Another Step Closer to Living Androids

Innovator · 01-09-2012 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coyote_Seven

To say that such technology will never improve from now until the end of time (or at least until humans go extinct, technological singularities notwithstanding) is a rather bold statement to make. No credible scientist or engineer would tell you that, because they know better than to make such absolute statements with such sweeping judgments. That is, they actually use their brains to reason these things out. I'd like to know what makes her think she's such an absolute authority on the subject to be able to tell us that in no uncertain terms, this is never going to happen. Perhaps she was hit by some divine revelation?

I think she was trying to say that robots will only ever make preprogrammed responses. Which is a fair assumption if thought about in the broader sense, and if you are only looking at what is available commericially currently. But I have more faith in the future, considering much of the stuff we have available now was only science fiction just 20 years ago (some only 10 years ago).

Lothic · 01-09-2012 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Innovator

I think she was trying to say that robots will only ever make preprogrammed responses. Which is a fair assumption if thought about in the broader sense, and if you are only looking at what is available commericially currently. But I have more faith in the future, considering much of the stuff we have available now was only science fiction just 20 years ago (some only 10 years ago).

The problem with clinging to the idea that "robots will only ever be able to make pre-programmed responses" is that robots today are already solving real world problems based dynamic situations that are not strictly scripted for them.

For example the BigDog robot can already self-correct its balance when randomly kicked. It does with with sensors and reactions that more or less work the same way they do in live creatures. The robot is not "pre-programmed" with scripted movements to recover anymore than you or I are pre-programmed to recover from being pushed off-balance by someone else.

There will come a time when artificial devices will be able to perform so many of the same kinds of interactions that we do (both physical and cognitive) that the lines between what is "alive" and what isn't will be blurred beyond recognition. What makes me a "live person" and a robot a "dead thing"? That's easy to determine today in 2012. But in the future that likely won't be so clear.

Perhaps people like GG simply fear what it would mean to have to question things like that, and to be honest that kind of thing is a little scary to think about in general. But I'd prefer to attempt to adapt to what's coming rather than to stubbornly pretend it could never happen in any form or fashion and then be caught off-guard by it.

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Coyote_Seven · 01-09-2012 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Innovator

I think she was trying to say that robots will only ever make preprogrammed responses. Which is a fair assumption if thought about in the broader sense, and if you are only looking at what is available commericially currently. But I have more faith in the future, considering much of the stuff we have available now was only science fiction just 20 years ago (some only 10 years ago).

All lower life forms on this planet also only ever make preprogrammed responses to stimuli. We usually call it instinct. Humans also have this sort of thing, though most people would not use that as an argument against our possessing free will.

What CC is doing is akin to seeing the first single celled creatures to finally develop from the primordial soup and exclaiming that nothing will ever come of that, and that it would never develop any further than that.

Coyote_Seven · 01-09-2012 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lothic

I make no claim to divine knowledge of any kind. All I know is that if she's the one that's been chosen to receive the "official" divine revelation then I fear for the future of all of us.

Well like I implied before, she's employing tautological rhetoric and using circular reasoning in her arguments, which pretty much makes her opinions on the subject rather dismissible. My concern is that her opinion points to a rather dubious way of thinking; a way of thinking that humans have been guilty of throughout history. Up until now, we've only hurt each other that way (because some people insist that only others like themselves are worth considering as persons). But I fear that if things keep going the way they are, it might end up getting a lot worse.