Slashdot Mirror
Robodex 2000 Kicks Off In Japan
Anne Marie writes: "Robodex 2000, an exhibition of the world of robots, has kicked off in Japan. Featured robots include Honda's humanoid Asimi robot and Sony's aibo, as well as upcoming challengers like Sony's SDR-3X humanoid. AP Coverage is here, and we'd better pay attention, because according to a ZDNET article, robots killed at least five humans last year."
It was 8th grade quality, of course.
Basically, I focused on three potential issues.
How do you distinguish between the two beings? This becomes more important as people begin to add mechanical parts to their bodies like pacemakers, prosthetics, brain implants, etc. How about a being where the only human part is the brain?
Another primary focus was on civil liberties. Would "cyborg" be a derogatory term for "cybernetic organism"? (defined as someone who adds functions controlled cybernetically, in a Norbert Weiner sense) This sort of thing has happened before, I'm sure the reader can figure that out...
Would "human mutts" be relegated to the back of the bus?
What about machine intelligence? That issue is explored in Asimov's short story, "The Bicentennial Man" and explored much further in Robert Silverberg's novelisation, "The Positronic Man." Very interesting reading.
I'm not a big media watchdog, but isn't this a bit... cruel?
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Sort of like open source programming,where people compete for the biggest share of current knowledge. Those that work most out get most credit.
But don't the robots still win then? They're gonna be smarter than us, right? For things like crunching code it stands to reason that they'll get more work done faster.
Machines can dig ditches better and faster than we can; someday they'll pound out programs better and faster too. Guess humans will be relegated to scut-work like composing symphonies and painting masterpieces.
Will that pay the rent? I suppose that depends on whether the landlord is a robot. Will robots even want or need money? Will they want or need symphonies?
I suppose that drawing a new conclusion from existing knowledge would fit under (2).
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
It's all about software, not the physical properties of the platform. That's what the point of the Turing Test is.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
Judging by how well our previous 50 years of effort have worked, a very long time. However, maybe some brilliant piece of biological research will figure out how the brain works and simulating it in software will become a doddle. Who knows? Making predictions like this is well nigh impossible, because technological progress is almost always irregular.
While Asimov's Bicentennial Man is probably the most well-known fictional examination of the issue, it's by no means the only one. If anyone remembers Astroboy, the rights of robots were a recurring theme - to take an example I recall, in one episode Astro visited Antarctica with Dr. Elephant, who rode the bus to their hotel while Astro was forced to ride in a truck. One wonders whether the Japanese audience drew the (IMHO) intended parallels to the US civil rights struggle.
Of course, all such speculation is just that - speculation. While computers/robots might become "intelligent", whether that intelligence will have a nature close enough to our own to make civil rights remotely relevant is still unknown.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Not to force this issue exclusively into the "American" arena ... but let's face it ... the American baby boomers are aging. And they have done the world a remarkable favor and not continued in the reproductive traditions of their fore bearers. This means they must look to other sources for wealth, stability, and prosperity in their golden years (i.e. not exclusively their progeny). Improved biotech will undoubtedly be one result of this fact. Another, will be advances in robotics that will enable the elderly more personal freedom and even the opportunity to become more significant wealth generators in their old age (through robotic telepresence). This of course could lead to businesses exclusively built using robotic workers. More realistically, this all probably just means that the Japanese will find a wonderful new vistas in robotic exports to the US and around the world.
Now, if they would have included the deaths by Furby attacks then the numbers would have been more impressive.
Especially if they took into account the suicides of people driven over the edge by the obnoxious little furry chattering demons....
% In the Springfield Robotics Lab People are bursting in throwing
% flames. Whilst robots come out fearing for their lives, Kent Brockman
% reports.
Why? Why was I programmed to feel pain?
-- Robot, "Lisa the Skeptic"
Robodex: A set of robots, fastened loosely at the bottom so they can easily be flipped back and forth for quick reference. Robots can be removed from the set for use, and additional robots can be inserted.
heh yes we'll exploit them, just as we exploit our computers.. there's no sense in giving rights to a CPU. heh, try to wake up.
The ZDNet article says that "Moravec gives us 40 or 50 years until robots outsmart us." I think Moravec is ignoring the likelihood that we humans will end up using this and attendant technologies to augment our own capabilities. (To that end, I hereby claim first rights on the 'Brain Pilot' trademark). I suspect that we'll be a whole lot like the Borg (although probably invisibly) in the forseeable future.
Even the respected peer-reviewed Weekly World News reports that robots will WIPE OUT MANKIND.
Here's the denouncement of said rumor; I've already sent Mr. Somerson an email asking him to correct his disinformation.
--
Okay, granted "computing power != intelligence", but I have read about little robots that can "act like" ants. I'm not saying they're as smart as ants--actually, I have know idea how to determine the smartness/stupidness of an ant--but these robots were able to "act like" them. Of course, I'm pretty sure the robots were only in one controled setting. There's no guarentee that the robots' behavior would still be ant-like in a different setting. Also, I'm not sure if they mimicked ants perfectly or not.
But really, think about it. How many different behaviors is a single ant capable of? Couldn't you program a robot that relatively small number of behaviors? And if you could, then all you have to do is have a bunch of robots with the same programming and--you've got ants! Of course, you'd also have a robot carrying out the role of queen. One problem would be the larvae...
Anyway, the ZD-Net article was weak, but it's not such an open-and-shut deal to say that robots can't "act smart". Just as it's not so easy to say that robots can "be smart". If you really think about it... what *is* intelligence?
Furry cows moo and decompress.
I know there was a rumor that R2D2 was going to be fully compuerized and Kenny Baker would no longer have a part, but if I recall correctly that rumor was debunked. Perhaps ZDNET is privy to some information I have overlooked. Or perhaps they didn't get the rumor update.
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
I see real potential for robots to become the next civil liberty issue, as various pressure groups call for them to be given rights, and not be exploited.
Will we treat our robots as we used to treat our women?
KTB:Lover, Poet, Artiste, Aesthete, Programmer.
KTB:Lover, Poet, Artiste, Aesthete, Programmer.
There is no
And one of them had to go out of his way to get himself killed by one. I work at a business that makes extensive use of conveyor belts. Despite explicit training and constant employee review on how to operate those belts safely, people still manage to injure themselves in sometimes permanant cosmetic ways. Someone once got accidently caught in the drive machinery, so they installed metal guards over any machinery that could be dangerous and forbid ANY employees from opening them. They do it anyways.
Nobody is clueless about that, its just some people are stupid. And due to stupidity, people sometimes die. I wouldn't get too worked up on it being the robot's fault. The robot didn't kill anyone. Those people killed themselves and they has nobody else to blame for it.
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
"I predict that maybe after 500 to 2000 years we will have robots that may have the intellect of a small animal. I mean it has taken us 50 years to create barely functional computers."
On the other hand, it's taken the slashdot community only a few years to achieve the collective intelligence of a small animal.
if the robots are better suited who are we to stop them? they will be an extension of humanity. when over population gets out of control and we start wacking each other over the head with sticks, why shouldn't the robots step in and take over... if they have the intelegence/ability/and self control (they'll know when to stop reproducing).
dont be sad when they take over be happy. we will most likely kill ourselves off in the next hundred years or so. at least this way we will have some sort of legacy.
use LaTeX? want an online reference manager that
-- john
That would be a First Law violation! Are you sure that the humans in question weren't humaniform robots? Time to call Lije Bailey, Earth's greatest robot detective! He's in your corner...
Apartently, your definition of reality and mine are way out of sync.
I don't recall the atomic bomb being science fiction. It's not to much of a strech of the imagination to think "Hey, we have bombs now, in the future, we'll have REALLY big bombs"
And laser warfare is still science fiction. Currently only used on a few Air Force planes to shoot down missles and an illegal blinding laser.
No troops running around with their laser rifles incinerating people on the spot.
Space battles!?! WTF are you talking about? Your grip on reality has been weakened by "Star Trek"
Later
Erik Z
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.