That can be good news—whether it’s as weight-loss coaches or therapy aides for autistic children—but it also opens up unexplored ethical territory. Human empathy is a volatile, unpredictable force, and if it can be manipulated for good, it can be manipulated for bad as well. Might people share sensitive personal information or data more readily with a robot they perceive as partly human than they would ever be willing to share with a “mere” computer?

这可能是一个好消息——当机器人作为一个减肥教练或自闭症儿童的治疗助手——但它也开启了未知的道德领域。人类的同情心是一种变化莫测的力量，能够被操纵来做好事，也能做坏事。当机器人被认为是人类的一部分，而不仅仅是一台计算机时，人们会更容易向它们分享一些私人信息或数据吗？

Social scientists (and anxious parents) have wondered for years about the effect of violent video games on children and adults alike. Even as those questions remain unresolved, an increasing number of interactions with robots will create their own version of that debate. Could kicking a robot like Spot desensitize people, and make them more likely to kick their (real) dogs at home? Or, could the opportunity to visit violence on robots provide an outlet to divert dangerous behaviors? (Call it the Westworld hypothesis.)

社会科学家（和焦虑的父母们）多年来一直想知道暴力电视游戏对儿童和成人的影响。这些问题尚未解决时，越来越多的与机器人的互动将为这个辩论创造新的版本。踢Spot这样的机器人是否会降低人们的敏感度，使得人们更有可能在家里踢他们的（真正的）狗？或者，对机器人的暴力行为能够为转移危险行为提供发泄口？（Westworld假说。）

An even more pungent version of that dilemma could revolve around child-size sex robots. Would such a thing provide a useful outlet for sex offenders, or would it simply make pedophilia seem more acceptable? Making the dilemma more challenging, it’s extremely difficult to research that question.

这个矛盾更为尖锐的版本是围绕儿童型的性爱机器人。这种东西会为性犯罪者提供有效的发泄口，还是会使恋童癖看起来更容易接受？当这个困境越来越具有挑战性时，研究这些问题就变得极端困难。

The sway that even rudimentary robots can hold over humans was clear near the end of Darling’s talk. A short robot whirred out on stage to alert her that she had five minutes left to speak. The audience, which had just listened to a thoughtful, in-depth litany of the ethical challenges of human-robot interactions, cooed involuntarily at the cute little machine. And Darling, who had just delivered the litany, knelt down to pat its head.

Darling的发言快要结束时，即使是未成熟的机器人也有可能控制人们的事实变得清楚了。一个矮小的机器人旋转着上台，提醒她只剩5分钟的发言时间。刚刚听了关于人类与机器人互动的伦理挑战的发言的观众们，却不由自主地开始逗这一可爱小巧的机器。而刚刚发表了长篇言论的Darling，也蹲下来拍了拍它的头。

重点词汇

metaphor：隐喻

Boston Dynamics：波士顿动力公司

humanoid：类人型机器人

dilemma：困境，两难境地

rudimentary：不成熟的