Slashdot Mirror
Laser-Armed Martian Robot Now Vaporizing Targets of Its Own Free Will (dailymail.co.uk)
Slashdot reader Rei writes: NASA -- having already populated the Red Planet with robots and armed a car-sized nuclear juggernaut with a laser -- have now decided to grant fire control of that laser over to a new AI system operating on the rover itself. Intended to increase the scientific data-gathering throughput on the sometimes glitching rover's journey, the improved AEGIS system eliminates the need for a series of back-and-forth communication sessions to select targets and aim the laser.
Rei's original submission included a longer riff on The War of the Worlds, ending with a reminder to any future AI overlords that "I have a medical condition that renders me unfit to toil in any hypothetical subterranean lithium mines..."
Rei's original submission included a longer riff on The War of the Worlds, ending with a reminder to any future AI overlords that "I have a medical condition that renders me unfit to toil in any hypothetical subterranean lithium mines..."
Once upon a time the icon would have been a shark. Sigh.
At least the thing can't come back to earth, right? Right?
Eventually it will reproduce.
When our first astronauts arrive on Mars, they will notice that not only Mars is populated by robots, but also the robots have developed into an intelligent life form.
And then Earth will be bombed into oblivion as soon as the astronauts exit the lander and wave their "Get Windows 10" flag.
There are fewer illiterates than people who can't read.
This is journalistic BS, disguised as 'science'. Like all computers, these robotic vehicles do only what they are programmed to do. Even so-called "random number generators" are deterministic, given the seed which generates them.
We won't be able to impart true "free will" to machines, in the human sense, until we eventually verify that we humans actually do have free will and understand how it works in us. Including understanding self-awareness ("consciousness") and how human reasoning and volition works. (Seems to be and "analog" process, not "digital").
It was from REI.
Just be glad it wasn't some screed on Global Warming.
What in hell does this have to do with high-end outdoor gear?
You play a game of semantics. "Free will" is a word we made up. It only seems mysterious because the definition is deliberately vague.
We observe that humans make decisions, whereas rocks don't. So we slapped this word "free will" on that behavior and got ourselves all confused.
First, you give me a clear, precise, no-bullshit-word-games definition of "free will," and then I will tell you whether or not computers do it.
While we are at it, "consciousness" is an extremely sloppy word full of equivocation and religious tripe. Throw it away completely. Are we talking about "subjective experience" or are we talking about "the capacity to respond to stimulus?"
https://xkcd.com/1504/ "That's Opportunity's side of the planet."