"While we will probably be able, in the future, to make machines with mental qualities more like our own, we'll probably never want to deal with machines that are too much like us. Who wants to deal with a computer that loses its temper, or an automatic teller that falls in love? Computers will end up with the psychology that is convenient to their designers -- (and they'll be fascist bastards if those designers don't think twice). Program designers have a tendency to think of the users as idiots who need to be controlled. They should rather think of their program as a servant, whose master, the user, should be able to control it. If designers and programmers think about the apparent mental qualities that their programs will have, they'll create programs that are easier and pleasanter -- more humane -- to deal with." -- John McCarthy (b. 1927-09-04, d. 2011-10-23; inventor of Lisp, coiner of the phrase "artificial intelligence"), "The Little Thoughts of Thinking Machines", Psychology Today, 1983. [Read the earlier parts of the piece for a clearer idea of what he meant there by "mental qualities" of machines.]
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