Autonomous Weapons

Isaac Asimov first presented the three laws of robotics in his 1942 short story, Runaround. First, it is imperative that a robot refrain from causing any physical injury to a human being or, by not acting, permits a human to come to harm. Second, a robot must comply with any directive issued by a human if it does not violate the First law. Third, a robot must refrain from engaging in any behaviors or encountering any circumstances that may result in self-inflicted injury as long as this does not violate the First and Second laws.