Merritt promptly converts the hypothetical question about salvatin for aliens—which depends, of course, on the assumption that Martians are beings much like ourselves—into: Are you there, God? It’s I, robot.
Tag: robots
Fun: Astonishing windup robots still work, centuries later
New science discoveries prompted our ancestors to ask, how much can we make invented objects behave like life forms? Maybe not much but more than we might have expected.
What is it with the Japanese and robots?
Declining population is only one factor. Ancient cultural beliefs are another. I (O’Leary for News) wrote about this at Mind Matters: Ito sees our problems as originating in the idea that humans are special and urges that we “develop a respect for, and emotional and spiritual dialogue with, all things.” Illustrating this approach to life, […]
2018 AI Hype Countdown 6: Robert J. Marks on the claim, AI Can Even Find Loopholes in the Code!
AI adopts a solution in an allowed set, maybe not the one you expected:. In the same paper in which researchers purported to find examples of AI creativity, we also read the following statement about problems with performance: “Exacerbating the issue, it is often functionally simpler for evolution to exploit loopholes in the quantitative measure […]
9: Will That Army Robot Squid Ever Be “Self-Aware”?
From the 2018 AI Hype Countdown at Mind Matters #9: AI help, not hype, with Robert J. Marks: What would it take for a robot to be self-aware? The Army Times headline would jolt your morning coffee: Army researchers are developing a self-aware squid-like robot you can 3D print in the field Reporter Todd South […]
Why it’s hard to model robots on human behavior
As robotics engineer Ken Goldberg explains, What has working with robots taught you about being human? It has taught me to have a huge appreciation for the nuances of human behavior and the inconsistencies of humans. There are so many aspects of human unpredictability that we don’t have a model for. When you watch a […]