Risking oneself for another

Sending a robot into a burning building, a collapsed mine or a minefield is a good thing to do, and this register will record more of it over time. It also removes the act described here. A rescuer who goes in accepts that they may not come out, for someone they may never have met, and that acceptance is what the act consists of. Philosophers file this under supererogation: it is good, it is honoured, and nobody can be required to do it, which only makes sense for a being with something to lose. A machine sent into the same building is being spent rather than sacrificing itself. The distinction governs how we honour these acts, and it will matter more as the machines get better at the entering.