I have never really given much of a thought about robots in the future. Of course our life is already full of modern equipment that we cannot imagine living without. However, does this technology include intelligent robots and cyborgs? I was convinced our technology has not reached that point yet, but after reading articles about a toddler humanoid (www.physorg.com, www.newscientist.com), I am very much convinced that the possibility of my world changing into a scene from a science fiction movie is actually realistic.
The Toddler Robot named iCub is designed to think for itself and is fully capable of imitating the actions and learning abilities of a three year old child with a toddler-sized brain. The main goal, according to the scientists, is to understand more about how humans learn, think, and cooperate with each other. Even though this project was designed with practical applications in mind, such as helping hospital patients to recover or cleaning the house, could something go wrong? The fact that scientists are expecting the robot to make its own decisions is rather alarming.
Is this just an innocent way of pushing our everday boundaries further or could this cute robot begin an era of intelligent robots who could eventually destroy us?
I think you would enjoy Bryan Alexander's blog, Infocult, particularly his category of Gothic as Everyday Life: http://infocult.typepad.com/infocult/gothic_as_everyday_life/
ReplyDeleteProbably both, Marketa: innocent exploration, and fearsome evil. Robots seem to be two-faced.
ReplyDeleteto Ed Webb: I found that link very interesting, I will have to make time to read it through.
ReplyDeleteto Bryan: I guess you are right, we just have to wait what the future brings.