Artificial life (Robots)

An Hour with Will McIntosh

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Tue, 12/16/2014 - 19:45

If you aren't familiar with Will McIntosh, he isn't surprised. Like many authors, Will is happy just to have a writing career and thankful for the opportunities his readers provide, even if his name isn't well known. But given the quality of his previous work and a new young adult science fiction series in development (The first novel, Burning Midnight, is scheduled for 2016), don't be surprised if you start hearing his name more often.

But you should know his short story "Bridesicle" won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story and also the Asimov's Reader Poll in 2010. It was also a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story that same year. His short version of "Soft Apocalypse" was a finalist in 2005 for both the British Science Fiction and British Fantasy Awards.

I.R.I.S. - The day an AI goes rogue

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Mon, 12/01/2014 - 13:42

A short film by Hasraf HaZ Dulull, I.R.I.S. is a military artificial intelligence with an expanded battle capacity plus strike autonomy. A short action film at heart, events unfold as the military sends in humans to attempt to regain control over the system. The script and scenes are not very informative, but do offer some nice visuals and a drone swarm I haven't seen used before.

Fortress: the robots fight on long after humans are gone

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Thu, 10/23/2014 - 11:16

10 YEARS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE LAST WAR

Animator Dima Fedotof provides a visceral short film depicting war after humanity loses control. A Vimeo staff pick packed gritty realism in less than 3 minutes.

Futurepath: Human employment

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:24

Baby fed by a robot Last year, Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne published their paper, "The Future of Unemployment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerisation?" In their research, they identified that nearly half of US jobs will be automated within the next 10-20 years. Since then, there is a rising sense of urgency represented by the range of articles presenting the medium to long-term career forecasting of either a world of high unemployment or a world in which robotic productivity creates a socialist scenario where all humans maintain a minimal life quality without concern over unemployment. Digging more deeply into viewpoints with more diverse data and historical comparisons show a lot more reasons to be either bullish or bearish on the future.

Abundance 360 and Exponential Technologies (2014)

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:49

A 5 minute video illustrating 6 expected technology advancements over the next 25 years and how they will impact our future. Developed for Peter Diamandis' Abundance Summit attendees as an introduction to his view of an abundant future, it's now online for us to enjoy.

Do We Need Humans?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:28

Robot worker There is a lot of speculation on the technological singularity - the point at which artificial intelligence has progressed beyond human intelligence. Between AI and advanced engineering, humans could quickly become extraneous to modern society, especially from the viewpoint of those who own the robots and see extra humans as needful beings who return little to the planet.

That's a very dystopian view, but a possible outcome all the same. The February 28, 2014 episode of NPR's Ted Radio Hour offers four viewpoints on the future of humanity.

Train your Robot Well - This Week in Law

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Sat, 10/11/2014 - 18:54

#255 of This Week in Law's weekly discussion focuses on the various issues we may face when regulating robots in the future. The discussion revolves around James Barrat's book Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era. Based on Barrat's writings, they discuss how a super intelligence might come to view its human 'captors' - humans that used to be the smartest creatures on the planet and now occupy a lower rung of intelligence as we are surpassed by our creation.

Topics include building sympathy into machines to instill ethics, robotic personhood, and a range of issues we might encounter after the Singularity occurs. The discussion of robotics lasts around an hour and is a very deep discussion.

Available as a video or audio download.

Robot concept art from Elysium by WETA concept artist Aaron Beck

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Sat, 10/11/2014 - 15:07

Robot head from Aaron Beck's concept art for Elysium WETA artist Aaron Beck has worked on Avatar and District 9. If you're looking for interesting artwork to stoke your imagination, he has a blog post including dozens of his concept art images for Elysium including 20 robots, 9 synthetic organisms, and a dozen weapons, along with cars, characters and fight scenes.

Surrogates (Graphic novel and 2009 film)

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Wed, 08/06/2014 - 11:08

The Surrogates is a 2005 comic series that explored a future society where humans control robots from the comfort and safety of their own homes. These robots provide what appears to be perfect telepresence by connecting the owners to the outside world - without risk to their physical bodies.

The series was made into a motion picture in 2009, titled Surrogates, with a slightly altered storyline in which humans can be killed through through the Surrogate interface. In both works, investigators (police in the graphic novels and FBI agents in the film) attempt to solve a series of crimes involving attacks on surrogates, with the investigation taking them deep into societal issues between a modern world and a militant group who refuses to interact with surrogates.

They are both engaging stories exploring extreme telepresence and the positives and negatives that come with the technology. The graphic novels are thoughtful and very well written with a lot of believability. The film is science fiction as an action film, though Surrogates takes time to explore additional elements not included in the graphic novels, adding to the plot and in the background of the main storyline. It's an intelligent movie behind the gunshots and car chases.

River of Gods

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Mon, 07/14/2014 - 13:21

It's 2047, a hundred years after India gained independence from Britain, River of Gods is set in a country now broken into smaller nations. There hasn't been a monsoon season in years, resulting in a parched region with a Ganges trickling through Varanasi after being dammed upstream - a dam that has two nations on the edge of war.

The world is a different place in 2047. Genetic modification is everywhere, including superchildren and gender neutralizing body modifications. Artificial intelligence operates at different levels, some of them above the limits banned by international treaty. Otherwise, much of India is still poor, water is even more scarce, and the caste system carries on with only a few adjustments.

However, the Americans have found something deep in space. An object that causes a lot of questions and sends a specialist in search of her former lover. In India, someone else finds him first, someone with a strange past and who might not be completely human. Meanwhile, Mr. Nandha, one of the Krishna Cops, is hunting aeai's (artificial intelligence) with his team.

A winner of the British Science Fiction Association award and a nominee for both the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Hugo Award, River of Gods is a wild ride through a futuristic Indian culture. The complexity of the story, presenting normal human lives and emotions intertwined with decades of advancements, presents a believable backdrop against which events unfold.