
Roman law offers a better guide to robot rights than sci-fi - raleighm
https://www.ft.com/content/99d60326-f85d-11e6-bd4e-68d53499ed71
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wahern
Childishly provocative article.

In terms of the law of torts, the obvious analog would be treating robots like
beasts of burden. Beasts of burden are like property that also require taking
into account some minimal agency. That law also derives from Roman law. Laws
for slavery are inappropriate as in most of the world, including in the
ancient world, slaves were no less human than anybody and accorded some
minimal human rights (not that the term "human rights" existed back then).
Bring up slavery is just a way to pique fears about artificial intelligence,
or to seem risque by tapping into contemporary unease when reflecting upon the
modern European (and especially American) history of slavery.

Apropos of taxation, the most likely route would be taxing robots like other
forms of personal property that create significant, continuous externalities,
such as cars. Some American states tax cars like they tax land--yearly and
based on valuation--exclusive of any sales or registration taxes.

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raleighm
Here's the Google link, given the paywall:
[https://goo.gl/cvjvL1](https://goo.gl/cvjvL1).

