Robots need ketamine too! And to supply their robot with drugs a group of Swiss techno-artists programmed an agent to randomly buy an item on a random darknet site with bitcoin, resulting in a cache of drugs and other contraband that, at first, was a fun art project and then caught the eye of the authorities.
Called the Random Darknet Shopper, the robot simply found a random item and bought it. Most of the items were simply fakes – fake jeans, fake Nikes – but at one point the robot bought ten ecstasy tablets from Germany.
The group placed each item in its own case, rendering it a work of art. That is, until the exhibit closed on January 11th when Swiss Police intervened.
In short, it was totally cool of the Swiss Police to let the exhibit run its course but they didn’t want anyone to get high on the bot’s own supply. The robot itself raises some fascinating questions in regard to the agency of computer programs and who breaks the law when chance replaces the consumer impulse.