My emotional relationship with our robot future is ever changing. On the whole, I’m skeptical that rapid robotic advancement is going to be net positive in the long run (and I’m far from alone on that score). However…we don’t seem to be doing a great job with decision-making on our own these days, so who knows. Sometimes, however, I toss the deep thoughts (it’s easy—I have television and internet) and base my emotional responses to new robots exclusively on the following metric: are they cute? I’ve recently fallen in love with this adorable and not-yet-terrifying underwater robot that mimics a … [Read more...]
Who’s Afraid of AI?
I saw something remarkable on TV this week. I will now remark about it. It wasn’t a “peak TV” show. It did not involve zombies or space or cats. It wasn’t Fargo (though that is also remarkable). It was a standalone commercial, one of those things DVRs and streaming have mostly protected me from in recent years. I’m not sure how this one slipped through—I probably dropped a donut and was brushing it off when the commercial break arrived—but I’m glad it did. Watching a standalone commercial is rare enough, but this one was especially unique: It's a corporate advertisement asking … [Read more...]
Cyborg Semantics
What exactly is a cyborg? The term is becoming more common but remains somewhat vague, so I decided to drill down through the etymology and how it's evolved to get a better understanding of its exact meaning. The term was first coined by Austrian neuroscientist Manfred Clynes as a combination of “cybernetic” and “organism.” Organism—that’s easy. “Cybernetic” is a bit more difficult. The official definition of cybernetics: “the science of communication and control theory that is concerned especially with the comparative study of automatic control systems.” So that’s no … [Read more...]
Human-ish
George Dvorsky over at Gizmodo did a lovely write-up on last week on ten androids at the forefront of our “replacing humanity” obsession. The list focuses less on AI and more on the physical reproduction of human looks and movements, but that’s important too. We have to bridge the uncanny valley so the machine can seduce you before tossing you across the room. I think I had forgotten about ATLAS before this article, the DARPA-funded android most likely to join humans on the battlefield as a humanoid helper. I love the fact that the newest version has a kill switch installed. Watch … [Read more...]
Meet Sophia, Your Adorable Overlord
When I started this blog, I promised myself never to post more than one futurism story per week. It's an important rule. Futurism (i.e. the present) can be dangerous in high doses. As a constant consumer of the best of the worst of what is to come, I’ve learned that consuming futurism more than once per week can result in all of the following ailments: Night Terrors Day Terrors Sweat Neck Expanding Waistline Head Sadness Irritability Swimmer’s Hip Canine Madness The Vapors Scurvy Brain Softening Spontaneous Leg Dancing Summer Complaint Grocer’s … [Read more...]