[span style=\'font-size:11pt;line-height:100%\']Rioters Protest Darwinbots Blood Sports[/span]
By IMA FAYK, Associated Press WriterNEW YORK - Protesters gathered outside the third annual Darwinbots convention in New York, NY to protest what they consider "unspeakable acts of cruelty."
"This ranks right up there with cock fighting, fox hunting, and other blood sports," said Robert O'Doyle, President of Women for Animal Rights. "These are living creatures too. Forcing these normally peaceful bots to battle to the death in leagues is immoral, uncival, and if I have my way, unlawful."
Every year on January 30th Darwinbots fans gather for DarwinCon to share company, bot techniques, and award the coveted 'Carlo' to bot makers and mutaters alike who have best contributed to the field.
Controversy was brewed late last March when the Biological Overseeing Committe accepted organisms from selected artificial life simulators as officially alive. Darwinbots was among the list.
"What makes Darwinbots unique is its open ended nature," says Jay Lemmon, a bot maker and Darwinbots programmer. "It was natural that people would want to see whose bots are stronger in such a system. The leagues are the natural result."
When asked about O'Doyle's persistant threats to make bot battling illegal, Lemmon responded, "I'm not worried. While its true most bots being made now are considered alive, the term shouldn't denote anything above the most simple of life forms. We have no problem using antibacterial soap, or killing stray mice that wander into our homes.
"If we make bot battling illegal, we must declare soap and mice traps illegal too. Anyway, bots don't suffer during the battle. They don't feel pain, they just cease to exist for a while."
O'Doyle responded, "It's not the same thing. We don't make mice battle to the death in arenas for our amusement. It's not the death of the bots that's cruel, but the deliberate encouraging of aggressive behaviors.
"Also, I'd like to point out that bots do indeed feel pain. All you have to do is type in ? .pain into the console to see evidence of that."
The issue may come to a head sooner than either party realizes. Rep. McMillan R - Idaho has proposed a bill in the house to make all forms of "cyber cruelty" illegal, imposing stiff fines and possible imprisonment. Included on the bill is expected to be a provision for "cruelty to cybernetic and artificial life forms".
The bill is expected to pass the house but the senate has traditionally been slow to pass bills broadening the rights of animals, whether artificial or actual. The issue is rather evenly split, but not across party lines. It's caused a great deal of friction between the President and his party.
It is not unlikely that this will become the hot button topic of the 2020 elections, surpassing the war in Syrria and the faltering economy.