I watched the program last night on PBS about the advancements of robotics.Looks like our "hired hand" dilema on the homestead will be solved :o) I can soon adopt a robot! What do you think,Jim? You need one,too? Baby Data!

Apparently one at MIT,Kismet,responds to 9 different emotions. One named DB(for dynamic brain) can really rock and roll. If DB can dance,I can too.

Building robots that can actually learn, bc they cannot program in enough info..They are learning how to self organize and how to learn autonmy. Systems that can reproduce complex human emotions.See-map-mimic. Computers will be able to replicate large nervous systems in 2-3 decades.

Functioning humanoids will share our world.

Then there is the idea of a merge of human and machine.Oh no,the Borg!

Will this be the next form of evolution? Will we abandon our bodies,erasing the line between man & machine? Interesting questions.Interesting program.Anyone else catch it?

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

Answers

Sharon,

Was the program you watched last night titled: Beyond Human: "Living Machines"?

If so, then I recorded it on my VCR last night but haven't watched it, yet. I LOVE this sort of show and will devour anything and everything about it.

I know one of the big pushes for robotics is to create them for the specific purpose of caring for our growing elderly population. But I just think they are cool...

As for Cyborgs... I think we're well on our way to having them. I just read recently of an artificial heart that's being tested for approval that is entirely contained within the body. No huge machines to support it...

If you haven't heard of them, check out the Extropians. I consider myself to be somewhat of an Extropian but I don't share there boundless techno-optimism. I think it's equally possible that the advances in technology (A.I., Robotics, Nanotechnology, etc.) could just as easily destroy us. In fact that is what I lean more heavily toward. I think the reason we haven't seen (or heard) of any evidence for E.T.'s "out there" is because they all ended up destroying themselves before they could spread out into the Universe - either through warfare, out-of control high technology, or enviromental collapse.

Yeah, I know... I'm a pessismist. But I still love all this talk on robots, nanotech and A.I. - I have since I was a wee lad. And I guess I realize that even though I'm a pessimist, I could be wrong in my opinions, and that everything *might* turn out like the techno- optimists are predicting. But I'm not betting on it...

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

BTW - Here's an article that shares my concern for where we're heading with all this high-tech stuff:

Why the future doesn't need us: Our most powerful 21st- century technologies - robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech - are threatening to make humans an endangered species by Bill Joy

The article is VERY long but is well worth the read, IMO. It caused quite a stir in the "tech community" when it first came out. Bill Joy puts into words some of the issues that I've been worrying about for quite some time but he articulates it far better than I ever could.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

It was a cool show. And I thought I was so good building my own "Trash 80" basic controlled travel frame robot in high school.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

In a computer class I had eons ago, the instructor was talking about organic computers (in the future), rhapsodysing over being able to implant a little chip or computer in the brain, and BANG! you can speak/read/comprehend French (for example)! I thought that would be SO cool, until a few years later when I started wondering if anyone could be trusted not to add some other programming in there . . . . :-(

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

Joy F,

Try to get the sci fi book "The Stream". I like to think THAT would be the result.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

Jay,

Do you know who wrote "The Stream"?

I did a search for it on Amazon.com but came up with over 200 hits but nothing came even close to science fiction.

Thanks.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

Jim,will check out your links later and talk to you more.Gotta run.

Glad you liked it,Jay.I thought of you,from conversation a few days ago. Kismet's abilities are really approaching emotion. Imagine that.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

In a computer class I had eons ago, the instructor was talking about organic computers (in the future), rhapsodysing over being able to implant a little chip or computer in the brain, and BANG! you can speak/read/comprehend French (for example)!

Kinda like when Trinity had to learn how to fly that military M-109 helicopter in "The Matrix". God, I loved that movie!

I thought that would be SO cool, until a few years later when I started wondering if anyone could be trusted not to add some other programming in there . . . . :-(

Yeah, and if it's made by Microsoft you can count me out, too.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2001

Sharon,

I did get a chance to watch Beyond Human: "Living Machines" last night and I enjoyed it. I'm surprised that they didn't mention Sony's robot dog Aibo, though.

I agree with you about Kismet and I thought the robot that tracked the light bulb with it's head and eyes was neat, too. Especially when they stroked it on the head and it blushed!

BTW - I would love to buy one of Honda's little 3 1/2ft tall Asimo robots. I think the show stated that Honda would be marketing them sometime in the near future.

P3

Asimo

Aibo

Also, does anyone know why they named it "Asimo"? Sounds an awful lot like "Asimov".

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

I THINK "The Stream" was by Bradbury. Everyone has a chip implant tapping them into the main data stream. Everyone except a boy with mild brain damage that prevented him from linking up.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

Jim,Aibo,while not mentioned,was seen.No idea on that name for the robot.But I'd like one!

Now,Sir James, you appear to have some "issues" yourself, with the one and only Billy Gates. I'm guessing you did not get rich off of a savy investment in his company :o) Sour grapes?

I'll try to read the rest of Joy in the next few days,but I'll be pretty busy.Will report back to Mission Control when completed.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2001

They got one that will pick strawberries? Put my name on the buyers list!

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2001

Now,Sir James, you appear to have some "issues" yourself, with the one and only Billy Gates. I'm guessing you did not get rich off of a savy investment in his company :o) Sour grapes?

Nope. I've never owned stock in Microsoft. I've just used the Windows OS in one form or another over the last five years and have found it not living up to the hype. My computer is getting old and cranky so I'll be replacing it within the next year.

At this point I'm not sure what I'll do for my next computer. I'm strongly leaning toward going back to an Apple. The other option would be to buy a cheap PC and install Linux. But at this time I'm still weighing my options.

My first computer was an Apple IIc that I bought new in 1984. I absolutely loved that little computer. In addition to the internal floppy drive I bought an external floppy drive - back then Hard Drives were in their infancy and weren't readily available for Apple computers. I also bought an Imagewriter II printer to complete the system. Unfortunately I ended up selling it a few years later so we could buy a 286 computer for Ruth (the 286 had a monochrome monitor and ran DOS). It seems like from that point on, it's been a downhill slide ever since...

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2001