Is a Human Life Worth as Much as a Robotic Life? - DZone AI

You might think that it would be impossible for people to value a piece of hardware over human life, yet new research from Radboud University suggests that such circumstances may exist. Bizarrely, one of these circumstances might involve a perception that robots feel pain. "It is known that military personnel may mourn a robot that is used to clear mines in the army. Funerals are organized for them. We wanted to investigate how far this empathy for robots extends, and what moral principles influence this behavior towards robots. Little research has been done in this area as of yet, " the authors explain.