Artificial life (Robots)

Public education is about to rush into the 21st century - what will it look like?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Mon, 03/03/2014 - 11:33

Students in classroom with tablets K-12 education has been limping along for some time, strung up between two conflicting political viewpoints and hard up for the money required to create a meaningful and beneficial change to an aging system. As technological advancements are refined, schools will be able to offer new and affordable curricula that will change how, when and where students learn and teachers teach.

Will specialized artificial intelligence be kickstarted from a learning perspective?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Fri, 02/28/2014 - 11:49

Robonaut Many highly intelligent humans predict highly intelligent robots as soon as researchers find the programming and/or hardware to make it work. Theories about the technological singularity, the point at which artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, are supported by notable figures such as Ray Kurzweil and Vernor Vinge. It's a very attractive advancement, one in which intelligent systems can help move humanity forward faster than we ourselves are capable of managing. Coupling artificial intelligence with robotics would provide devices capable of not only responding to human need, but identifying human need in real time or even in advance of the need - and not only based on human trends, but on the needs of an individual human.

As an aside, we should also note the Terminator series turns artificial intelligence into Skynet and nearly indestructible robots with time travel capabilities. A far cry from helpful butler-bots, life-saving surgical-bots, and wiggly sex-bots.

Will we allow automated robotic law enforcement?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Mon, 02/24/2014 - 21:47

Knightscope K5 unit at a mall Automated law enforcement would offer a network of systems capable of identifying a crime and gathering enough information on the law-breaker for human officers to identify and consider charges. This is a hot topic issue that will become hotter as technologies merge towards the point where companies will attempt to retail robotic systems to augment human police forces.

Could Skynet start in the third world?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Fri, 02/21/2014 - 16:13

IBM's Watson Imagine a setting where the average member of a culture is so focused on day to day issues they don't question the improvements such a system provides. Imagine the people come to see the system as a benevolent protector. How far would they let it grow? Too far to shut it down?

Black Mirror (UK, TV series, 2011)

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Thu, 02/20/2014 - 21:25

Black Mirror screen capture Black Mirror is a brilliant 6-episode series, each depicting the social impact of new technologies or social advancement in the future. Showing on Britain's Channel 4, it can be a bit hard to watch in the States, but is worth every effort to see.

Elysium (Film, 2013)

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Wed, 02/19/2014 - 16:33

A look at the living area of Elysium Set in 2154 (140 years from now), the wealthy have fled an ecologically devastated Earth for the space station Elysium where they live what appears to be a an idyllic life in a pseudo-suburban setting filled with clean air, beautiful vistas, and luxurious homes stocked with miracle health machines.

Where will technology and big data take our future?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Tue, 02/18/2014 - 13:16

Technology is slowly infiltrating every area of our human existence. I read Alistair Croll's Race Alongside the Machine today on re/code and it led me to a reflection on how we humans are being changed by the technology we develop and where this might lead in the future.

When I came up with the original idea for a future-focused site, I immediately created a short list I called "aspects of human existence." I've changed them to "elements of how we live" and use them as story tags, a taxonomy vocabulary in Drupal terms, in order to help users find content. After reading Croll's piece, I decided today's exercise would be to look at the (now much longer) list and see what I can come up with for where current trends and predictions will take us as we continue to combine humans, technology and big data.

Will predictive policing be used to protect both victim and potential perpetrator?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Fri, 02/14/2014 - 13:41

Predictive policing is the use of data to identify crimes before they happen. A system like this monitors all available data feeds watching for trends and triggers that might lead to crime. Once a trend is identified as reching a crisis point, an attempt can be made to halt a crime before it can occur.

Podcast: Viewpoints on artificial intelligence by Nancy Fulda

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Thu, 02/13/2014 - 20:02

Nancy Fulda Hugo and Nebula awards nominee Nancy Fulda was on Writing Excuses podcast last month. The topic was artificial intelligence and Nancy has both undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science with a research focus on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Should we open the world to telepresence robots?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Fri, 02/07/2014 - 16:04

Engadget reports the Tate Britain museum in London will begin offering remote controlled robotic night tours this summer. The idea is multilayered in that it presents the museum from a telepresence viewpoint and also while the museum is dark, so artwork is only viewable via light on the robot itself.