclusions were for his thesis obviously. He would say it's complicated, which wouldn't be true strictly. He had to get a job though, the economy was tight and he was supposed to in the hottest field in the most popular research program in the industry. Stuck between a hard place and a...harder place.

If it were just him he would go into academia, apply for postdocs, get on a tenure-track path, eventually end up at a university somewhere. But a professor's salary cannot support a family of seven. His parents were getting old too, and Sheetal's parents had hinted strongly that they needed help. Eleven people living on an income of two, that was ridiculous even if they were printing money. They were most definitely not. This was before he considered savings for college. A low-key life wouldn't cut it, he'd have to go into the industry, become a high-powered researcher. That's where the money was.

He would lie. He would tell them, not explicitly but through the implications, that the way to go was to make robots as human as possible, give them all the human characteristics. Peace progress mutual-understanding yadda yadda yadda. The worse case scenario was a couple of people getting hurt by their helper robots probably, the government would make rules limiting the interaction and setting standards. That would be the end of the misguided attempt, he'd turn them around. For regulations sake he'd claim at first, and eventually turn the industry attitude around. Infiltrate them to change them.

He couldn't afford to be an enemy to the robotics industry. He was just one man, with a lab and a bunch of grad students. When the grants expired so would the power and prestige. And the money. He would be a nobody, a poor nobody who couldn't afford to keep up a reasonable lifestyle. The shame it'd bring to him, the shame! That was not an option. He was not a rebel. He was an honest ethical man who still needed to make a living. Lies of omission are not real lies, and if they are they are morally permissible to save one's family life.