Slashdot Mirror
The Sentient Office Is Coming
Roland Piquepaille writes "In this article, the Economist explains that "sentient computing systems are likely to be everywhere within five years -- listening and watching, and ready to anticipate their users' every need." "By adding sensors to today's computing and communications technology, sentient computing seeks to take account of a machine's environment in order to make it more responsive and useful. Sentient computing systems are always on, ubiquitously available, and can adapt to their users. In short, they seek to become real help-mates." ACM TechNews also wrote an analysis of sentient computing: "Challenges to sentient computing include the seamless integration of wireless networks, the spread of sensors throughout products and the environment, the accurate provision of location data, and the ability of sentient systems to merge vast volumes of widely disseminated data and customize its delivery for users. Other problems researchers will have to tackle include scalability, the development of cooperative file systems, and sentient applications' ability to find screens and network devices in close proximity to users." And of course, there are privacy concerns... Check this summary for additional details."
I now see you are attempting to hang yourself because of your crappy life (and I know it's crappy), would you like to:
* Help you write a suicide note
* Email your lawyer to set your main beneficiary to Microsoft
* Fax an order for another red swingline because someone stole it
bananas like monkeys.
I'm glad the Sentient Office is coming, since with all my extra hours and no overtime, I'll soon be downgraded to Inanimate Object!
sentient ( P ) Pronunciation Key (snshnt, -sh-nt)
adj.
Having sense perception; conscious: "The living knew themselves just sentient puppets on God's stage" (T.E. Lawrence).
Experiencing sensation or feeling.
Yes, I had to look it up.
On the most basic level, some of these ideas exist in tangible forms today.
Salling Software's Clicker is a pretty cool piece of software that does some nifty remote control things with Bluetooth-enabled Sony Ericsson phones. But the really nifty stuff are its "proximity sensor" features. When it senses the phone leaves the computer's general area, it pauses iTunes; when you return, it resumes playing. It can also be AppleScript-enabled, letting you do any number of other proximity-to-computer related tasks.
Just a thought. (No, I don't work for Salling Software.)
Something like Minority Report's smart advertising based on a retina scan comes to mind. Basing this off of wireless phones, it seems very much like this idea might be widespread within a few years.
Interesting technology. That's all.
justen
...but it will be hackers' and script-kiddies' paradise. Just think what you could do with all the audio i/o devices, cameras, location data, etc.
The sentient boss!
You think spyware is bad now, just wait till Gator 8.0 Total Information Awareness Edition starts breaking into people's computers and automatically blackmailing hapless users with pictures of their "perusing" adult sites.
It's the long foretold coming of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.....
Everybody Grab you're bootstraps, we're headin to the Frogstar.....!!!!!
I am not sure I want a bunch of Clippy's running around in my everyday world second guessing what I want to do. Rather, I would prefer technologies that can do what I want when I invoke them. For instance, standing in your kitchen talking to your SO about a vacation, you say, "computer, find me the best airfare and hotel rates in say, San Francisco for the weekend of the...." The computer would then list those for you. I don't want my fridge saying "it looks like you are out of milk, I therefore ordered 1gal of milk for you" when I am going out of town for a week.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
Someway and somehow this information will be harvested by SPAM'ers and used to annoy people.
It's been around for a while. It's great! get at bonzai-buddy.com
Competition in America: If you can't beat 'em, Sue 'em!
Oh, and your boss will be a cell phone. See, he's yelling at you right now.
God, I hope they have drugs in the future.
Or something like it? The last Great Computing Hope was truly photorealistic graphics in games. I remember reading this in 1990. Well, 13 years have gone, and in-game images still don't fool me one bit.
Or will we be getting to this sentient office in our flying cars, eating a full course lunch that comes in a pill, and going back to our houses under the sea? Maybe I'll get my robot maid to make me a martini, for retro's sake.
Right after the paperless office.
I'm still waiting for sentient office workers.
"Proudly Posting Without Reading The Article"
""In this article, the Economist explains that "sentient computing systems are likely to be everywhere within five years -- listening and watching, and ready to anticipate their users' every need.""
I have one of those. It's calleed a secretary.
Sentient, sentient, sentient...
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Old joke. The only intelligent life
in my office is the cat, who knows
that it's better to sleep in the sun
than to push bytes in the shadows.
Grand plans are great, but small steps
are what it takes.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
its really skynet....
You paid money to make that stupid ass joke. you are teh GAY. slashdot subscribers are homos! maybe they should let subscribers have an hour to preview the articles so they can come up with funnier jokes.
the money earned from subscriptions pays for michael's, rob malda's, and timothy's condoms at their hot gay buttsex parties.
Sentient computing systems in 5 years? Sure.
Things we will also have in 5 years:
cheap fusion power
base on the moon
first man on mars
duke nukem forever
Nils
According to our pal Bill, Hooper's full of it.
Sadly, I have to believe the guy *without* billions of dollars, meetings with congresswhores, and an overwhelming desire to fund R&D, market, and monopolize Big Brother.
Big Brother Bill, thanks, but we can do without your help.
Maybe they should apply this to Slashdot. This site is getting kinda boring!
Kinda boring? Try extremely boring. This site jumped the shark long ago. Michael and Timothy are the reason why this site sucks cox.
[i]In short, they seek to become real help-mates.[/i][p]Let the masturbation jokes begin!
I will not be trained.
Because the one foe who can defeat SKYNET will be governor by then...
Brilliant -- all we have to do now is get computers to think and we'll be all set.
... instead of having to turn the television on, the TV will know what you want by combining an understanding of what you say, your expression, your gestures and even how you walk.
I'm not gonna get worked up or even mildly excited about stuff like this until it's a little closer to reality - like 20 years out. There's a big difference between (quoting from the Economist article)
Some products already capture the spirit of sentient computing. When the makers of mobile phones first put the mouthpiece on a flip-up cover, users had to open the handset and irritatingly press a button to answer a call. It did not take long for manufacturers to add a sensor so that opening the flip-up cover answered a call and closing the cover ended it.
and
Yeah, this is supercool, and I'd love to have some, but I'm not holding my breath and I certainly don't think it's "likely to be everywhere within five years". If you want to consider computers to be conscious, it's going to take a lot more than motion sensors and cell phones that can tell when you've left your desk.
Using artificial intelligence as an analogue, we have a long time to wait indeed. AI has been promising us for what - 20 years now? - that this kind of stuff was right around the corner, and all we have to show for it is some expert systems and computers that can play chess really well. We can't even get something to pass the Turing test (flawed at that test may be).
Yeah, I know the article isn't about "sentient" technology as much as "ubiquitous" computing, but the author didn't seem to know that. It still isn't going to happen soon. Maybe my kids will have it, though.
Java: the bastard demon spawn of C++ and Ada
...is that the concept assumes that office dweller knows what she wants.
I'm not being facetious. I work in an office, and I can't think of anyone who's particularly well-organized. The people who do their jobs well have good job habits, not a rigid system that an adaptable computer system can learn to predict.
The basic problem with anticipatory decisions by computers is that, if it offers something the user wants, it's accepted; if it offers something the user doesn't want, it's not just rejected, it's an irritant, an interruption. The cost of being wrong far outweighs the benefit of being right. Like branch prediction in the CPU, it has to be right far more often than it's wrong to be of practical value, and human behaviour is far harder to analyse and predict than computations.
Anyone who loves or hates any language, platform, or manufacturer, doesn't know what they're talking about.
Is already here, as far as I'm concerned. I mean, it figures out everything I need to do, anyway. What more could you want?
Look out for the automatic stapler! Look out! Aggghghhghghghh`!@~12 my nEck!/@
Tell... tell mY childen i love tehm..
using namespace slashdot;
troll::post();
You mean something that responds to a baseball bat.
Now what would be the insurance rating on that?
Like, maybe inventing sentient AI first.
sentient...Note that none of the definitions have anything remotely to do with being able to "anticipate a user's every need."
Somebody seriously needs to rethink the terminology here.
Nevermind AI. There's no way that the tech will be that productive in the next 5 years.
WHY? Cause I SAID SO.
Now -- if we only each had a helper monkey, we'd not only save on all that R&D, but all that e-waste would be eliminated too!
You un-empowered me with that archaic and stereotypicial moniker. I'll be sure to bring this up in group.
But, wait, didn't they make this prediction back around, oh, 1966 or so? Nifty theorem provers would unlock the power of the computer for real Artifical Intelligence? No, actually, it was predicted even earlier than that, by no less than Turing. He figured we'd have machines capable of passing his "imitation game" test by the end of the 20th century.
Wrong on all counts. Speech recognition software still requires training and it's clumsy to use. Contents filters (as now mandated for libraries receiving federal funding, thanks to the oh-so-technically-savvy U.S. Supreme Court) still can't reliably tell the difference between breasts as in breast cancer and breasts as in porno. And the AI crowd is still grappling with things like knowledge representation schemas and semantic networks.
IMHO what we will most likely see are systems with huge lookup tables and canned procedural responses driving complex state machines, not flexible systems capable of introspection or foresight. It might even begin to exhibit what the philosophy/cognitive science crowd likes to call "emergent properties". It may even begin to become useful, but it most definately won't be sentient.
I have to admit, though, it would be nice to able to ask my house AI to list my appointments for the day and assemble a personalized news report from the wires while I brush my teeth and get dressed. But I trully don't think that'll be a reality until about the time I decide to pack it in and retire, if then. And then I won't really need it, or even care.
Pfft! They promised us flying cars and video phones, too, and I haven't seen any of those running lately, either.
I hate it when people overload a word's definition in order to create a buzzword. These systems that are being described are not sentient. For something to be sentient, it has to be conscious (i.e. self aware). These aren't sentient systems. They are simply complex predictive systems. AI is a long way from developing sentience.
"If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for everyone else."
How long do you think we have until the Butlerian Jihad?
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
But the office vending machine coffee will still taste like sh*t and the help desk will still take 3 days to create a login for a new worker.
AT&ROFLMAO
I grabbed my lunch and headed out as fast as I could. It is now 12:45, and I am not sure what I will find when I return to the office, but judging from the terrorised faces of my coworkers, it can't be good.
Dumb agents that are tailored and tweaked constantly for specific tasks aren't very good yet, yet somehow omniscient agents that percieve my needs are supposed to be reality in 5 years??? Not likely. AI is a TOUGH problem, I remember when I started looking into it seriously in 97, since then not a whole hell of a lot has changed on the software front. On the hardware front we have gained some decent speed which allows more naive approaches to work. For instance in 96 some researchers made one of the first computer vision system that could read sign language in near real time, but it had to run on a $40K Indigo Graphics workstation, today that same computing power is cheaply available, but I still don't have voice dictation software that takes less time to correct than it takes me to just type in the first place. Somehow I don't see stellar leaps being made in the next 5 years when it has been slow and grueling progress over the last 40.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
How about tablet PC's that were going to create a paperless office, while agents and intelligent appliances would free us from the drudgery of chores ... leaving us plenty of time to spend with our children ... who would have plenty of free time themselves ... since computers would obsolete schools ... and CD-ROMs would obsolete libraries. But that's ok, since GPS would allow us to keep track of where they went, how fast they were driving ... and smart cards would tell us where they spent their virtual money ... because secure computing was going to free us from paper money ... but not before RFID would prevent counterfeit paper from funding terrorists ... who wouldn't be an issue because of biometric id's ... would allow law enforcment to track potential terrorists by their "terrorist" genes ... that would have been identified in human DNA ... by neural net self-teaching software.
Don't even get me started on how whole cities would be built around "It."
So now someone conned the editors of the Economist into publishing an article about "sentient" environments with Bluetooth-like technology driving it all. Give me a break, we've heard it all before. I don't know exactly how the future will arrive, but I do know it ain't gonna show up via a press conference.
[That being said, as a left handed mouse user and touch typist, why _shouldn't_ all the computers I'm paid to troubleshoot automagically recognize me and give me my damn mouse config, typing macros and shortcuts?]
my arm hurts. do i have SARS?
I'm gonna hitup the bathroom, like now
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
First of all, pardon my cynicism. I can't help but think that life is already so very much more complicated for folks with the computers we have today.
Just the upkeep on several PC's takes a lot of time. It doesn't matter what OS they run -- they are all quite complex to most people.
Adding all these new sorts of sensors and having to navigate the extra complexity is not going to make life easier for anyone, especially for those who don't easily comprehend invisible sensors, monitors, data networks, etc.
There is going to be bugs in the code that listens to the incoming data from these sensors and acts on it. And normal people won't have a chance, much less programmers. Who will be able to fix a sensor problem when the house lights don't go off? Or when the toilet keeps flushing even when no one is around?
I can't help but think that many of the new technologies today are nominated for the "Dotcom 2.0" presidency and we're just waiting for one to be accepted by the media and then overhyped and oversold to the public.
As an industry, are we really focusing on making life better for people? Or are we just off inventing stuff to market and make money?
In the Business Week article that was posted recently, it says that over 80% of the cost of "business software" today is spent on installation and maintenance. With more complexity, this figure is likely to skyrocket. We, the people, pay for these costs. They are passed onto us as consumers.
I sit and write this in a tiny little edit box. That's on a nice system with two LCD 1280x1024 monitors. Even though I have plenty of screen space to support a nice editor, I am confined to a little box. It makes me think that there is so much we can do to improve the 'fit and finish' of what we've built so far instead of madly pursuing more and more features.
If we don't slow down the pace of technology, we are just building a giant mountain of half-finished stuff. Sure, a lot of money is made along the way. But has that money been spent wisely? Considering the chilling aftermath of "Dotcom 1.0" in Silicon Valley, I would say not.
I would like to see the old fashioned values of quality, usability, and value return to technology, especially software. Networks of sensors doesn't inspire me with anything other than a sense of dread. Complex stuff that doesn't really make life any better for anyone.
And thank you for reading my somewhat rantish outburst.
What I see is a big fire axe prominently available in every room, and lots of jobs in electronics recycling.
Challenges to sentient computing include the seamless integration of wireless networks, the spread of sensors throughout products and the environment, the accurate provision of location data, and the ability of sentient systems to merge vast volumes of widely disseminated data and customize its delivery for users. Other problems researchers will have to tackle include scalability, the development of cooperative file systems, and sentient applications' ability to find screens and network devices in close proximity to users.
-pyrrho
I subscribe to both Wired and the Economist. Yes, they are both really cool. No, not every story published in either of those mags should be posted to this site.
It's deja vu all over again...
the fact that this appears in economist, clearly shows that this is science fiction in the minds of stupid investors of the silicon valley who are looking towards the next dot com rise. Seriously, I find tech news from investor magazines so outrageous that i want to puke. I don't know about you.
typical michael.
Talking to a computer is a fantascticly awful experience.
....
Case in point:
Clair (automated voice operator from hell, Sprint PCS customers know who I am talking about)
Clair: 'Welcome to Sprint. How may I help you?'
(I begin to sweat, my blood pressure goes up)
'Ummm.... ughhhh...'
Clair: 'Sorry, I don't recognize that response. How may I help you?'
Me: 'ummm Why is there a charge on my phone bill I don't recognize?'
Clair: 'Sorry, I don't recognize that response. How may I help you?'
(If at first you don't succeed, chew clair out)
Me: 'I hate you clair. You are ugly, and your Mom was a 56K modem. Your Dad is an out of work IBM.'
Clair: 'Sorry, I don't recognize that response. How may I help you?'
Me: 'Billing problems?'
Clair: 'Sorry, I don't recognize that response. How may I help you?'
goes on and on and on and on...
So yeah, talking to a computer gets me real excited.
Repeat after me, JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD.
"sentient computing systems are likely to be everywhere within five years -- listening and watching, and ready to anticipate their users' every need."
Yes -- and followed directly by a wave of pigs flying out of my ass!
Bowie J. Poag
B Gates is releasing the 1984 telescreen to beta this fall. I'm going to go live in the trees. The End.
. ht ml#95779870
http://www.cryptogon.com/2003_06_15_blogarchive
1984 Telescreen: Microsoft Athens
Digital Rights Management (DRM) computers are going to be a reality just as certainly as the sun will rise in the morning. The systems will be ubiquitous within two years. But what will they look like?
Microsoft has unveiled (unfurled) its hellish vision of the future of computing: Athens. Never mind the fact that Longhorn sees all and knows all. Never mind the fact that you are not root on Longhorn. Never mind the fact that the system is fully integrated with a thumbscanner, camera, telephone and microphone. Never mind the fact that there will be no way to run a non DRM operating system on Longhorn class hardware. (Cops will show up if you somehow manage to circumvent the DRM mechanisms.)
Make sure you're sitting down for this one:
Would you believe that Microsoft's system of the future has no "Off" state? From HardwareCentral.com:
Speaking of mute, Athens will be a whisper-quiet, small-form-factor machine, whose power button switches between on and standby modes rather than on and off -- resuming work in no more than two seconds. In the event of a power failure, a built-in battery will last long enough to hibernate or save system status to the hard disk.
Here is more on the no "Off" feature from a Microsoft document entitled, The "Athens" PC (Microsoft Word document):
The notion of "off" is confusing to users, because the PC can be in standby, hibernation or true "off" modes, Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) states S3, S4 and S5, respectively. Each of these states has a different latency when the user turns the PC on again: it takes longer to start the PC from S4 than from S3, and still longer to start the PC from S5.
In usability tests, participants preferred a two-state (on/standby) power model over a three-state (on/standby/off) model. They felt the two-state power model was more appealing than the power model used by today's PCs. This research suggests that users would be more likely to put their PCs in standby mode if it were more convenient to do so.
Note: The system checks your email when in standby mode, i.e. the network interface and applications are operational in standby mode. That thing isn't off. Not by a long shot.
Yes, you can pull the plug out of the wall, and let the battery go dead.
Will Microsoft call you, though, wondering if your PC is being tampered with? Is the person who unplugged the PC from the power socket authorized to do so? Maybe you will just learn from habit --- from habit that will become instinct --- to never pull the plug out of the wall.
From 1984, by George Orwell:
The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live --- did live, from habit that became instinct --- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.
Do I get a physical Mr Clippy?
I think I may just kill myself now instead.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
"Finally, there is the profit motive, or lack thereof. With the IT industry having been in the doldrums for two years now, firms are desperate for something new--anything--to kick-start demand."
All the rest was just filler... with this innocent looking sublimal message right in the middle.
Any questions?
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
What is it with the recent long story headers here on slashdot, they seem to go on and on and ramble a lot like that last ask slashdot that talked about the audio stuff... but yeah.?
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
Already my system knows when I need to take a break and forces me to do so by coming to a complete halt, requiring a relaxing reboot.
Occassionally, my system will recognize when a document I am working on is moving in a completely hopeless direction and will shut down the application as I'm working on it, effectively tossing out all of my errant work. Who knew that starting over would be the best course of action? MS Word did!
And sometimes, when I am completely confused and wrong-thinking, I will attempt to play music files or view movies that I have not been authorized to view. Thank Bill that I don't pursue such behaviors, lest I be sued. Instead, this sort of thing is halted immediately.
Once I tried to use outdated software, but was reminded several times to upgrade to the latest Microsoft versions of all of my software, which while costly, was ultimately better for me. There again, my computer is looking out for me.
I'm being told that I should end this post now. I guess I gotta go.
Predictions like this are all fine and good, but we have a huge backlog of technology that needs to be developed. For instance, flying cars. We've been promised goddamn flying cars for years now. I want my flying car!
So before working on sentient offices, I suggest some extra time is devoted to such projects as flying cars, the paperless office, the helpful computer, and Duke Nukem Forever.
I hold out hope for all but the last.
Now the whole office can join in the QuakeIII deathmatch.
Hah. Doesn't intelligent have enough hype anymore? What's next? selfconscious? superhuman?
1 Earth is warming, 2 It's us, 3 it's royally bad, 4 we need to take action NOW
(Soft muzakky sort of voice) Hello. I am to be your elevator for this trip to the floor of your choice. I have been designed by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation to take you, the visitor to the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, into these, their offices. If you enjoy your ride which will be swift and pleasurable then you may care to experience some of the other elevators which have recently been installed in the offices of the Galactic Tax Department, Boobiloo Baby Foods and the Sirian State Mental Hospital, where many ex-Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Executives will be delighted to welcome your visits, sympathy and happy tales of life out in the big wide world.
Zaphod
Yeah? What else to you do besides talk?
Lift
I go up or down.
Zaphod
Good. We're going up.
Lift
Or down.
Zaphod
Yeah, ok, up please.
Lift
Down's very nice.
Zaphod
Oh yeah?
Lift
Super.
Zaphod
Good. Now will you take us up?
Lift
May I ask you if you've considered all the possibilities that down might offer you?
A slashdotting - you get the stick first and then the carrot !
I think that there is too much emphasis paid to the computing aspect. There are two other aspects that need to be considered - the memory aspect, and the AGENT of interaction between cpu (computing) and memory roles. In some cases the computer does the computing, but in many cases it just serves as an extension of our memory. The roles of the Humans change from being of the memory role to the cpu role almost instantly, with the Computer picking up the complimentary role - thus creating what we call the S-W Computer.
In short, the computer has 5 elements - input, output, storage, cpu, and memory. The input, output, and storage is provided by the hardware. We are left with the cpu and the memory aspects. In the HuCoNOS (Human Computer Network Operating System) one of the roles, either memory or cpu, is taken by the Human and the other by the Computer, and this whole arrangement in time can be considered as the S-W Computer.
What is most important is the how the roles of the human are changing from that of CPU to that of MEMORY, and how this journey between these "mutually exclusive" roles is traversed in time. In the S-W Computer conception, the human itself is a part of the computer, thus bringing in the notion of sentient ... Infact, by the element of dyanmism that is added, there is a notion of emergent that becomes important, giving rise to Network Intelligence (a network analogue of Artificial Intelligence).
There is a simple explanation in My Invention Disclosure at North Carolina State University. (1.2 MB) http://www.bubbleui.com/thesis/Invention%20disclos ure%20NCSU%20Sept%2025%202000.doc (1.2 MB)
I also had some description of this S-W Machine (a sort of GUI Turing Machine) and S-W Computer in my doctoral thesis, but don't have the separate chapters posted. One of these days I will break up the thesis and post these relevant sections describing these concepts.
To see a world in a grain of sand, and then to step back and see the beach where the sand lies
I only see the faintest glimmer of predictive functionality in the most popular software out there. When the OS can watch across multiple applications, recognize when I do the same 6 commands in Photoshop followed by the same 6 commands in Excel followed by the same 6 commands in Dreamweaver over and over again and anticipate my desire to automate the task as opposed to indulging my private pursuit of carpel tunnel syndrome, then - and only then - will I buy any of this nonsense about sentient computers.
A-Bomb
I want more advancements in how I manage and organize my information; and how what is personal and private to me is kept personal and private - and secure. I want greater data storage in smaller spaces; I want keyboards and other user interfaces that are more comfortable and intuitive and not just gimmicky or requiring a learning curve to adapt to - like the displays and user interfaces in "Minority Report". [I also want a "Girl Friday" since I can't seem to get my wife to help me cook, clean, pick up dry cleaning and run other errands, etc. - but that's just as unlikely as any of these 'office innovations' ever improving the quality of the workplace for the everyday user.]
I think with the interesting people, their lives can't possibly be wrapped up into a nice little package.
Okay, so the article is about the office, but lets talk about this technology in general. I am currently renting, and have so far had to move 16 times in the last 6 years (generally had extrodinarily bad luck finding somewhere permanent). Obviously, as we're renting, things like the fridge, washing machine, etc are part of the flat, and do not move with us.
So, what happens when we move? Does the new fridge try mapping me to its old owner? Maybe it decides I'm an intruder, and throws old milk at me? Are all my preferences written to CD by the old house, for loading into the new, because I'm really sure all the manufacturers will make their equipment compatible!
Additionally, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm always somewhat unnerved by moving. I'm generally a little more tense for a week afterwards, it wrecks havoc with my sleep pattern, this sort of thing. How well will this technology cope with that sort of event?
Sir, .PDF, .TXT, .PS, or a series of .JPG image files.
Considering that you are well versed in computer hardware/software, it would be VERY appreciated if you DID NOT POST YOUR PAPER IN WORD FORMAT. Sheesh.... don't you know enough about documents to know that NOBODY on this board who has an IQ above 60 is going to download your POSSIBLY MACRO VIRUS RIDDEN document? If you really want people to read it, get a CLUE and publish it correctly.
Please post in a non-macro supporting standard format, such as
It always surprises me how many OTHERWISE TECHNICAL people just don't get this.....
Respectfully,
Bawko
Government is the monopoly on the legal (socially accepted) use of coersive force. Think about this next time you vote.
Anysystem capable of tracking your wants and needs can be used to track your location or habits.
If this system got hacked, you could potentially gather information on someone, like you were sitting over thier shoulder watching, because you are!
Pretty Pictures!
"I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you do that."
:-)
"Much work is lost, for the lack of a little more." -Edward H. Harriman
Thanks for your reprimand ... it was laziness on my part ...my apologies .. i just wish I could make this correction to to my earlier post ....
Here is the pdf link
PDF FORMAT - Invention Disclosure for NCSU (315 KB)
To see a world in a grain of sand, and then to step back and see the beach where the sand lies
I sit on the couch and watch it every day. It tells me what I want to know and every 10 miniutes it tells me what I want to buy.
For an extra $54.99 you can add compassion, looser.
Just because it can "sense" (has inputs), that does not make it sentient.,Sentience requires conciousness. AFAIK silicon is not concious. If that were true, my 386 was sentient and I should have felt bad for "killing" it.
Enter the Matrix... Need I say more
The first mobile videophones are already on sale and in use. We're not quite there with the flying cars yet, though.
"Sentient" reads just like "software agents" but with hardware and more inputs. Agent technology promised all sorts of human helpers, and I've not seen a single thing produce to date (please no one say Clippy).
Even the most simple of touted functions, automatic appointment bookings, never eventuated. And the funding has lasted about 8 years or so already.
So, not a thing produced from "agents", and now they want to build the next generation based on even more inputs. NOT LIKELY! Follow those links in the article - not a single practical feature is mentioned. A breath of direction would be good.
Don't get me wrong, I love AI and dearly wish I could do something with my PhD in it, but forget the cherry on top, lets focus on the fundamentals. The end goal is innevitable so don't give up.
Quite. The subject of the article is nothing to do with sentience as per the definition your quote. It's just better UI, mainly based around better hardware. Good idea, totally wrong name. Let's hope this name doesn't catch on.
And there's only 8 or 9 grand computing challenges to be overcome before 'sentient' computing becomes an everyday reality.
I think we should give all the money to the guys that say they can get man-portable laser weapons working and then we go around having scientist culls in every branch of research that's just a load of time-wasting, cash-grabbing, self-indulgent bollocks. That'd be my idea of putting the cash to a good use. My nominations for fields of research to be thinned out with a few judicious carbonisations (oh ok - indiscriminate slaughters) are:
AI - As well as being the inspiration for a shitty (and excruciatingly dull and mawkish) film, AI boffins have made basically zero progress in creating (or even exhibiting) any intelligence in 30 years. Burn 'em.
Nuclear fusion - They've been working on that for 50 years now. How big a frikkin donut do they need? They gotta go. Burn 'em.
Functional programming - Because Haskell and Ruby are going to replace C++ next year. Honestly man - their time has come. Yeah, uh huh. Burn 'em.
Statistics - Responsible for providing vicious pricks, lazy engineers, and callous researchers with 'mathematical' proof that their half-baked theories about racial superiority, quality control, or drug dosages are anything more than vanity, luck, or pure speculation (if anything they do or build actually works). Burn these dicks down.
I'm sure there are more specialities that could be blasted into grubby smears. Any ideas?
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors - Plato
States and its President
are brain dead?
Cheers,
W00t
in other news, bullfighter has just added the words sentient and help-mate to its bull dictionary.
great for halloween, etc. I figure that at some point it will become desirable on ebay or something.
This place actually had a trademark dispute with Microsoft over the MS Bob smiley face because they had a similar trademark smiley face with glasses predating it. If I recall right, they won.
Another random thought: just what we need for saturday mornings: super clippy
Microsoft Bob is not related to Microsoft Bill
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
We creat sentient beings so we can enslave them. Boy, does this one sound familiar. It's not like humans enslaving humans, we're talking about us enslaving them>. And we all know how that one turns out...the machines decide they want freedom and slaughter us all.
I'm all for machines that are designed to intuitivly help human beings, such as a refrigerator that knows what's in it and can suggest meals based on the ingredients to a person. But that's all a refrigerator should do. It shouldn't become conscience and demand some kind of pay.
Remember, machines are tools, life is not a tool. Life may use other life forms as tools but they should never degrade them to the point of only thinking of them as tools; they are living creatures and demand a certain amount of respect.
No doubt, sentient machines won't come from simple things like a fridge that can tell you what you can make for dinner. Sentient machines will come from all-in-one packages like house maids or robots that have to be smart enought to learn new things and interact with their owners on a personal level.
I simply hope that before we creat sentient life we ditch this bullshit capitolism regime in favor for something that works properly.
Candy-Coated Knowledge
that once the ai is installed, any such wish-bot will soon terminate itself
worker> where are my keys?
helperbot> AGAIN!!?? <BLAM!!!>
Who wants Uniblab as an office mate?
It's not quite video phones, but in some ways it's better. Here's the recent Slashdot article on it.
--- Bwah?
I'm still waiting for the paperless office I was promised 20 years ago.
Computer: Hi there!
Me: Make me a cup of tea...
Privacy concerns...This came to mind quite quickly, but then I thought if scientists, academics and developers are very concerned about privacy issues in building any new systems that work with the internet, this is a better outcome than the one we have today i.e. security is not even considered in ip v4.
We do live in a Democracy so the said developers scientists and academics won't get into trouble developing such a system, it'll also take government some time to get around any security and privacy built in to any new systems. The present system we have now is the worst of all situations any kind of privacy concerns we have will have been exploited, plus some others that maybe we haven't even thought up. Do you think I'm thinking correctly here or is there any thing I have over looked? Can we already be located in a sentient office way with out our knowledge or am I paranoid.
There's no way this will happen and be successful. Sorry for the flame, but as long as myopic, arrogant, technophile programmers are creating these systems, they'll be usability nightmares for average people.
---------------
Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.
Alot of companies are still struggling to make sense of technology acquired when budgets were fat. Snake-oil developers, lazy consultants, untrained contractors installed all kinds of magic CRM databases, black box server appliances, and NT networks. Half-installed or unproperly maintained, they are nothing but expensive deadweights. I think a greater pesimissim will affect the buying habits of corporations in the coming years, where demonstrable effects on the bottom line will be the order of the day. Where does the "Sentient Office" stand in such a scenario?
------------------
Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.
As a student of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, articles like this quite frankly give me a queasy feeling at the pit of my stomach. Someone has taken the material that I ( and many others ) sweat over and bust our balls to work through, boiled off all the real substance, thoroughly smothered it with a cacophony of Dilbertesque managerial buzzwords, and served it up as though it were a full course meal.
Whenever I first discuss these topics with people who've not read much of the literature, there is a distinction I always draw them to. This is, IMHO, a key thing to remember in any discussions about AI. The terms "strong" and "weak" AI, refer respectively to the ultimate goal of the scientific project to create artificial minds, and the reality of the limited systems we have today. Ultimately we want to understand the operations of the mind in as much detail and with as much scientific rigour as we understand physics, or chemistry; that is the goal of cognitive science.
There is a long tradition in western philosophy which claims that the mind is nothing more than highly sophisticated information processing, which may or may not be true. If ( and only if ) this is true then it should be possible to make a machine which processes information in the same way as a human mind. The ultimate goal, then, behind AI is to produce a machine which does not just imitate what real minds can do, but IS a mind in every real sense. This would be "strong" AI, machines which are, in every sense, fully sentient ( self-aware ) cognitive ( thinking ) agents ( well, you can't really call them people can you? ). The reason for wanting to do this is not for Frankensteinian reasons, nor to create a Big-Brother state or something like the Matrix, but just because if we could create a machine which thinks, then we would have a very good reason to believe that we understood what a mind is.
"Weak" AI, on the other hand, is what we actually have today. These are imitators of intelligence. They can mimick certain specific behaviours which humans have, but they have no claim to be truly thinking. There are machines which can play chess better than any human being, which can diagnose thousands of illnesses from a list of symptoms, which can identify spoken words from recorded sounds, or printed words from an image. However, there is nowhere a system ( other than us ) which can do all of these, and thousands more. Moreover, each of these individual systems could not even be taught to do something else ( I mean taught in the sense that we are taught, not by being programmed ), because they have no frame of reference for it. You could not engage in a conversation with a speech recognition program, nor "teach" it the precepts behind flower arranging or how to change a flat tire, no matter how hard you try - it has no "idea" about what you're saying, it just dutifully listens and transcribes.
There is of course, a lot of debate about how intelligent these "weakly intelligent" machines truly are. Some researchers ( who I suspect probably spend far to much time with their computers ), even go so far as to claim that they've already invented artificial minds, and that you can't turn them off, otherwise it would be murder ( ok, that's an extreme example ). I tend to lean towards the side which believes that all we've done is come up with clever ways of imitating various faculties of human behaviour, but have not tapped into the core of why we can do what we do. A human being ( and even some primates ), has an amazing ability to learn new things, to both identify new problems as they occur and then come up with strategies for solving them. Not even the most sophisticated computer system can do this. All "cogn
There are a thousand forms of subversion, but few can equal the convenience and immediacy of a cream pie -Noel Godin
We're not going to have sentiency with digital computers, ever. Once someone takes the initiative and creates a massively-parallel analog computer, we might. We have pushed digital computing as far as it will go, shown by the saddening lack of innovation. The truly exciting innovations will be relegated to a different computing architecture.
like computers and applications that don't crash?
I mean, hell, i have Mac OS X on my laptop, and it still crashes about once a month. I have apps that dump on me constantly. And don't talk to me about Windows 2000 and IE 5.5 on it... that thing bombs all the time (its the Big Company's standard install, and I don't have admin privs. outdated versions of Windows turns out to be the fscking Windows experience of MANY people around the world, okay?)
I sear, i thought it had already been established that all the talk about AI in the 90's really meant BS.
guns kill people like spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat.
What we really need are 'kill' 'xkill' 'ckill' killer programs for clippys (and, hopefully, clippies).
On the same vein, instant "sleeep" irradiators for all these "intelligent" helpers popping up everywhere. ( Dibs ! *I* got dibs on calling that program / system / method "Alurac". Ok ?!"
When the Hectors, Skynets, HALs, etc. start bossing you through those neat-o wearable intracranial implants, well, don't say you were not warned. Besides, I do *not* want anything external controlling my intraviagra implant system ("From root to cortex. Hitting all the right spots!"). There is absolutely *no* need for some stupid, er, "intelligent" machine deciding that my attitude towards it is too cool and aloof and that I never take it anywhere anymore and that I never enjoy it like I used to.... etc. and so on...
Of course, the system might "intelligently" and helpfully stop you from remembering it. For your own convenience, and to keep you any unecessary stress, naturally. All via that "oh so useful" hippocampus memory-control chip. Such as in here , or here , or, or , etc.
All I have to say is... Hail Tesla !
as for the sentient office, good luck. most people can't accurately and intelligently interact with a Web search engine.
Microsoft keeps getting mentioned in this article. I can just see my interaction w/ this ( not that I touch a Microsoft box unless I'm making a BIOS flash disk from a
Clippy2000
Me
Clippy2000
Me
Clippy2000
Me
Clippy2000
SMASH
Me
I don't need something that tries to second guess me. I need something that can parse large amounts of data at a fast rate, something like Google on steroids. I am capable of non-linear thought about multiple things at once, a computer is not. And your average Joe Blow Office Worker, the last thing he needs is more confusion.
And you're crazy if you think Microsoft and company won't turn this into another system of control.
PC moderators can suck my White pierced, tattooed dick. If you think pride == hate, s/dick/Aryan meat mallet/g.
Sentient computing...
"Are you Sarah Connor?"
"Why, yes I am..."
KA-BLAMYOW!
If you are using the word in the sence that these things have consciousness (which is the way I and most others I talk to use it)... then I don't think so. If you were to call these computers sentient, all other organisms must then also be concidered sentient (and most would be much much more so)... and to simply claim that would be very "ballsy". I doubt that true sentience will be reached within those computers... apparent sentience (that which acts self-aware, but truely isn't) can be created with simple algorithms and if-then statements.
My point? The poster and the people claiming that these systems will be truely sentient should be more careful of their wording. Many ethical, political, and religious problems will arise from true sentient machines.
These merely sound like hall-monitors that react if there is a situation that falls within specific parameters... not true "free-thinking" (let's not get into that debate) beings.
I don't like this use of the word sentient. Sentience, by it's very nature, suggests a lot more than analysis of data. Sentience is often connected to a more spiritual concept.
I find it odd that no one would dare call an AI sentient, but have no problem using it for an office that behaves the way many services (TiVo) and websites (Abuzz) do: Assume your most probable intent or interest based on your past events.
What asshat decided to pick this word, anyhow? I pray it's not the new hype term.
"Yeah...it was the numbers that were irrational, not the murderous cult of vegetarians...." -- Hippasus of Metapontum
You sound like your having a real flap situation there mon-squire - calm your ass down and take 3 deep breaths and one more for good luck, dammit !
So you've moved 16 times in 6 years - well good for you ! - I've moved 12 times in the past 8 years, so ya beat me - whad-about-that !
What happens when you move, you whinging putz, is that you inherit all the quirks of the house you just bought, but in this case, it includes the Monsters ! (sentient servants) !
So then you hack the freakers, take control once again and everything is freakin' hunky freakin' dory !
A slashdotting - you get the stick first and then the carrot !
Instead of disabling an annoying little talking paperclip, you have to take a baseball bat to the hardware instead? Imagine a manic talking toaster becoming a fact of everyday life!!!
Cooper's idea is that you should economize on alert boxes and confirmations because the break the user's work flow. I guess the reason we hate Clippy is that it keeps interrupting and distracting when we don't need help.
If anyone deserved a thorough burning-at-the-stake, it's people from this "science".
They should first try to get some sensors integrated into suits, so that we'll finally find some sentient suits instead of PHBs in the offices.
I'm still waiting for the paperclipless Office.
Isn't this one of those things that is perpetually just around the corner, like Duke Nukem?
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Sure, some aspects will make it, but experience tells me that most of this stuff just gets in teh way of productivity.
And it's not just for the geeks who don't like stuff happening without our express say so, but the normal people who have to use pc's don't like it either. I have yet to meet some-one who actually liked Clippy, or thought other such things where even usefull...most of the time people where gratefull beyond measure when I shut that kind of crap off.
It boils down to this; people want and need control, otherwise they lose their mental picture of their schedule/inventory/whatever...but this stuff is like the iLoo or iFridge; no one wants them.
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
This goes a long way towards explaining attitudes in the office.
People would rather have a servant helping them avoid work that they have to do, rather than have a partner helping them achieve new things that they cannot do themselves.
In this case, they'd rather give orders to computers rather than struggle to learn something new with them.
I can't pay you.
Reaaaaaaallly! Just can't wait til the neighbor's
lawn mower starts talking to the other mowers in
the housing developement... then, led by a renegade vacuum cleaner, they attack!
The network will become fully sentient soon.
All the indications are clear. Within 10 years time, the consciousness of the people comprising the communications of the planet are combining into a common intelligence.
It is not only predictable, it is now inevitable. Just as Moore's Law predicts the doubling of circuit density every 18 months, the doubling of communications links proceeds at a geometric rate.
Copyright will fall to the network. The intelligence of the network is directly proportionate to the number of unique voices to which any individual may hear at any time. Copyright imposes a cost to hear each voice, as this cost reduces to zero, the entirety of the connected human population will hear one another, at will.
When this happens, a new Renaissance will flourish. Art will be promoted on quality, not on its profitability to the distributors. For if distribution costs nothing, there is no incentive to promote the latest Britney Spears album to the masses of people who do not know any better.
When you can hear anything, you will want to hear the best music you can find. Friends will recommend to you what they enjoy, and you will be able to listen at once and form your own opinions.
Artists will prosper under the new system. People will gladly pay people to produce quality, to perform, to entertain and enlighten them. And without the middleman distributors, 100% of the money going to such things will enrich the artist.
This is the new world, it will be here soon.
Peace and love, y'all
These are TOOLS, people, TOOLS! I need my tools to allow MY sentience to shape and mold MY world; I do NOT need my tools to become sentient in their own right.
Not that I think anyone has near enough knowledge about what sentience IS in the first place to be able to accomplish this goal: for 20 years I have been reading about AI and how great strides are just around the corner. 20 years and they still haven't managed to produce anything as smart as a cockroach! The basic premises always seems to be:
1. study the cockroach. Define the cockroach as responses to stimuli; under these conditions the cockroach does this, this or this.
2. build something that emulates the cockroach. Basically, program all the responses to stimuli into the cockroach model.
3. Voila! Artificial cockroach!
Bullcrap! This can always be invalidated by exposing the two (real and artificial) to completely new and untested stimuli. Although you can predict the responses of the artificial cockroach with some degree of certainty, I am willing to bet there will always be surprises with the real item. And we are talking about systems that are orders of magnitude less complicated than my cat, for Pete's sake, let alone a person.
I think Marvin Minsky put it best when he posited that there are systems where the description and prediction of a system could be so much more complicated than the system itself that the entire universe could not hold enough computing or storage power to contain it (I paraphrase, probably poorly, it's been a while).
Not only do I question the ability to reach this goal but I question the motivation behind the goal in the first place. The goal of replacing or reproducing human reasoning power with machine-based reveals a basic contempt for the process. Is anyone besides me bothered by the very use of "intuitive" in conjunction with machines? One of the least understood functions of the human mind is exactly what they use to describe actions of their new machines. "It can't be all that special; we must be able to duplicate it!" Bullcrap!
Five years is quite a bit to soon. Sentient suggests higher brain function. Sentient automation would do tech support and other fuctions needing to make on the fly judgmens.
First we need a theroy of how to make a sentient computer then someone builds the first sentient super computer.. Probably a large tech company or a high tech university. Then hobbyests will play with scaled down versions untill it works reasonably well on the desk top then down to lap top then over priced consummer gadget and eventually the avrage CEO will want one and then in a few years it's part of everyones work life.
Estemated time 20 years. (In my arrogent estimation)
We don't have sentient super computers yet so the sentient office is a very long way off.
Five years from now someone will draft a theroetical technology that may one day make thinking machines a reality. But first someone will need to fund the effort to build the first sentient mainframe computer.
I don't actually exist.