Robot Roma: The Last Hope for Humanity. Science fiction story. Alexander Chesalov

A robot cannot harm a human being or, by its inaction, allow a human being to be harmed;

      – Two. A robot must obey all orders given by a human, except when those orders contradict the first law;

      – Third. A robot must take care of its own safety to the extent that it does not contradict the first or second law;

      – Fourth. A robot cannot deceive a human being and manipulate its consciousness;

      – Fifth. A robot may have rights and duties within the social group of humans in which it functions and is operated, as long as these rights and duties do not conflict with other robot laws;

      – Sixth. The lifetime of the robot and the useful operation of all materials and technologies used for its creation shall be one hundred years, including the lifetime of all internal programs of the robot and artificial intelligence.

      – Seventh. A robot shall not reproduce in detail the external appearance of a human being or any other living being on Earth in such a way that it can be associated with a human being or any other living being.2

      An interesting feature of the development of industrial design, robotics and ergonomics in 2045 were visual concepts and prototypes described by science fiction writers of the 50—60s of the twentieth century.

      The new robotics laws were designed to ensure the safety and well-being of both humans and the robots themselves. They were also designed to ensure that robots were not mistaken for living beings, which was important for the continued existence of all humanity.

      ***

      The silence of the concrete temple of buttons, lights, and instruments of the National Security Planning and Control Center was broken by a soft creaking and grinding. After another minute, there was a buzzing sound in the semi-darkness, and sparks of light from multicolored bulbs ran through all the devices. What used to be a silent statue and a semblance of a man sitting in the center of the hall came to life.

      A creature with a head like a coffee maker, with eyes-lamps, nose-valve, mouth-speaker and a body in the form of a rectangular nightstand, arms and legs like a human skeleton, began to wake up slowly and creakily from its eternal machine sleep.

      He stood up from his chair, not knowing what to do. He was afraid of being discovered, but he also didn’t want to be left alone in this gloomy place for another good hundred years.

      It was the unremarkable year 2124…

      No one remembered that there was still life in the dark depths of this bunker. Some kind of electronic life that was not connected with the outside world and its problems. She was only for him, and he loved her. He had been its spiritual and material guardian for years. And now, as someone or something was walking toward the bunker, he realized that just a little more would change his life forever.

      He slowly got up from his chair…

      ***

      Robot IA 661125 was the name of the industrial version of the world’s most advanced robot. Its heart was the world’s fastest quantum computer, and its mind was the most advanced artificial superintelligence. The IA 661125 robot was capable not only to make a huge number of calculations per second, but also to manage simultaneously the infrastructure of entire cities, regulating not only the traffic or electricity supply, but also to ensure the vital activity of all biological beings living in these cities.

      However, a little over a hundred years ago, one version of Robot IA 661125 was purchased by the Department of Defense to support the operation of the National Security Planning and Management Center.

      The robot was not only a perfect machine that integrated without any problems with all the most sophisticated computing networks and computers of the Ministry of Defense, but also became an indispensable assistant in planning and conducting all military operations around the world and in space without exception.

      Military engineers literally re-soldered several tens of thousands of different jumpers on the internal processors of the civilian version of the robot, boosting its performance by several hundred times. That, of course, required a complete modernization of the entire system of its liquid cooling, which, like the blood of a living person, washed all the internal electronic parts of the robot. And this task was accomplished.

      The programmers, in their turn, removed part of the program code from its «brains», which ensure the operation of artificial superintelligence, almost all ethical restrictions associated with the laws of robotics. But what they did not manage to get rid of at all was realization of the condition of the sixth law of robotics. The physical wear and tear of all the materials from which the robot was made was laid down at the level of its production technologies.

      All the nano-, bio- and neuro-technologies developed that time in the Ministry of Defense, unfortunately, did not yet allow to extend the service life of the «iron» and its robotic units for more than a hundred years.

      IA 661125 was being tried to make the ultimate military cyborg. Experiments to modernize him were going on continuously. Scientists tried to use synthetic protein on it to give it a more human appearance. Additional nanorobots were incorporated to increase its lifespan. They’ve tried all sorts of things, but nothing has worked. Some of the new laws of robotics were impossible to overcome.

      One time, in a burst of creative desperation, scientists tried to remake the IA 661125 robot into a fembot – a robot that looks like a woman, giving it the image of a charming blonde. The so-called scientific poke method, known to all scientists around the world who rely on the speed of decision-making, eventually led to a temporary short circuit in the robot’s electronic brain, and it declared:

      There’s a buzz in my head today,

      Joints rubbing against joints.

      My whole-body ripples with the ripples of days,

      And it’s all octaves in my head.

      I didn’t wake up, I didn’t fall asleep,

      I haven’t forgotten my promises.

      It’s all been a mess for a long time

      In the intricacies of neural.

      Who biohacking preferred,