Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

bobby37 — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 15:48:58 GMT

Most of the news coming out about Irobot corp teaming up with Taser have been doom and gloom. Images of RoboCops, or a Terminator are the first thing that seams to come to mind.
Well lets take a look at this by asking questions they didn't.

If the idea is to make safe cheap expendable robots why would you give up remote control?
Isn't it cheaper to use a human brain to remotely control a robot?
Why would a company create a robot that would be a liability?
If we don't develop it someone else will and then what would we be doing, building anti-robots?
Why would you want to build a one hundred million dollar robot when you could build millions of thousand dollar robots controled from the U.S. by teenagers who are already trained to play video games?

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

bobby37 — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 15:42:20 GMT

If the idea is to make safe cheap expendable robots why would you give up remote control?
Isn't it cheaper to use a human brain to remotely control a robot?
Why would a company create a robot that would be a liability?
If we don't develop it someone else will and then what would we be doing, building anti-robots?
Why would you want to build a one hundred million dollar robot when you could build millions of thousand dollar robots controled from the U.S. by teenagers who are already trained to play video games?

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

ronpaulforprez — Fri, 25 May 2007 01:23:06 GMT

I BET MONSANTO CANT WAIT FOR 2020. GIVES NEW MEANING TO THE TERM TERMINATOR TECHNOLOGY

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

Hmmmmm — Thu, 24 May 2007 19:01:13 GMT

Back in college or just after, I realized that people whom society classified as "not as smart as" were surviving, and in many instances a lot better than I was (for all of my intellectual application to life's problems and demands.) How could this be? These people were doing just fine, and so were all the other creatures in the world.

How can nature survive so well, when we with our "artificial intelligence" are still working on it? What about all those coincidences? You know the answer.

In the working world, I came to realize that the true value of intelligence is ease and quality of work (including all of the components that go into this.) I believe AI will serve to not only facilitate the exponential demands of work, but also offer the mechanical means of doing work no human would approach.

Although AI will be capable of doing work on levels we will neither appreciate, nor care about, it will be limited by the trending social values of human interest and spiritual meaning. Many superior inventions, ideas and art, go unnoticed until society is capable of appreciating them. Indeed there are so many treasures in nature which we walk right by. In the end, the level of society’s wisdom and enlightenment will control the influence of artificial intelligence.

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

A L — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:32:49 GMT

I think you're overly optimistic, both in predicting a speedy evolution of this technology, and in thinking that it would be used benignly.

If you want to get a more realistic view of how govenments would use these advancements, I suggest reading "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley.

(Or you could just rent all three "Terminator" DVDs).

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

A L — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:32:43 GMT

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

A L — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:28:49 GMT

I think you're overly optimistic in your assessment of the speed of this evolution of technology and you seem to have a rather naive view that such technology would be used for benign purposes.

If you want a preview of how governments would use such advancements, I suggest you read "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley.

If that's not your cup of tea, just rent all three "Terminator" movies.

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

Click — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:12:34 GMT

I recently read that 2050 is a more likely tipping point for modeling the brain, following the engineering law that demonstrates a doubling of computing power every 18 months and current understanding of the neuronal complexity of the brain.

I find it a remarkable leap, however, to believe that these new technologies will auger well for free speech or democracy. Let's hope they do! But art can presage our future, and many of our science fiction works are nightmares of robots gone wild.

Even now we are developing and using robotic capabilities that allow us as an empire to remotely seek out and destroy from the sky those who disagree with us. It will only take time for us to take our turn to be in disagreement with our government, and hunted down by robots as we grovel for safety in a nightmarish, "Terminator" type world. With China putting 340,000 new engineers online we cannot assume that American ingenuity will ensure our supremacy.

====
Ditto Guru: im curious to know why it is that this article was posted on may 08, and im just now getting in it my mailbox on may 24.

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

Guru — Thu, 24 May 2007 16:21:46 GMT

im curious to know why it is that this article was posted on may 08, and im just now getting in it my mailbox on may 24.

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

tmessimer — Thu, 24 May 2007 15:59:55 GMT

I think the author is a little optomistic. The whole idea that computers will ever approach or surpass human beings is silly. There are virtually too many hurdles to overcome. The primary hurdle is that for every conditional decision that the CPU has to make, there needs to be an answer that it can draw from. So, the decision is really based on who provides the answer and what the answer will be. For example, should the decision of whether the FDA is serving the people be answered by the government or the people? So, whoever programs the robot will program in their biases. Will the data accessed be from the perspective of a liberal, conservative, independent? So, my perspective is baloney in, baloney out (said nicely). I believe at some point the computer power will be sufficient to process what our brains do now but it is not the processing power that disturbs me, it is the decisions the will be made. A manufacturing application is possible but the next step would be to use AI for social ends. Aren't there better and more relavent things to talk about?

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

GregB777 — Sat, 12 May 2007 13:53:20 GMT

I think 2020 is a bit optimistic. Kurzweil estimates 2035. I myself am more inclined to think probably around 2045.

I think, however (unless we blow ourselves up) it is almost inevitable that something along these lines will happen.

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

SamVed — Wed, 09 May 2007 06:56:51 GMT

This reminds me of Quantum Computing: The Vedic Fabric of the Digital Universe (excerpts at http://vediccomputing.com), perhaps one of the most fascinating book I've red so far in my life.

I guess the '2013' figure comes from a very basic observation (from Quantum Computing):

"When we extrapolate the exponential trend of miniaturization, which has held since 1950 under Moore’s Law, we attain a limit of one atom per bit and Single Electron Transistor (SET) by 2010–2020. Prior to these levels, it becomes necessary to use quantum effects to enable worldwide computing and networking requirements.

Of all the candidate technologies that continue to scale well beyond the current classical era, quantum logic has one unique feature—it is not contained by classical space-time physics."

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

UltraDude — Wed, 09 May 2007 01:32:14 GMT

Creativity is an element in itself. Machine or not it's a on a plain of it's own. Ai may have the advantage, this I could agree, seeing that it hasn't had lifetimes of advertisements and political or scientific garbage to debilitate it's mind, but the laws of nature cannot be broken. Ai minds will work the same as humans in that it will only perform in the way in which it is programed, You could consiter it a child born into the world with the highest levels of mathamatics alreay hotwired into it brain. So what if somone be it religious, facist, a governement or an anarchist were to manage to slip a line of code into it for there own gain. It's a scary thought. Will these machines readily question there own programming to correct it's own programmed imperfections?
There's a mistake I see our race, in terms of science, make frequently is that though we may have to cabality to create, that is not where we have any doubt, but we never seem to consider if we SHOULD do these things. I think of Jurasic Park... lol a classic example. I truely hope that Ai has that consiousness to help correct the problems plagueing our race and I hope that technoligies newly found self-consciousness will allow it not to fall prey to a worlds incessant attempts to control it's people. Until then I'll look for a nice cozey cave to escape a possible terrifiying future. Good speed!!!

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

PPARGammaGirl — Tue, 08 May 2007 20:34:22 GMT

I don’t think that any AI guru can claim the in just 13 years they will have developed a robot/computer that will “surpass humans in every intellectual and creative dimension”. At present we understand practically nothing about the human brain – when you crack somebody’s head open you can’t isolate thoughts or feelings. And what about the soul? We are greater than the sum of our parts.

Keep a space for me in that tunnel anyway – just in case!

re: Future Robots -- The Singularity is Expected to Arrive in 13 Years

Bridestein — Tue, 08 May 2007 19:17:04 GMT

I think I'll just stay down here in the tunnel instead. ^-^