DARPA’s James Cameron Mashup: Unsurprising, but Existentially Bananas

 AI, Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness, Cybernetics, DARPA, Exoskeleton, Future Already Very Pending, Human Augmentation, Military Robotics, NBI, Neurology, Prosthetics, Robot, Technology, Transhuman, Transhumanism, WarBots  No Responses »
Feb 212012

Remote-Controlled Humanoid WarBots
So DARPA got some so-called Avatar robot money in next year’s budget. This is interesting news that slips neatly into anthrobotic.com’s WarBot thread, but for those who follow the WarBot-machine-drone-non-directly-human-remote-watching/killing/delivering field of technology, it’s hardly a revelation. Becasue Predator, Reaper, Global Hawk, K-MAX, Sentinel, Packbot.
And more:
Drone aircraft and other remotely controlled vehicles in our unmanned arsenal already function as primitive avatars, so obviously this is a logical next step. But, as with most things DARPA, it begins an interesting discussion.

First, a question I haven’t quite figured out is:
Where’s the line between robot and R/C car or plane or whatever? Some consider our various military drones to be robots, but we wouldn’t really consider this here to be a robot:
Other than size and munitions and relocating to Nevada in order to play with it, isn’t a Predator drone essentially the same thing? Which is a robot and why? I don’t know, man!

What about an automated parking garage? Aren’t those kind of like building-sized robots lugging cars up and down and to and fro? Shouldn’t a gigantic semi-autonomous robot have geeks like me all kindsa dorktastically excited?
They don’t. Well, maybe me a little bit.

The thing is, there’s a kind of animal vanity at work here. I think in order for us to call something a robot, we want it to be at least vaguely modeled after something that is actually living. Or has lived. Because I’ve seen a robot T-Rex before, and it was unquestionably a robot.

Red = Pissed Off.

Continue reading »

Posted by Reno Tibke at 6:16 PM

Technological Utopianism is Way Better than Technological Apocalypticism. Robots, Robots.

 AI, Anthrobotic Originals, Artificial Intelligence, Future Already Very Pending, Industrial Robots, Medical Robots, Military Robotics, NBI, Robot, Robot Art, Robot Emotions, Robot Love, Robots in Space, Technology, Technology & Labor, Technology & Work, The Beginning is Near  4 Responses »
Feb 142012

Robots in the Future are Coming to Take Your Job?
Oh No, Oh No!
Oh…  Not Really.
Okay, Maybe in China.
As my 6 regular readers know, I often go off on various angles of this issue. Have a look at the Technology & Labor category – one can see there’s certainly no shortage of hand-wringing, gee-whiz, and scare tactics. And why I think China’s economy is going to get hosed by robots.

One thing is for certain: putting “robot” in your title is shrewd marketing.

Two Futurists, Two Generations
Singularity Hub interviewed this younger guy Federico Pistono – talking about his upcoming book “Robots Will Steal Your Job, But That’s Okay,” which seems to be a commentary on our labor force’s pending inability to retrain itself, keep up with technological advancement, and manage/sustain continued growth (capitalism). Thereafter we get some riots and economic collapse. Hard to decipher where robots come into play – maybe just the marketing? Dude’s throwing out a healthy portion of pseudo-intellectual anti-capitalist hippy apocalypse babble, but while it might be somewhat myopic and one-sided it’s likely good perspective and food for thought. I wish him the greatest success with the book, but right now he sounds a lot deep in the danger of little information and little regard for the comprehensive, contextual, holistic nature of technological advancement.

Another position, recently unveiled at a TEDx appearance, is from older guy Thomas Frey. His bold proclamation is that by 2030, 18 years from now, 2 billion of the world’s jobs, that’s 50%, will have been lost. Frey lays out his 5 projections on areas of transformative advancement very soon to obviate current modes of employment, and he then proposes replacement jobs that will rapidly supplant that which was lost. Contrasting Pistono’s doom and gloom, Frey thinks we’re going to be okay, but there’s also an unsettling optimism in his words and bullet points. Are things REALLY going to change that fast in 18 years? And if they do, can humans really adapt so quickly? Maybe – I don’t know though. I dork out on the future all the goddamn time, and Frey’s timeline is challenging even for me.

Choose Humanity’s Adventure!
It makes me nervous when I realize I’m the moderate voice. Continue reading »

Posted by Reno Tibke at 1:23 PM

Where the Human Ends & the Machine Begins: Getting Unclearer…

 AI, Aging Society, Anthrobotic Originals, Artificial Intelligence, Brain, Consciousness, Cybernetics, Exoskeleton, Future Already Very Pending, Human Augmentation, Kurzweil, Medical Technology, Prosthetics, Technology, The Beginning is Near, Transhuman, Transhumanism, We're Already Cyborgs Already  4 Responses »
Feb 032012

Cyborg Stuff
There’s an interesting piece over at NYT – The Dilemma of Being a Cyborg.
I’m not entirely sure what the dilemma is, but cyborg stuff is no small deal here at Anthrobotic, so it merits some consideration. Here are a few thoughts to roll the ball:

What are the Boundaries of my Physical Parts?
Okay, so I’ve got my guts, and my bones, and my connective tissues – like most people, that’s what I refer to as my physical “self,” the physical Me.

But… then I’ve got a few fillings and a few non-biological implants. Are those things any less Me? Are they just add-ons? What about the various bacteria and teeny-tiny bugs that at all times live in/on my body? Are those Me, too? As part of a whole bacterial culture, individual components pass and new are born – and at a molecular and sub-molecular level, nearly every cell in my body does essentially the same thing.

So my physical body, my Me, seems to be a bizarre combo platter of the co-dependent fauna, the implants (cyborg?), my body’s dead-cell accumulations of hair & finger/toenails, and transient molecules following a recursive pattern that results in my distinctly human biological structure, i.e., all my bones and squishy parts. In sum, these components make up my essential physicality, my manifestation, my both internalized and projected physical reference point for the world around me.

Well, I guess the thing is this: every living human is in a symbiotic relationship with the millions of other organisms contained by our bodies, and by definition many of us are already cyborgs (Dick Cheney, Stephen Hawking, Me). As such, what we routinely conceptualize as our discrete physical “self” isn’t nearly as cut and dried as we might think. Or quite necessarily, not think. Too much thinking about this would result in psychosis and/or a PhD in biological philosophy or losing one’s religion or something.

Technology’s helping us further explore and understand these ideas, but the catch is that it’s also totally complicating the issue.

Because What about the Boundaries of my Personhood?
Where is my Personality, or Soul, or Whatever? Continue reading »

Posted by Reno Tibke at 12:19 PM

The Disabled Wage War Against the Wheelchair and Begin Test-Piloting Transhumanism

 AI, Artificial Intelligence, Brain, CareBots, Cybernetics, Exoskeleton, Human Augmentation, Military Robotics, Neurology, Prosthetics, Robot, Technology, Transhuman, Transhumanism, We're Already Cyborgs Already  Comments Off
Jan 102012

Burn it Down
This lovely young woman is doing her part to destroy the wheelchair industry. And she’s a hero. Practical, admirable, and necessary, movements such as ADA and other anti-discriminatory legislation were essential for their time, but we should all be happy when technology renders them irrelevant.

As I’ve said before, the technology that is the wheelchair has helped millions, but its time is finished – and the time of the wearable robot exoskeleton is approaching. Unless you build wheelchairs or access ramps or any other specialized wheelchair-centric equipment, you’ve gotta agree that a mobility revolution for the disabled is long overdue (and if you do build such equipment, it’s time to diversify, yo).

This post is really an update; this exact system came up here last May, then Berkeley Bionics (now renamed Ekso Bionics – a real lateral marketing move, I think) was just testing their prototype wheelchair killer. Now the device is moving through medical trials and appears to be fast-tracking to the market. These guys know what they’re doing – they’ve been at it since 2005, and their tech is also being used in Lockheed’s HULC exoskeleton.

The Physically Disabled as Transhuman Pioneers Continue reading »

Posted by Reno Tibke at 1:28 PM

ROM for Right & Wrong: Teaching Humans Vs. Coding Machines

 AI, Artificial Intelligence, Brain, CareBots, Consciousness, Future Already Very Pending, Industrial Robots, Medical Robots, Military Robotics, Robot, Robot Emotions, Robot Love, Technology, Technology & Politics, Technology & Work, Technology Law  Comments Off
Jan 072012

Here’s an interesting piece from the humanities section of the New York Times – a bit old but worth the read (awesome how a piece from two weeks ago is already “old.” INTERNETS!¡). Points on morality, philosophy, and existentialism on and for machines are rather thoughtfully drawn out. Recommended.

And I’ll offer this:
Stabbing forward and further into the human/machine civilization, it might be a good idea to let AI/NBI be, as we are, only vaguely moral. A self-aware & morally pure machine might not be so kind to human nature. Just saying.

[ARTICLE VIA NYT]

Posted by Reno Tibke at 2:25 PM

WarBot Update: WarBots in the News, WarBots Here, There, Everywhere.

 AI, Anthrobotic Originals, Artificial Intelligence, DARPA, Future Already Very Pending, Military Robotics, Multimedia, NBI, Robot, Robots in Space, Space Technology, Technology, Technology & Politics, Technology Law, WarBots  Comments Off
Jan 062012

War as Technology
Obviously human warfare has essentially never been waged without use of the latest technologies – that’s a given. What’s fundamentally changing with contemporary technological advancement is the gradual robotic extension/augmentation/replacement of the individual soldier; a trend pointing to the eventual removal of the individual from the battlefield and the sky (and space).

Announced within the past 24 hours, the U.S. military is going to seriously cut ground forces (Army & Marines, particularly). The monkey pony show of politics calls it budget cuts and responsible spending and such, but they neglect to point out that it’s also because of those machines in the image above and their like – grunts are being obviated by bots, man.

WarBots All Over the News:
There’s a lot out there right now – lots to take in. Of course these developments come with a whole laundry list of ethical and philosophical and practical questions I’ll not address here – so go read/watch and make up your own mind.
First: Robot Wars, Al-Jazeera Fault Lines Special Report (VIDEO)
Then: New WarBot Dexterity, Forbes (ARTICLE BY ALEX KNAPP)
And: Real-Life War Machines, Gizmodo (ARTICLE & VIDEO)
Wrapping it Up: X37B Spaceplane Maybe Kinda Spying on China, BBC (ARTICLE)


BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS POST:
“Wired for War”
by P.W. Singer
Support the site – buy at Anthrobotic’s Amazon Affiliate store!

Posted by Reno Tibke at 1:02 PM

REMINDER: More than 1/50 American Soldiers in Afghanistan is a Robot, with Helicopters!

 AI, Anthrobotic Originals, Artificial Intelligence, DARPA, Future Already Very Pending, Military Robotics, Robot, Technology, WarBots  Comments Off
Dec 202011

Over There, Over There…
It’s kinda bizarre that we just, you know, have become kinda blasé about sending robots and other stuff to Afghanistan now. At what point did we transition from a war to “The War?” Namsayen?

But Anyway, ROBOT HELICOPTERS!
There are already a significant number of robots fighting in Afghanistan. Those guys in trailers somewhere in New Mexico or Nevada or wherever, the guys who fly the majority of Predator drones and other warbot aircraft, well, in addition to raining down death (or photography) from above, they’re now going to be dropping cargo as well. With this newly deployed robot helicopter.

Air, Land, Sea, and Air Again.

[ARTICLE VIA WIRED DANGER ROOM]
[MORE INFORMATIVE STUFF FROM THE NY BOOK REVIEW]

BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS POST:
“Wired for War”
by P.W. Singer
Support the site – buy at Anthrobotic’s Amazon Affiliate store!

Posted by Reno Tibke at 1:26 PM
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