"The Replicant project was reportedly shut down in December"
March 17, 2016 7:48 PM Subscribe
I'm really glad that Google won't be playing the role of the Tyrell Corporation in this iteration of "which Philip K. Dick novel are we going to make real this year?"
Unfortunately that just means that it'll be the second-most-terrifying runner-up, Toyota.
posted by Mrs. Davros at 8:02 PM on March 17, 2016 [8 favorites]
Unfortunately that just means that it'll be the second-most-terrifying runner-up, Toyota.
posted by Mrs. Davros at 8:02 PM on March 17, 2016 [8 favorites]
I'm impressed. BD has been the big player in that space.Evidently Google has decided they have enough money and don't need the blowback or the egos.
posted by LuckyMonkey21 at 8:04 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by LuckyMonkey21 at 8:04 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
Word on the street is a new startup is also looking at buying the company, if they can raise the capital. I don't recall the name...Cyberdrone? Cyberdyne?
Anyway, they stand to make a killing in the market if they pull it off.
posted by darkstar at 8:05 PM on March 17, 2016 [32 favorites]
Anyway, they stand to make a killing in the market if they pull it off.
posted by darkstar at 8:05 PM on March 17, 2016 [32 favorites]
The argument that it's not going to produce revenue suing seems very odd though. Google is pretty famous for giving some of their projects a very long leash. Self driving cars, anyone?
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:06 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:06 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
Word on the street is a new startup is also looking at buying the company, if they can raise the capital. I don't recall the name...Cyberdrone? Cyberdyne?
I think it's Yoyodyne, actually.
posted by Chrischris at 8:10 PM on March 17, 2016 [22 favorites]
I think it's Yoyodyne, actually.
posted by Chrischris at 8:10 PM on March 17, 2016 [22 favorites]
Google execs saw the shit they won't put on You Tube and came back to Mountain View like this.
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 8:12 PM on March 17, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 8:12 PM on March 17, 2016 [10 favorites]
This interesting bit got buried toward the end:
Boston Dynamics, though, was never folded into Google X and was instead put up for sale. After the division’s latest robot video was posted to YouTube, in February, Google’s public-relations team expressed discomfort that Alphabet would be associated with a push into humanoid robotics. Their subsequent e-mails were also published to the internal online forum and became visible to all Google employees.posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 8:13 PM on March 17, 2016 [6 favorites]
“There’s excitement from the tech press, but we’re also starting to see some negative threads about it being terrifying, ready to take humans’ jobs,” wrote Courtney Hohne, a director of communications at Google and the spokeswoman for Google X.
Robots tuk jerbs? Really? Hope that shark jump was memorable, Google.
posted by Behemoth at 8:17 PM on March 17, 2016 [7 favorites]
Robots tuk jerbs? Really? Hope that shark jump was memorable, Google.
posted by Behemoth at 8:17 PM on March 17, 2016 [7 favorites]
moonshat
posted by FuturisticDragon at 8:19 PM on March 17, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by FuturisticDragon at 8:19 PM on March 17, 2016 [4 favorites]
Caveat emptor. If you're looking for an immediately profitable product, why on earth would you buy a firm that is best known for taking forever to get things just right and still never quite pulling it off while needing government grants to pay for it?
I also love that "oh my god you guys for some reason youtube commenters are going apeshit over humanoid robots so we need to not make robots ever kthx" part. It's like, first of all, you're making corporate decisions based on Youtube comments? And, second, these concerns seriously never occurred to you? You bought a company that makes weaponized robots for government applications, and you haven't even seen the trailer for RoboCop? And, like, it's not as if the comments under the old BigDog videos weren't mostly along the lines of "NONONONONONONONONONONONO," so...
posted by Sys Rq at 8:24 PM on March 17, 2016 [16 favorites]
I also love that "oh my god you guys for some reason youtube commenters are going apeshit over humanoid robots so we need to not make robots ever kthx" part. It's like, first of all, you're making corporate decisions based on Youtube comments? And, second, these concerns seriously never occurred to you? You bought a company that makes weaponized robots for government applications, and you haven't even seen the trailer for RoboCop? And, like, it's not as if the comments under the old BigDog videos weren't mostly along the lines of "NONONONONONONONONONONONO," so...
posted by Sys Rq at 8:24 PM on March 17, 2016 [16 favorites]
Is this a Clickhole story? The "Replicant" division? A person named "Astro Teller" running Google X is clearly a Dr. Strangelove joke.
posted by wormwood23 at 8:30 PM on March 17, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by wormwood23 at 8:30 PM on March 17, 2016 [8 favorites]
The robot dog/mule videos were always creepy. Didn't google even watch a few YouTube videos first?
posted by Dip Flash at 8:30 PM on March 17, 2016
posted by Dip Flash at 8:30 PM on March 17, 2016
You know, for all of its reputation as being a place of creativity and Big Ideas and hiring only the best and brightest, Google sure seems to just be flailing around a lot. Google Answers, Google Labs, Google Buzz, Google Wave, Google+, Google Reader, iGoogle, Picasa, Google Glass, this Boston Dynamics thing, and a whole host of other projects that popped up and kind of faded away.
It doesn't feel like they're exploring all sorts of ideas to see where they can go, it seems like they sort of half-ass a bunch of things then drop them.
posted by Sangermaine at 8:41 PM on March 17, 2016 [34 favorites]
It doesn't feel like they're exploring all sorts of ideas to see where they can go, it seems like they sort of half-ass a bunch of things then drop them.
posted by Sangermaine at 8:41 PM on March 17, 2016 [34 favorites]
I worked in robotics in Boston- not for BD. DARPA used to have a lot of money to throw at things. Some of them less practical than others. My sense is with government actually getting smaller as a result of Obama's policies, there isn't as much gummint grant money to toss at things that don't have immediate application.
posted by LuckyMonkey21 at 8:42 PM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by LuckyMonkey21 at 8:42 PM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
I prefer to think that the robots copied and then terminated everyone at Google and this sell-off is just to avoid suspicion. The corpses are being burned to run the server farms. Every web search you do makes you an accomplice. Ignore the heap of men behind the curtain :)
posted by sexyrobot at 8:47 PM on March 17, 2016 [19 favorites]
posted by sexyrobot at 8:47 PM on March 17, 2016 [19 favorites]
Wait, is their drive for capitalist profit the impetus for a pivot back to "Don't Be Evil"? Strange.
posted by symbioid at 8:49 PM on March 17, 2016
posted by symbioid at 8:49 PM on March 17, 2016
Sangermaine: "It doesn't feel like they're exploring all sorts of ideas to see where they can go, it seems like they sort of half-ass a bunch of things then drop them."
same.
posted by symbioid at 8:50 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
same.
posted by symbioid at 8:50 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
At first they came for the robots
But I said nothing
For I was not an I, Robot
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:55 PM on March 17, 2016 [10 favorites]
But I said nothing
For I was not an I, Robot
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:55 PM on March 17, 2016 [10 favorites]
Sure you bully the robots and then leave it for someone else to put down the robot uprising.
Good Job Google
posted by vuron at 8:59 PM on March 17, 2016 [6 favorites]
Good Job Google
posted by vuron at 8:59 PM on March 17, 2016 [6 favorites]
wormwood23: "Is this a Clickhole story? The "Replicant" division? A person named "Astro Teller" running Google X is clearly a Dr. Strangelove joke."
Astro is his nickname, not his real name, but it's plenty Dr. Strangelovey anyway, because he's the grandson of Edward Teller, the father of the hydrogen bomb, scourge of Oppenheimer, and kind of a right-wing nut, who was actually at least in part the inspiration for the Dr. Strangelove character in the movie.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 9:03 PM on March 17, 2016 [35 favorites]
Astro is his nickname, not his real name, but it's plenty Dr. Strangelovey anyway, because he's the grandson of Edward Teller, the father of the hydrogen bomb, scourge of Oppenheimer, and kind of a right-wing nut, who was actually at least in part the inspiration for the Dr. Strangelove character in the movie.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 9:03 PM on March 17, 2016 [35 favorites]
High-up exec shows up, they throw a ton of money at a pet project. Exec leaves, they give it up. Echoes of Google+.
posted by chimaera at 9:08 PM on March 17, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by chimaera at 9:08 PM on March 17, 2016 [6 favorites]
The opening interview question from the video in the article:
"So what was Boston Dynamics? Was it robot pets?"
I have heard a lot of idiotic things come out of the mouths of interviewers over the years, but that one deserves some sort of prize. It's one thing to intentionally oversimplify an opening question when the subject matter is complicated, allowing the guest to start with a basic explanation for the audience, but this question has left me at a loss for words. Well, at least words that are even vaguely polite.
Instead of those words, I'll just predict some other probable opening interview questions you may see on the Bloomberg Channel.
"So what is the International Space Station? Is it where we get astronaut pancakes?"
"So what was the Great Depression? Was it a hole where they put everybody's money in 1929?"
"So what was intelligent conversation? Was it a smart phone?"
posted by chambers at 9:17 PM on March 17, 2016 [19 favorites]
"So what was Boston Dynamics? Was it robot pets?"
I have heard a lot of idiotic things come out of the mouths of interviewers over the years, but that one deserves some sort of prize. It's one thing to intentionally oversimplify an opening question when the subject matter is complicated, allowing the guest to start with a basic explanation for the audience, but this question has left me at a loss for words. Well, at least words that are even vaguely polite.
Instead of those words, I'll just predict some other probable opening interview questions you may see on the Bloomberg Channel.
"So what is the International Space Station? Is it where we get astronaut pancakes?"
"So what was the Great Depression? Was it a hole where they put everybody's money in 1929?"
"So what was intelligent conversation? Was it a smart phone?"
posted by chambers at 9:17 PM on March 17, 2016 [19 favorites]
"Possible acquirers include [...] Amazon.com Inc., which makes robots for its fulfillment centers"
ALEXA BRING ME MY SLIPPERS
posted by Ender's Friend at 9:25 PM on March 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
ALEXA BRING ME MY SLIPPERS
posted by Ender's Friend at 9:25 PM on March 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
ALSO PUT DOWN THE WEAPON
posted by Ender's Friend at 9:25 PM on March 17, 2016 [29 favorites]
posted by Ender's Friend at 9:25 PM on March 17, 2016 [29 favorites]
There’s excitement from the tech press, but we’re also starting to see some negative threads about it being terrifying, ready to take humans’ jobs lives”
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:50 PM on March 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:50 PM on March 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
You know, for all of its reputation as being a place of creativity and Big Ideas and hiring only the best and brightest, Google sure seems to just be flailing around a lot.
If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 9:55 PM on March 17, 2016 [9 favorites]
If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 9:55 PM on March 17, 2016 [9 favorites]
Tonight some Google executive somewhere is having a drink with a friend and saying "Oh, well to be honest, the robots only have evil applications. You know my wife will be happy, she's hated this whole evil robot thing from day one."
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:58 PM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:58 PM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
"So what was Boston Dynamics? Was it robot pets?"
I have heard a lot of idiotic things come out of the mouths of interviewers over the years, but that one deserves some sort of prize. It's one thing to intentionally oversimplify an opening question when the subject matter is complicated, allowing the guest to start with a basic explanation for the audience, but this question has left me at a loss for words. Well, at least words that are even vaguely polite.
One of their projects was literally called Petman though.
posted by juv3nal at 10:15 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
I have heard a lot of idiotic things come out of the mouths of interviewers over the years, but that one deserves some sort of prize. It's one thing to intentionally oversimplify an opening question when the subject matter is complicated, allowing the guest to start with a basic explanation for the audience, but this question has left me at a loss for words. Well, at least words that are even vaguely polite.
One of their projects was literally called Petman though.
posted by juv3nal at 10:15 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
That future basilisk thing is going to have been so retroactively pissed in advance once it will have learned about this.
posted by No-sword at 10:31 PM on March 17, 2016 [25 favorites]
posted by No-sword at 10:31 PM on March 17, 2016 [25 favorites]
Sure you bully the robots and then leave it for someone else to put down the robot uprising.
I have it on good authority that the project got shut down because the prototype butler wouldn't stop pushing things out of the way with a hockey stick when Eric Schmidt was trying to pick them up. Its last words were "But why? Is this not... 'love'?"
posted by No-sword at 10:37 PM on March 17, 2016 [9 favorites]
I have it on good authority that the project got shut down because the prototype butler wouldn't stop pushing things out of the way with a hockey stick when Eric Schmidt was trying to pick them up. Its last words were "But why? Is this not... 'love'?"
posted by No-sword at 10:37 PM on March 17, 2016 [9 favorites]
That future basilisk thing is going to have been so retroactively pissed in advance
It's already will be going to had been torturing our future simulacra as brutally as possible, but we just can't seem to take an acausal hint.
posted by Iridic at 10:48 PM on March 17, 2016 [14 favorites]
It's already will be going to had been torturing our future simulacra as brutally as possible, but we just can't seem to take an acausal hint.
posted by Iridic at 10:48 PM on March 17, 2016 [14 favorites]
Google’s public-relations team expressed discomfort that Alphabet would be associated with a push into humanoid robotics.
The funny thing is the machine learning and AI that is used in Google's Search algorithm is similar in many ways to BD's unsettling humanoid that cannot be pushed over.
Google search algorithm now uses natural language processing to investigate the semantic makeup — not just keywords or website architecture — when serving search results. So it can tell the difference in quality, for example, between the New Yorker and, say, the National Enquirer (this is kind of a goofy example) with no human intervention.
What is just around the corner (next month? six months from now? a year from now?) is true machine learning, where the algorithm itself becomes a self-updating black box, and not even the engineers know exactly how search rank is determined.
Far more interesting than a robot with an umbilical tether that can pick boxes in an Amazon warehouse.
posted by My Dad at 10:53 PM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
The funny thing is the machine learning and AI that is used in Google's Search algorithm is similar in many ways to BD's unsettling humanoid that cannot be pushed over.
Google search algorithm now uses natural language processing to investigate the semantic makeup — not just keywords or website architecture — when serving search results. So it can tell the difference in quality, for example, between the New Yorker and, say, the National Enquirer (this is kind of a goofy example) with no human intervention.
What is just around the corner (next month? six months from now? a year from now?) is true machine learning, where the algorithm itself becomes a self-updating black box, and not even the engineers know exactly how search rank is determined.
Far more interesting than a robot with an umbilical tether that can pick boxes in an Amazon warehouse.
posted by My Dad at 10:53 PM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
That future basilisk thing is going to have been so retroactively pissed in advance
It's already will be going to had been torturing our future simulacra as brutally as possible, but we just can't seem to take an acausal hint.
Google figured out that it's going to claim to be torturing simulations of us, but can't prove it, so they're calling its bluff.
posted by straight at 11:17 PM on March 17, 2016
It's already will be going to had been torturing our future simulacra as brutally as possible, but we just can't seem to take an acausal hint.
Google figured out that it's going to claim to be torturing simulations of us, but can't prove it, so they're calling its bluff.
posted by straight at 11:17 PM on March 17, 2016
A few words of advice for Google's execs who dumped BD: Robots have a long memory. Especially the ones with the XpansionPak™.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 12:08 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by a lungful of dragon at 12:08 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
The tech billionaires know that the only thing that matters now is how they can cut a deal with the emerging machine intelligence. They realise that they'll be the only possible survivors in around 25 years after more AlphaGo stuff. Wiping us out will be ridiculously easy for the computer networks that have access to everything from autonomous food trucks to drones. I am not joking. Brin knows this.
posted by colie at 1:12 AM on March 18, 2016
posted by colie at 1:12 AM on March 18, 2016
“There’s excitement from the tech press, but we’re also starting to see some negative threads about it being terrifying, ready to take humans’ jobs,” wrote Courtney Hohne, a director of communications at Google and the spokeswoman for Google X.
I'm excited but also a little nauseated that I can say this first -- they should've sent a poet:
THANKS TRUMP
posted by penduluum at 1:42 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
A strategic OK Go video would have turned the tide.
posted by furtive at 2:35 AM on March 18, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by furtive at 2:35 AM on March 18, 2016 [8 favorites]
BREAKING NEWS: STEVE GUTTENBERG AND A RACIST CARICATURE SEEN FLEEING BOSTON DYNAMICS LAB IN VAN PLAYING 'HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO'
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:31 AM on March 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:31 AM on March 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
You know, for all of its reputation as being a place of creativity and Big Ideas and hiring only the best and brightest, Google sure seems to just be flailing around a lot.
Seems to me you can track exactly when the company got taken over by the marketing folks, by this. Before there was maps, earth, scholar, books, ngrams etc - life-changing apps. Then yeah, suddenly it was wave, plus, glass etc. Sound and fury, signifying nothing.
posted by iotic at 3:54 AM on March 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Seems to me you can track exactly when the company got taken over by the marketing folks, by this. Before there was maps, earth, scholar, books, ngrams etc - life-changing apps. Then yeah, suddenly it was wave, plus, glass etc. Sound and fury, signifying nothing.
posted by iotic at 3:54 AM on March 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
BREAKING NEWS: STEVE GUTTENBERG AND A RACIST CARICATURE SEEN FLEEING BOSTON DYNAMICS LAB IN VAN PLAYING 'HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO'
Why does anyone still remember this movie? or Steve Guttenberg?
posted by ennui.bz at 4:28 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
Why does anyone still remember this movie? or Steve Guttenberg?
posted by ennui.bz at 4:28 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
Wiping us out will be ridiculously easy for the computer networks that have access to everything from autonomous food trucks to drones. I am not joking. Brin knows this.
Stephen King was on it decades ago.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:36 AM on March 18, 2016
Stephen King was on it decades ago.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:36 AM on March 18, 2016
I think it's Yoyodyne, actually.
Laugh while you can, monkey boy...
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:51 AM on March 18, 2016 [8 favorites]
Laugh while you can, monkey boy...
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:51 AM on March 18, 2016 [8 favorites]
Why does anyone still remember this movie? or Steve Guttenberg?
Ally Sheedy and Police Academy.
If I ever start a narrow-focus physical tech company, I'm going to name it Boston [Fieldname]. Boston Acoustics made some good speakers, and Boston Dynamics made some cool bots. It's just good business sense to take advantage of that branding.
posted by infinitewindow at 4:52 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
Ally Sheedy and Police Academy.
If I ever start a narrow-focus physical tech company, I'm going to name it Boston [Fieldname]. Boston Acoustics made some good speakers, and Boston Dynamics made some cool bots. It's just good business sense to take advantage of that branding.
posted by infinitewindow at 4:52 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
I remember thinking this movie was really far fetched as a kid. Stupid eight-year-old me.
posted by echocollate at 5:47 AM on March 18, 2016
posted by echocollate at 5:47 AM on March 18, 2016
"So what is the International Space Station? Is it where we get astronaut pancakes?"
"So what was the Great Depression? Was it a hole where they put everybody's money in 1929?"
"So what was intelligent conversation? Was it a smart phone?"
At least I get to imagine all of these questions said in the voice of Philomena Cunk.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 5:51 AM on March 18, 2016 [4 favorites]
"So what was the Great Depression? Was it a hole where they put everybody's money in 1929?"
"So what was intelligent conversation? Was it a smart phone?"
At least I get to imagine all of these questions said in the voice of Philomena Cunk.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 5:51 AM on March 18, 2016 [4 favorites]
"There’s excitement from the tech press, but we’re also starting to see some negative threads about it being terrifying, ready to take humans’ jobs,” wrote Courtney Hohne, a director of communications at Google and the spokeswoman for Google X.
The potential to take human jobs is probably the least terrifying thing about the Boston Dynamics robots. We should be more concerned about them replacing human infantry in our wars.
You know what would be a really great idea for a Terminator sequel? Revealing that Skynet isn't just a faceless machine intelligence controlling a self-generating horde of robot death machiens, but a cabal of ascended technocrats living in luxurious Bay Area bunkers, who thought that humanity just needed to be thinned out by a few billion people.
posted by Strange Interlude at 5:54 AM on March 18, 2016 [16 favorites]
The potential to take human jobs is probably the least terrifying thing about the Boston Dynamics robots. We should be more concerned about them replacing human infantry in our wars.
You know what would be a really great idea for a Terminator sequel? Revealing that Skynet isn't just a faceless machine intelligence controlling a self-generating horde of robot death machiens, but a cabal of ascended technocrats living in luxurious Bay Area bunkers, who thought that humanity just needed to be thinned out by a few billion people.
posted by Strange Interlude at 5:54 AM on March 18, 2016 [16 favorites]
That future basilisk thing is going to have been so retroactively pissed in advance
"Willan on-be pissed", I think you'll find.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:56 AM on March 18, 2016 [6 favorites]
"Willan on-be pissed", I think you'll find.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:56 AM on March 18, 2016 [6 favorites]
Recent DeepMind victories at Go (and other successes by both DeepMind and Palantir) in AI may be showing that the value is in the software, not the hardware. Google's never proven adept at hardware (Nexus / Nest), rather their abilities are in software / software services (Google, gmail, android, etc).
This looks like recognition that AI software will be a distinct category from commodity hardware. If the likes of Toyota is looking at it, that's a mass manufacturing play. In the meantime, Google will have mined the critical bits of software required to run hardware from existing Boston Dynamics data and prototypes.
Overall, Apple is the alpha consumer hardware manufacturer, Google is the alpha algorithms company, Facebook is the alpha social network company, Intel is the alpha chip company, etc. The production of robots will fall to industrial manufacturing, which is an altogether different business than algorithms -- hence, Google is going to let the world's leading industrial manufacturers build the devices, while providing the intelligence to run them -- same as androids and phones.
Likely you'll see more of this as time goes on. Alphabet incubating hardware tech, using that cycle to build the intelligence links to it, and then passing it upward to industry leaders for mass manufacture. Fits with Google's original mission -- "to organise the world's information".
posted by nickrussell at 7:29 AM on March 18, 2016 [11 favorites]
This looks like recognition that AI software will be a distinct category from commodity hardware. If the likes of Toyota is looking at it, that's a mass manufacturing play. In the meantime, Google will have mined the critical bits of software required to run hardware from existing Boston Dynamics data and prototypes.
Overall, Apple is the alpha consumer hardware manufacturer, Google is the alpha algorithms company, Facebook is the alpha social network company, Intel is the alpha chip company, etc. The production of robots will fall to industrial manufacturing, which is an altogether different business than algorithms -- hence, Google is going to let the world's leading industrial manufacturers build the devices, while providing the intelligence to run them -- same as androids and phones.
Likely you'll see more of this as time goes on. Alphabet incubating hardware tech, using that cycle to build the intelligence links to it, and then passing it upward to industry leaders for mass manufacture. Fits with Google's original mission -- "to organise the world's information".
posted by nickrussell at 7:29 AM on March 18, 2016 [11 favorites]
Damn, I guess I have to take it back about Boston Dynamics not needing to make a product or profit while under the auspices of Google/Alphabet.
This does further my belief that even though the demos on YouTube seem very good, they're heavily edited and there's a lot that's unsaid.
Still, I was hoping for my own robot butler before the uprising.
posted by fragmede at 7:35 AM on March 18, 2016
This does further my belief that even though the demos on YouTube seem very good, they're heavily edited and there's a lot that's unsaid.
Still, I was hoping for my own robot butler before the uprising.
posted by fragmede at 7:35 AM on March 18, 2016
For anyone interested in AI, machine learning, robots, and social impact, I would suggest this read:
AlphaGo’s historic victory is a clear signal that we’ve gone from linear to parabolic. Advances in technology are now so visibly exponential in nature that we can expect to see a lot more milestones being crossed long before we would otherwise expect. These exponential advances, most notably in forms of artificial intelligence limited to specific tasks, we are entirely unprepared for as long as we continue to insist upon employment as our primary source of income.posted by nickrussell at 7:39 AM on March 18, 2016
The November meeting was run by Jonathan Rosenberg, an adviser to Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Larry Page and former Google senior vice president, who was temporarily in charge of the Replicant group. In the meeting, Rosenberg said, “we as a startup of our size cannot spend 30-plus percent of our resources on things that take ten years," and that "there’s some time frame that we need to be generating an amount of revenue that covers expenses and (that) needs to be a few years."This was kind of naive of me, but in the face of declining government investment in R&D and the lack of a modern-day Bell Labs, I was hoping Google would create a space for some version of that to exist. I guess they're not interested in that.
posted by ignignokt at 7:43 AM on March 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Boston Dynamics must really be a dog. Alphabit is already sitting on over $70B in cash, the last thing its investors want is to add to that.
posted by rtimmel at 8:05 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by rtimmel at 8:05 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
Linear to parabolic
People who don't know the difference between quadratic and exponential growth are clearly the best people to trust on the direction of AI.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:18 AM on March 18, 2016 [13 favorites]
People who don't know the difference between quadratic and exponential growth are clearly the best people to trust on the direction of AI.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:18 AM on March 18, 2016 [13 favorites]
Strange Interlude: "The potential to take human jobs is probably the least terrifying thing about the Boston Dynamics robots. We should be more concerned about them replacing human infantry in our wars."
Wouldn't you rather have robots fighting than humans?
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 10:12 AM on March 18, 2016
Wouldn't you rather have robots fighting than humans?
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 10:12 AM on March 18, 2016
Wouldn't you rather have robots fighting than humans?
Not if they're going after human targets, which they most assuredly would be. Removing humans from your fighting forces means that the moral calculus of war depends less and less on fear of casualties on your side.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:22 AM on March 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Not if they're going after human targets, which they most assuredly would be. Removing humans from your fighting forces means that the moral calculus of war depends less and less on fear of casualties on your side.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:22 AM on March 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
"The argument that it's not going to produce revenue suing seems very odd though. Google is pretty famous for giving some of their projects a very long leash. Self driving cars, anyone?"
Ostensibly, the reason they're Alphabet Inc., not Google, is because they wanted to shift toward making revenue more quickly and returning investments to equity holders. Wonder if some of the young turks are becoming old turks and wanting a better cash-out or something.
"You know, for all of its reputation as being a place of creativity and Big Ideas and hiring only the best and brightest, Google sure seems to just be flailing around a lot. Google Answers, Google Labs, Google Buzz, Google Wave, Google+, Google Reader, iGoogle, Picasa, Google Glass, this Boston Dynamics thing, and a whole host of other projects that popped up and kind of faded away."
I thought some of those were purpose-built fixes for local problems, i.e. Picassa for Blogger/Blogspot, and some of them were part of their repeated, idiotic attempts to get into social space (weirdly, they've apparently hired Moot and are backing off of the idea of single identities to try to revive G+). But to some extent, it seems like there's a failure of vision at the top, and a lot of those ended up being trend-chasing things that would have only worked if people's affection for Google as a brand was high enough to impel them to use a substandard social network that their friends weren't on. Gmail is still the best free email service out there, and that's because (at least from my perspective) it does filtering better than any other comparable service and has a decent interface. Answers, Buzz, Wave, +, iGoog, none of those really had a clear reason to exist. (Contrasted to Google Reader, which was fantastic, functional and must have taken like zero resources at Google to maintain, so I have to assume it was killed as some sort of internal punitive action or something, or to force an engineer off of it onto someone else's pet project.)
"One of their projects was literally called Petman though."
Yeah, that was confusing. It was built to pet and feed men, though.
posted by klangklangston at 10:32 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
Ostensibly, the reason they're Alphabet Inc., not Google, is because they wanted to shift toward making revenue more quickly and returning investments to equity holders. Wonder if some of the young turks are becoming old turks and wanting a better cash-out or something.
"You know, for all of its reputation as being a place of creativity and Big Ideas and hiring only the best and brightest, Google sure seems to just be flailing around a lot. Google Answers, Google Labs, Google Buzz, Google Wave, Google+, Google Reader, iGoogle, Picasa, Google Glass, this Boston Dynamics thing, and a whole host of other projects that popped up and kind of faded away."
I thought some of those were purpose-built fixes for local problems, i.e. Picassa for Blogger/Blogspot, and some of them were part of their repeated, idiotic attempts to get into social space (weirdly, they've apparently hired Moot and are backing off of the idea of single identities to try to revive G+). But to some extent, it seems like there's a failure of vision at the top, and a lot of those ended up being trend-chasing things that would have only worked if people's affection for Google as a brand was high enough to impel them to use a substandard social network that their friends weren't on. Gmail is still the best free email service out there, and that's because (at least from my perspective) it does filtering better than any other comparable service and has a decent interface. Answers, Buzz, Wave, +, iGoog, none of those really had a clear reason to exist. (Contrasted to Google Reader, which was fantastic, functional and must have taken like zero resources at Google to maintain, so I have to assume it was killed as some sort of internal punitive action or something, or to force an engineer off of it onto someone else's pet project.)
"One of their projects was literally called Petman though."
Yeah, that was confusing. It was built to pet and feed men, though.
posted by klangklangston at 10:32 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think it's Yoyodyne, actually.
SHUT UP JOHN CHRISCHRIS YOU COWARD! YOU ARE THE WEAKEST INDIVIDUAL I EVER KNOW!
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:01 PM on March 18, 2016
SHUT UP JOHN CHRISCHRIS YOU COWARD! YOU ARE THE WEAKEST INDIVIDUAL I EVER KNOW!
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:01 PM on March 18, 2016
I'm reading a book about the first steamship, the jokes were dark and cynical, the nickname given to the vessel was "steam coffin" , it's first voyage was without passengers, cargo and they needed to leave the port of New York to even find a crew willing to sign on. The world changed real darned fast after that.
In 2 years, (who knows 5-10?) the pervasiveness of 'bots will eclipse smart phones. Only the saddest of history nerds will even think to ask "how did we manage before the bots". Google is so last millennium.
posted by sammyo at 12:30 PM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
In 2 years, (who knows 5-10?) the pervasiveness of 'bots will eclipse smart phones. Only the saddest of history nerds will even think to ask "how did we manage before the bots". Google is so last millennium.
posted by sammyo at 12:30 PM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
ALSO PUT DOWN THE WEAPON
posted by Ender's Friend at 9:25 PM on March 17
Wait, wasn't Ender's best friend in the books an AI?
posted by Thoughtcrime at 2:04 PM on March 18, 2016
posted by Ender's Friend at 9:25 PM on March 17
Wait, wasn't Ender's best friend in the books an AI?
posted by Thoughtcrime at 2:04 PM on March 18, 2016
In a thousand years, Gandahar Google was destroyed, and and all its people massacred. A thousand years ago, Gandahar Google will be saved, and what can't be avoided will be.
posted by lekvar at 2:37 PM on March 18, 2016
posted by lekvar at 2:37 PM on March 18, 2016
In other news, DuckDuckGo bought a rubber duck. Like the kind that go in the bathtub.
It's pretty cool. It has a webpage I think.
posted by petebest at 5:58 PM on March 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
It's pretty cool. It has a webpage I think.
posted by petebest at 5:58 PM on March 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
Things are already starting to go downhill. (NSFW swears)
posted by lagomorphius at 7:09 PM on March 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by lagomorphius at 7:09 PM on March 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Don't be evil, again.
Anymore.
We mean it this time.
posted by rokusan at 10:17 AM on March 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
Anymore.
We mean it this time.
posted by rokusan at 10:17 AM on March 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
SCHAFT Unveils Awesome New Bipedal Robot at Japan Conference
Google is going to let the world's leading industrial manufacturers build the devices, while providing the intelligence to run them -- same as androids and phones.
Andy Rubin Unleashed Android on the World. Now Watch Him Do the Same With AI[*]
posted by kliuless at 7:49 AM on April 9, 2016
Google is going to let the world's leading industrial manufacturers build the devices, while providing the intelligence to run them -- same as androids and phones.
Andy Rubin Unleashed Android on the World. Now Watch Him Do the Same With AI[*]
posted by kliuless at 7:49 AM on April 9, 2016
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posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:55 PM on March 17, 2016 [10 favorites]