Robot Rights

We have all heard about animal rights. the idea that animals have rights equal to people. Now don't get me wrong I have had pets all my life. I love my dogs and cats and even the annoying parakeet, but they are animals.

Now someone wants to grant rights to robots. So what is a robot. It is a lump of plastic and metal fashioned to perform a task.

That description could apply to a Roomba - an automated vacuum cleaner. Your PC - your %$#@ PC. The PDA that keeps you on schedule. The MP3 player that has reduced a room full of stereo equipment to something you clip on your belt. The cell phone that never shuts up, and on and on it goes.

Okay lets take technology. The avergae usage span for a desk top or laptop is approximately 24 months. Servers last longer, but only because they a bigger pain to swap out. PDA and cell phones last until the next big fad comes out. In the last 2 years, the technology available to cell phone users has exploded.

So what do you do when your computer runs like molasses in winter and the cell phone doesn't seem so new compared to the latest and greatest. Generally, we hand it down to grandma or the kids. Eventually, they grow out of your benevolent gift.

Sooner or later, these electronic gizmos need to be retired permanently. My preference is to blast them to bits using heavy caliber weapons. I suppose if we grant them rights, my form of payback will be branded insensitive and illegal.