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Robot Makes Scientific Discovery (Mostly) On Its Own
Hugh Pickens writes "A science-savvy robot called Adam has successfully developed and tested its first scientific hypothesis, discovering that certain genes in baker's yeast code for specific enzymes which encourage biochemical reactions in yeast, then ran an experiment with its lab hardware to test its predictions, and analyzed the results, all without human intervention. Adam was equipped with a database on genes that are known to be present in bacteria, mice and people, so it knew roughly where it should search in the genetic material for the lysine gene in baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Ross King, a computer scientist and biologist at Aberystwyth University, first created a computer that could generate hypotheses and perform experiments five years ago. 'This is one of the first systems to get [artificial intelligence] to try and control laboratory automation,' King says. '[Current robots] tend to do one thing or a sequence of things. The complexity of Adam is that it has cycles.' Adam has cost roughly $1 million to develop and the software that drives Adam's thought process sits on three computers, allowing Adam to investigate a thousand experiments a day and still keep track of all the results better than humans can. King's group has also created another robot scientist called Eve dedicated to screening chemical compounds for new pharmaceutical drugs that could combat diseases such as malaria.
If I ever do cutting edge research on robot AI, please punch me if I try to name my new robots "Adam" or "Eve".
... it starts experimenting with inter-dimensional portal guns.
the union of scientists. You thought Teamsters were nasty? You ain't seen jack squat. WE SPLICE GENES!!! WE SPLIT ATOMS!!! WE (probably) MAKE BLACKHOLES!!!
Ross King, gutless traitor, you and your tin cans, your names will live in infamy.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
Oh, sure, it's neat-o. But you could probably afford hundreds of grad students to do the work for the same price.
No kidding. Let's get Ron Moore to pilot it and himself into the sun.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
The complexity of Adam is that it has cycles.
No, no, no -- the complexity of *Eve* is that it has cycles.
If you open yourself to the foo, You and foo become one.
Well, we're boned.
What if it concludes that humans are genetically inefficient and decides to replace them with a specie designed by itself?
Humans replaced by coins? Now that is a dystopian future that even Philip K. Dick never considered.
May God have mercy on us.
Isn't the first requirement for a singularity be that it's able to improve itself, thus leading to an accelerating growth that ends in the subjugation of humanity? If so, wouldn't it be prudent to withhold knowledge of the scientific method as long as possible?
We could always build them with OFF switches as well.
God: An invisible friend for grown-ups.
Plus they are strictly forbidden to touch genes of apples...
Nothing to worry..
> Robots named Adam and Eve?
I thought they were called Baltar and Caprica 6.
So, our future AI overlords begin their research with the Lysine Contingency? Should we be worried?
"I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist"
damn! i got this phd for nothing now! D:
I for one welcome our infinite Shakespearian typewriter-monkey overlords.
and later,
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com