University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey recently stated that armed military robots “pose a threat to humanity.” The armed robots that have been fielded so far all have a human controlling the trigger. He thinks that could change. I agree. As AI’s grow in power we will be tempted to take humans out of the […]
What do frogs and teflon have in common besides the frying pan? They’re helping science get a jump on (as it were) resistant antibiotic strains. Research scientists at the University of Michigan have identified antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) on the skin of frogs–but the AMPs that work so well on the skin’s surface have a couple […]
How about an assembly line made out of Lego blocks that build Lego cars? One day, the human civilization will spread out to the stars. Self-replicating Von Neuman robots will scour the universe looking for the basic materials we need to move ever onward — you know, stuff we can make multi-colored interlocking children’s blocks […]
Last month I wrote about UAV’s and their land-based brothers: It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see where this technology is going. UAV’s could end up looking like F-22′s and our infantry could look like this: It’s amazing how similar the real thing is to the prop from Terminator. We’ve already got three […]
I’m guessing it was something kind of like this.
Free Geekery presents the DIY Guide to Becoming a Real Cyborg. It all boils down to 10 easy steps: 1. RFID Implants 2. Watch the Future 3. Become One with Your Computer 4. Leap Tall Buildings in a Single Bound 5. Become a Human Transformer 6. Talk to the Wired Hand 7. Become a Vehicle […]
Some forward-looking musicians take us to a post-Singularity world where the intelligence that dominates is distinctly unfriendly. Pretty funny, though. (Warning, one line is not terribly work or family friendly.) Hat-tip: Ivan Kirgin
Some forward-looking musicians take us to a post-Singularity world where the intelligence that dominates is distinctly unfriendly. Pretty funny, though. (Warning, one line is not terribly work or family friendly.) Hat-tip: Ivan Kirgin
…to really creep me out. Exhibit A, The Toddler-bot: This machine could represent numerous advances in anthropomorphic robotics, but geeze. Apparently this is meant to represent a human toddler. I knew the Japanese weren’t having many kids, but had no idea that Japanese toddlers were this rare. According to Wikipedia, the uncanny valley hypothesis states […]
Don’t try this at home. Unless, of course, you have an industrial robot with a swivel chair mounted on it. I would also recommend a few trial runs with a crash-test dummy to make sure you’ve programmed the thing right. You don’t want to discover your mistake by having Robby pile-drive you headfirst into the […]