ABSTRACT
Gregory Maxwell, whom Mike Hearn credits with coming up with the concept of machine self-ownership, envisioned a computer cloud server as being capable of ordering more computers as it approaches capacity. Such computer interaction through the internet suggests that there might well be networks of different autonomous or semiautonomous objects that interact with each other via what is now referred to as the internet of things. Moreover with the internet of things, radio frequency identification (RFID), and geolocation, it is quite possible that autonomous objects will know when and where other objects can be found. The legal and ethical issues are complex enough within the currently feasible scenario of robotic machines owning themselves and other machines. A less benign take on the effect of autonomous self-owning robots on worker-consumers is that a few would gain control of these robots and the rest of us would become redundant and impoverished.
