Comments on: The Age of Thinking, Self-Developing Robots Has Finally Arrived

By: Rational Thinker

Rational Thinker — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:21:45 +0000

There is a new age of technology that is upon us and artificial intelligence will be part of it. Aristotle once that slavery will end when a machine can be made that will do mundane tasks for us. Now some 2500 years later that day has arrived. What a minimum wage worker does for a dollar a robot will do for a dime. Things that are boring or dangerous will be done by machines as they never get bored and no one crys when a machine is damaged.

People need to get back to exploration and discovery. There are galaxies to explore.

By: Roger F. Gay

Roger F. Gay — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:44:43 +0000

There will likely be mobile robot insurance similar to auto and general liability insurance. Some robots don’t need it at all – like a Roomba for example. Others are no more dangerous than a lawn mower. There is one case already of a large industrial lawn mowing robot that allegedly killed someone. I haven’t looked into the allegations at all – don’t even know whether it might be an urban myth. If it’s true, then I can’t see it as being significantly different from other industrial accidents.

By: jjtaup

jjtaup — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:34:46 +0000

The problem isn’t economics. It’s lawyers. Whole new industries of legal intrusion to protect against “robotism” and “robot abuse” and to institute parallel universes of rights will spring up to sate the sewer dwellers.

Robots shouldn’t scare us. Lawyers should.

By: The Age of Thinking, Self-Developing Robots Has Finally Arrived « K21st - Essential 21st Century Knowledge

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:10:24 +0000

[...] The Age of Thinking, Self-Developing Robots Has Finally Arrived The Age of Thinking, Self-Developing Robots Has Finally Arrived [...]

By: Self-developing, adaptive robots soon to be available - thanks to Darwin « Memories From The Future

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:21:31 +0000

[...] deeper: More information about the technology and history behind iRobis BrainstormÂ® by Roger F. [...]

By: Roger F. Gay

Roger F. Gay — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:54:09 +0000

Creating humanoids - good audio in Media Player Classic. Didn't play so well in Windows Media Player.

By: Roger F. Gay

Roger F. Gay — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:37:28 +0000

Well of course technology continues to change and the character and types of some of the jobs humans do change with it. That’s nothing new. The greatest problem I see with the doomsday scenario that everyone will be unemployed is that means no one will be able to afford the robots.

I don’t think humans will be entirely dispensable in the near future. To the extent that there are problems, you can bet there are people working on them. There’s a whole lot of folks concerned about every aspect of the coming technological revolution – the new wave – even about robot ethics and morality. Robot religion?

But first things first. Robots are now taking over dangerous and extremely tedious work and that’ll all be first. Industrial robots have been doing physically strenuous tedious work for quite some time – and labor laws in some countries are so protective of workers that they can’t live without them. Prices dropped and wages rose as robots increased productivity.

The day will come when robots face down armed criminals (it’s already happened once that I have heard of) and they’re already on the battlefield disarming bombs and doing dangerous recon. If there’s a nuclear accident somewhere, … well, if you’re a Star Trek movie fan you’ll know what I mean when I say that Spock won’t really have to die in the 23rd century.

By: amfortas

amfortas — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:24:12 +0000

I can’t wait. I would love to see a thinking robot tackle a feminist. I’d give it five minutes before the robotic rules about not harming humans cease to apply.

By: DrDamage

DrDamage — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:00:07 +0000

The article at http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm called “Robotic Nation” is a highly insightful look at the possibilities that thinking machines introduce into the employment marketplace. I question the ultimate destination that the author believes that we are headed towards, as I reject the idea that an economy even remotely resembling the one we currently inhabit could survive the removal of such a vast percentage of the population from the employment (and thus the consumer) marketplace.

It’s definitely worth reading, but I advise doing so from a firmly skeptical point of view.

By: DrDamage

DrDamage — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:46:04 +0000

If the reports that this article is based upon are correct, this is a terrifying moment in human history. As robots crowd humans out of an increasing array of employment opportunities, we as a society are going to need to move beyond consumer/capitalism to an entirely new means of distributing scarce resources.

If the reports in question are correct, there are going to be those that point to the industrial revolution and to the Luddites saying that all will be well. But the changes that true thinking machines will bring are unprecedented and enormously sweeping in scope.

In all probability, in an economy operated largely by thinking machines, it will be impossible for a consumer based economy to survive as the teeming masses with excess money to spend upon which a consumer driven economy depends will be entirely unemployed and thus not have excess money to spend on consumption.

Yes, I realize that the Luddites probably felt much the same way, as did makers of buggy whips with the introdcution of automobiles and workers in the field of automotive manufacturing with the introduction of robotic manufacturing. However, the economic damage to the common folk which may be on the way is far greater than has been seen previously.

Manufacturing employment will be annihilated, the damage to employment opportunities in the service sector will be only slightly less severe. Regrettably, while I can see the approaching storm, I cannot predict how we will survive it. Only that we will. Whether this will please the survivors or not remains to be seen