Korean scientist in your speculative fiction?

The Koreans announced their space exploration plans today. They've got a lot to accomplish in the next couple of decades on the moon.

This is the second scientific piece of news out of Korea to end up on this blog. Interesting. There must be a plethora of creative scientific minds in this nation...or Kim Jong Il just north of the border gives the populace lots of motivation for a different kind of future.

For whatever reason, if a person is writing a piece of speculative fiction, featuring a prominent Korean scientist would make a lot of sense. He doesn't have to be a space scientist either, he could be a roboticist. Here are a few previous posts this year to cover that Korean subject:

• a post in March about robot rights
  
• more reflection in May
  
• most recent thoughts on it in July
  

Now that they're squarely in the mix of both space and robotics, what will be the next scientific announcement out of Korea. I'm venturing a guess it won't be about cloning.

More on robot laws

Following up on some of my past commentary based on Korea's penchant for robot laws, I must temper my earlier rhetoric. In this recent article, the fascination with robots in Korea became more apparent to me.

Most interesting is the R&D fact: according to the article, Korea spends 80 million dollars a year in developing new robotic gadgets.

This makes a bit more sense now...even though this figure might seem low by U.S. standards, it still shows a profound inclination for motorized helpers on a GNP basis. So, I tip my hat to their Asimovian reverence. In this case, it does seem to be safe rather than sorry...even though they will inevitably need to amend their robot laws to meet future needs.

Robot rights: too soon

In this recent post you'll find an analysis of recent efforts regarding standards of robotic treatment and control. Again, I feel like I've taken another nasty dose of crazy pills.

Until I start seeing robots used beyond factories and a few test homes, I can't see the need for this kind of legislating. As a US citizen, I'm glad it's not an effort here to thrust my country into the leading-edge spotlight. It's Korea and the UK leading the charge this time around.

Perhaps speculative fiction, in this case "I,Robot" by Isaac Asimov, does too good of a job sometimes. As the article points out, they are talking about "the three laws of robotics" in Korea -- a direct adoption of Asimov's book.

We may need such rules in a future world where robots are more prevalent. But I don't think now is the time. The situation will change by the time we need such societal guidance. I think we'd be wise to let the situation unfold a bit longer before drafting new laws.

Thoughts?