Here is a quote from the article (a link follows)
Should humanity sanction the creation of intelligent machines? That's the pressing issue at the heart of the Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom's fascinating new book, Superintelligence. Bostrom cogently argues that the prospect of superintelligent machines is "the most important and most daunting challenge humanity has ever faced." If we fail to meet this challenge, he concludes, malevolent or indifferent artificial intelligence (AI) will likely destroy us all.
http://reason.com/archives/2014/09/12/will-superintelligent-machines-destroy-h
Couldn't you just envision Dr. O'Shay running to the media shouting "But Astro would NEVER behave that way!!"
For my entire life (well, since I first saw Astro Boy in 1964) I was enthralled with the idea of a benevolent, super-intelligent robot like Astro. And yet, I have to be honest . . . just like nuclear energy . . . super-intelligent AI could be a double-edge sword.
I have a feeling Dr. Tezuka had this thought, too when he created "The Omega Factor" and had Atlas built as, essentially, a "twin" of Astro -- but able to possess the capability of committing evil acts, and harming humans. What an incredible futurist/genius he proved to be . . . because here we are, on the brink of entering the world he envisioned a half-century earlier, with all the difficult questions we now have to face.
Personally, in my heart, I still want to see an "Astro" -- and I still maintain that such a being could already exist (at least in intelligence, if not in physical abilities). But would his existence also indicate that an "Atlas" or "Pluto" or "Bora" would also inevitably come to exist? And is this reason enough to never create an :astro
I wonder how Dr. Tezuka would answer that!
I also have a feeling we may - instead of traveling down the "artificial" intelligence route -- could focus instead on developing our "organic" intelligence to a higher level, like the mentats in Frank Herbert's "Dune" books. In my own Astro Boy head canon, I envision Dr. Boynton/Tenma introducing Astro's "AI" to a clone of his predecessor's human body.
I doubt we humans will ever stop trying to expand our abilities and knowledge, but I can see that robots as "final destination" are probably not going to be the outcome, but a way in which we can better understand how to maximize our innate physical/metaphysical abilities as humans.
Still . . . I wanna see an ASTRO BOY!!