If you were a robot, and I knew but you didn't, would you want me to tell you?

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"Hypothetically" Speaking...

If you were a robot, and I knew but you didn't, would you want me to tell you?

This question was posed on The Big Bang Theory. I have spent quite a while (mostly while driving) contemplating this issue and attempting to to come up with my answer. It is not an easy question, but my answer (at least for today) is: No, don't tell me - I prefer ignorant bliss.

Make Your Wishes Known Now

(just in case)

If you were a robot, and I knew but you didn't, would you want me to tell you?

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Yes, tell me.

TeagueChubak says:

I would LOVE to know that!

nano neness marcel says:

the fact of to don t know is to hidde the reallity. the fact of being in a virtual world. so i wanna know.

ru55l33 says:

tell me that I'm genius...:)

phoenix-arizona-friends says:

It would help explain a lot. :)

robot says:

yessssssssssssssssssss

Othercat says:

Heck yeah! I'd want to know if I was a robot. Then I could do all sorts of cool stuff.

XXX says:

Well, duh. Can you think of any advantage of being human over being a robot? If you're older than six years old, you already know beyond a doubt that ou have free will or a soul or something like that. If our a teenager you probably know that you can *ahem*. Other than using an off switch, (which even you did not know about, so how could anyone else?) a human would have no way of beating a robot without a delicate laptop to transmit a virus.

also. There is surely a reason why little kids dress up like robots, right? Robots are more repairable than humans. if you lose an arm, just get an arc welder or something and reattach it. Humans need surgery, healing time and stuff. If you're worried about afterlife, a robot would have no soul to torture in hell, so you can do whatever the heck you want. BAsically only the laws of robotics stop you from doing anyhting, and since you could disobey them before, you still can, and are, therefore, more free than anyone else.

WhySoSerious? says:

Yes but only if I get super high tech awesome gadgets :l otherwise no

pumpnut says:

Gotta know what's up.

inkvamp says:

I think I'd want to know so I could discover any cool robot stuff about myself like if I had a built-in laser or something... I'll probably change my mind a few times if I think about it more though.

sithgenard says:

I prefer to know myself so I can deal with it, by the way, being robot is not bad at all, rite?

JeremyCrow says:

I would prefer to live in the knowledge of a disturbing truth than be deluded by a comforting lie.

JenOfChicago says:

Yes, please tell me!!!

guardianstar77 says:

I/O Error 2030 @ 5945 ... Need more input; need more input; need more input.

greg says:

Yes

nizampatnam ravikiran says:

ha this is is a nice way to do some much more things in life which i cant do as a man

bekat says:

Don't just tell me, clean my house!

Kristy says:

Of course I'd want to you tell me.

kendykane says:

That depends. When I learn that I'm a robot, will I be able to handle it?

ee says:

is that mean i'm smarter than you?

Maggieee(: says:

yeah i would want to know. but i want to loveeee.

danista says:

sorry,but i am not designed,nor programed to answer this question

No, don't tell me.

technospunky says:

nope

FormerHumanNowARobotMutant says:

No. If I were living as a human, finding out that I was a robot would be devastating since it would mean that my whole life had been a lie -- no real parents, no real siblings, no real spouse, no real friends -- just computer programming that made me think all those people were real. I would have the same feelings I always had, but knowing that nothing was real would make me want to self-terminate...which I don't believe robots can do. So it would be a living HELL!

What's more, you would begin to wonder what people do to you when you are 'off' or in an 'altered state'. Do they make you have sex with them, do they make you kill people without your knowledge. All of this would haunt you while you are in a conscious state.

Also, Bliss is not a product of ignorance - it is a product of the life you have build for yourself, which you would suddenly find out was a lie. So my emphatic answer is NO!!!!!!!

says:

No. Unless I could shoot lasers out of my eyes, have ridiculously hard armor plating, look like a terminator under my skin, or anything else that might be awesome.

mcochs says:

No,it would change everything.Ignorance IS bliss,at least in this case!

Danggg!!! says:

Robots have genitals???

raceface says:

But what if i knew you were a robot, but had not told you. You would'nt know that i know, that you thought you knew. Would you want to know what i knew after what you're about to tell me what you knew?

Tommo says:

What would it matter if I were? Thus, why worry about it. If you did, it would forever alter the course of future events. Who are you to meddle with peoples' futures?

Virtue_Creations says:

No - No one else seems to have realised.

Jaime says:

I don't even think I would understand the concept of robot if I were a robot. So no.

mommal says:

If I wasn't smart enough to know I wouldn't be much of a robot.

Treasures-By-Brenda says:

Ignorance is bliss...

Verdul says:

I like who I am. As long as I am a happy productive robot don't tell me.

kiwisoutback says:

My brain is fizzing from this right now and I'm human, I think...so I can't imagine what it might do to a robot. So, no, don't tell me.

revdan says:

I think I would rather go on blissfully ignorasnt about being a heap of junk.

says:

The movie Blade Runner answers that question.

says:

How can you validate me without invalidating yourself

ChefL96 says:

Hmmm. It depends on what I would be capable of. I mean, do I have good skills? lol

nooranwer says:

No.....I am happy what I am....And I know myself better than others :)

Beautiful_GreenBeans says:

Or at least not until you figure out why....
and totally checked your data!
and had someone else check it. And someone else check them...
and before you know it ;)

emmalarkins says:

I think I'd rather not know. It's like knowing when you're going to die. Plus, I'd have to wonder why they made a robot with such pitiful strength and speed specifications!

MontessoriSecrets says:

I'd say, keep it to yourself. What I don't know won't kill me right?

MiaD says:

if you tell me that i am , am i am not, would that still make me a robot...?

 
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The Big Bang Theory: Koothrappali, Wolowitz, Sheldon, and Leonard

Koothrappali, Wolowitz, Sheldon, and Leonard 

Discussion of this Hypothetical

(from the Big Bang Theory)

Wolowitz: Sheldon, if you were a robot, and I knew and you didn't, would you want me to tell you?
Sheldon: That depends. When I learn that I'm a robot, will I be able to handle it?
Wolowitz: Maybe, although the history of science fiction is not on your side.
Sheldon: Uh, let me ask you this: when I learn that I'm a robot, will I be bound by Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics?
Koothrappali: You might be bound by them right now.
Wolowitz: That's true, have you ever harmed a human being, or through inaction, allowed a human being to come to harm?
Sheldon: Of course not.
Koothrappali: Have you ever harmed yourself or let yourself to be harmed except in cases where a human being would've been endangered?
Sheldon: Well, no.
Wolowitz: I smell robot.

Would it matter if you are currently happy or not?

Would it make a difference in whether you would want to know that you are a robot if you are extremely happy or in a state of depression?

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