There are a number of things that are totally new. For example:
-> DNA sequencing and genotyping
-> Biologicals
-> Transplants
It's very important to remember that thinking in advance about something doesn't take the importance of the actual achievement when it materializes. The holodeck (aka advanced VR) concept have been with us for quite a while. That won't reduce at all its revolutionary value if it finally becomes real.
What most companies are doing now is incremental advances of already known technologies. The reason is not that there is lack of new concepts. The reason is that no one wants to risk their current market share.
People is getting less and less ambitious. Venture capital wants quick gain, which normally comes more easily by gold plating something known and proven.
All possible players (academia, startups, and established companies) are forced to produce direct results, and fast. They are not allowed to start "crazy" (a.k.a. high risk, high return) projects.
Consumers get nervous every time they hear the words "chemical", "radiation", "transgenic", "nano" or "stem cell".
No surprise that all advance is freezing.
Real robots in war were among us since cruise missiles were created. Some of them decide which path they go, at least within certain limits. A fast search in Wikipedia about the Tomahawk shows that those missiles have extremely advanced controlling systems. They have (cited directly from Wikipedia):
"TERCOM - Terrain Contour Matching. An in-flight altimeter meaures the height from the TLAM to the ground and the missile will check to see if it is in the right spot from the height. It will make corrections if it does match the prestored height
DSMAC - Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation. A small image is taken of the flight path and downloaded into the TLAM before it is launched. During the flight the missile will verify that the images that it has stored correlates with the image it sees below itself. If the pictures do not match it will correct itself and then finish its mission."
Another fragment is quite interesting:
"[referring to the tactical Tomahawk]By far the biggest improvement is making the Tomahawk network-centric warfare-capable, using data from multiple sensors (aircraft, UAVs, satellites, foot soldiers, tanks, ships) to find its target. It will also be able to send data from its sensors to these platforms. It will be a part of the networked force envisioned by the Pentagon."
It may not be R2-D2 but, at least for me, this qualifies for a quite advanced robot.
For militar robots, Asimov laws would be plain nonsense. Anyhow, at the current level of AI technology, we don't even have the choice. As Rodney Brooks uses to say (in "Flesh and Machines", for example), he doesn't program his robots with the Asimov laws because he doesn't even know how to do it.
Slashdot Mirror
-> DNA sequencing and genotyping
-> Biologicals
-> Transplants
It's very important to remember that thinking in advance about something doesn't take the importance of the actual achievement when it materializes. The holodeck (aka advanced VR) concept have been with us for quite a while. That won't reduce at all its revolutionary value if it finally becomes real.
What most companies are doing now is incremental advances of already known technologies. The reason is not that there is lack of new concepts. The reason is that no one wants to risk their current market share.
People is getting less and less ambitious. Venture capital wants quick gain, which normally comes more easily by gold plating something known and proven.
All possible players (academia, startups, and established companies) are forced to produce direct results, and fast. They are not allowed to start "crazy" (a.k.a. high risk, high return) projects.
Consumers get nervous every time they hear the words "chemical", "radiation", "transgenic", "nano" or "stem cell".
No surprise that all advance is freezing.
Real robots in war were among us since cruise missiles were created. Some of them decide which path they go, at least within certain limits. A fast search in Wikipedia about the Tomahawk shows that those missiles have extremely advanced controlling systems. They have (cited directly from Wikipedia):
"TERCOM - Terrain Contour Matching. An in-flight altimeter meaures the height from the TLAM to the ground and the missile will check to see if it is in the right spot from the height. It will make corrections if it does match the prestored height
DSMAC - Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation. A small image is taken of the flight path and downloaded into the TLAM before it is launched. During the flight the missile will verify that the images that it has stored correlates with the image it sees below itself. If the pictures do not match it will correct itself and then finish its mission."
Another fragment is quite interesting:
"[referring to the tactical Tomahawk]By far the biggest improvement is making the Tomahawk network-centric warfare-capable, using data from multiple sensors (aircraft, UAVs, satellites, foot soldiers, tanks, ships) to find its target. It will also be able to send data from its sensors to these platforms. It will be a part of the networked force envisioned by the Pentagon."
It may not be R2-D2 but, at least for me, this qualifies for a quite advanced robot.
For militar robots, Asimov laws would be plain nonsense. Anyhow, at the current level of AI technology, we don't even have the choice. As Rodney Brooks uses to say (in "Flesh and Machines", for example), he doesn't program his robots with the Asimov laws because he doesn't even know how to do it.