When Will it Be Impolite Not to Greet a Robot

Robotics keeps ticking away in the background.... An entire sub-culture of technology brains are churning away at creating machines that become independent within their purpose. Of course, you can say we already interact with "robots" daily through machines that accomplish complex tasks with minimal human input. We've already written billions of lines of code to allow these machines to make choices.

Just as an aside, I am not a Ludite. I do however trust in the "nature of man" to build first, then adapt to the result. Put enough momentum behind any initiative and the nature of man is to be inclusive.

Remember Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics"?

• 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 Law.

It was Asimov himself who coined the term, "robotics" while imagining the futures represented in his writings. I believe the coming explosion of robotics technology is a fantastic thing and also see how subtly it will change our world in really big ways. Then one day we're being lectured on the proper etiquette for the treatment of "Robo-citizen's".