Impressed and alarmed by advances in artificial intelligence, a group of computer scientists is debating whether there should be limits on research that might lead to loss of human control over computer-based systems that carry a growing share of society’s workload, from waging war to chatting with customers on the phone. From the NYT:
Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jul 26, 2009 -
116 comments
Meet Jules, a new humanoid robot from
Hanson Robotics, the folks who built the
Einstein and
Phillip K. Dick robots, (the latter's head went missing a while back.) Jules loves you, as much as his newfangled software will allow. He also seems a little awkward and angst ridden for a robot, but it's not his fault; it must be the designers who made his software.
posted by Blingo
on May 4, 2007 -
58 comments
Chaffee,
White,
Grissom &
Freeman are the names of four artificial islands immediately off the Southern California port of Long Beach.
From the shore, they each look like an inhabited island
paradise, complete with waterfalls, interesting buildings, many palm trees and
crazy nighttime party lighting. In fact,
they are offshore oil wells, built on 10 acre Dubai-esque
man-made islands created for the purpose of housing the oil wells, and disguised so as to comply with local aesthetic standards.
posted by jonson
on Apr 11, 2007 -
25 comments
A search engine to help you find things you don't know about. gnod stands for The
Global
Network
of
Dreams, and is a test of artificial intelligence. Building a database from the user choices, it helps you find books, music and misc. other by having you enter in things that you like, and based on what other people like, it shows you stuff you ought to like, too (which is slightly different from what Amazon does, showing you what other people have
bought). Don't know if all the Amazon Associate links detract from it all or not
posted by crunchland
on Aug 30, 2002 -
25 comments
The Robots Are Coming (Yawwwn...). Yet another corporate futurist (with a
bizarre 1996 Mosaic-type website) telling us that A.I. will deliver the "homework" robot by 2006 (now, is that January or December?). Also, look out for an
emotionally responsive Barbie:
"We already have technologies that can measure stress, using simple cues like skin condition and temperature and it will be easy to put these in Barbie dolls which will be able to talk to little girls when they are upset and ask what is wrong." Ech.
posted by theplayethic
on Jan 22, 2002 -
21 comments
Synthetic virus nearing reality Scientists will have the technology to create a wholly artificial virus within the next five years, a major conference in the US has been told. This is the quote I like best... Prof Hutchinson added: "Am I worried about a synthesised virus? No, you only worry about it if someone does it out of malicious motives."
posted by zeoslap
on Feb 22, 2001 -
18 comments
