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Lifelike Android By Boston Dynamics, Visions Of The Future
BranniganSepp
Swiss Burrito EnthusiastPSN: ExMaloBonumRegistered User regular
Swiss Burrito EnthusiastPSN: ExMaloBonumRegistered User regular
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVlhMGQgDkY&feature=youtu.beIs it just me, or is this humanoid robot, due to its lifelike movements, beginning to seem like an actual lifeform?
Is this coming to grips with its environments, the forces of gravity, momentum, and whatnot - its struggle for equilibrium - in some minor way already giving it a life of its own? Is what I'm looking at here not like seeing the most basic cognitive activity in our own brains? The one that governs involuntary things like heartbeat and breath and equilibrium? Seeing it struggle is almost enough to attribute life to this machination. Enough so to make me feel for it, when that bearded dude goes and harasses it with a stick.
I can't wait for androids to take over our place in all of industry, so that I can languish by the poolside, sipping on fruit smoothies made by sentient shapely blenders clad in skimpy bikinis, made with fruit grown by robot farmers in khaki shirts and overall pants chewing on tobacco, delivered by robot truckers finding sexual relief and companionship in the arms of robot lot lizards at robot truckstops. And so forth.
To become industrially obsolete. There isn't a more human pursuit than that. Thank you Boston Dynamics, for soon you'll put an end to Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times, the nightmare we find ourselves trapped in. I think with my new found economic freedom, I might become an old school cobbler, just for fuck's sake - literally. Everybody loves a good shoe.
BranniganSepp on
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Also fuck yee robits.
Because he's first up when the robot revolt begins.
Hello.
Or you'll starve to death in the streets as society refuses to acknowledge that economies based on the scarcity of human labor are no longer tenable and an increasingly larger proportion of society is converted into a disenfranchised underclass that occasionally gets massacred by drones when they attempt to rise up
http://www.audioentropy.com/
http://www.audioentropy.com/
I guess what country/culture one comes from really colors one's perspective. Most European countries will probably just tax the shit out of robot labor, and provide an unconditional basic income to its citizens.
It's not like providing an unconditional basic icome is politically feasible right now, unless my compatriots suprise me in the upcoming election about replacing all state welfare by an unconditional basic income, but given a much higher percentage of automated labor, and much fewer overall full-time jobs? A very likely scenario for the relatively near future? It certainly will be possible. Given such circumstances, unconditional basic income will definitely pass the direct election stage in Switzerland. Direct (pure) democracy certainly has its upsides. Actually, given a decent average education of the overall populus, it's got tons of upsides. That said, the Swiss people have failed to legalize cannabis three times already. Go figure.
Old outdated ideas die hard. Often, they literally need killing. Unless of course, one has the patience and time to wait until they die out on their own time.
To be fair, that was for a short range depth sensor for sub-mm applications. There's plenty of longer range ones that run just fine off Linux. As does atlas.
Basically if we accidentally dystopia, blame Linus torvald.
I got news for you, we are pretty much there...
-NSFW youtube video-
Just needs some responsive-to-tactile-inputs android innards, some body-warmth-simulating heating elements, automatic-lubrication systems, and you'd be good to go. Just pray the battery doesn't blow up while you're "plugged" in.
Also - if that thing just showed up in the mail, I'd definitely have my way with it.
Are you sure about that?
Four legs are better than two.
Six legs are even better.
Eight-legged spider robots that can think and plan is basically the ideal, is what I'm saying.
I can give you a lot of answers, but the short version is you're right, the rationale is far more psychological than practical, but the things we learn just by trying to do the bipedal stuff are invaluable.
Well, there are some benefits to walking upright for biological creatures. Energy efficiency possibly, freedom to use your hands enabling tool use, being able to see things further away with less obstructions.
Robots aren't subject to the same sort of limitations, so you could just engineer it more arms and a camera on a stick. But yeah, that freaks people out.
That thread was hilarious.
Robots are reaching jellyfish level. They can generally interact with the environment, sort of. They still have a very difficult time learning things, or doing anything except highly specialized tasks. I think our robotic replacement is still a long way off.
but they're listening to every word I say
but
fuck all the robots
if they give consent
can robots give consent yet??
steam | xbox live: IGNORANT HARLOT | psn: MadRoll | nintendo network: spinach
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Considering they can't have what could properly be considered a thought...
Also, wouldn't you feel a little weird about having manufactured something that consents. You've literally manufactured consent then. If you create a thing that wants something to happen to it, and then you do that thing, can it really be said to have consented? It had no other option, you made it that way.
Or does this imply that robots have parents, and as long as you don't bang your own robots then you are fine.
Strange thoughts...
but they're listening to every word I say
It's the future man. Aliens and robots. Get on board!
Hasn't mankind always looked up to the stars, dreamt of the future, and thought... "I'd hit it".
but they're listening to every word I say
I mean look at me 8-)
hell no!
edit: well actually sort of yes, sometimes, but also no. There are bipedal configurations which led themselves to relatively efficient energy cycling, but they tend to be strongly linked to physical characteristics humans don't have (the high-weight distribution --> inverted pendulum action on birds, or a similar use of tail weight and balance as a rocking spring in kangaroos and some other marsupials). It would be an incredibly difficult challenge to normalise energy expenditure so it could be compared cross-species, but I'd be surprised if there was an inherent advantage overall. Certainly the human configuration is sub-optimal, although we have also evolved characteristics that offset what would otherwise be an extraordinarily tiring raw balance algorithm. But there's a reason we don't sleep on our feet.
Equally viable options for part-time quadrupeds, especially ones without the limitations of evolved spines
Ok, so the longer answer for why engineer bipeds is entirely dependent on purpose. There is a comfort argument to using bipeds in close proximity to humans, but realistically that's an excessively expensive option that violates the 1:many principle of high-cost technological development. There are strong entertainment reasons to develop bipeds, however the only reason to use bipedal war-bots is precisely in order to freak people out. (The DARPA challenge prioritises 'rescue'-type scenarios, but note that the best performing robots from these have to-date always been part-time bipeds, which are physically more stable).
no comment :winky:
See, you say hell no, but there is some evidence that upright walkers are more energy efficient than knuckle walkers. Refer to the article below.
http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070716/full/news070716-2.html
I have no idea if such a concept would apply to a robot, as robots are powered in a vastly different manner than biological creatures. But it is a widely accepted as a possible reason for why it evolved.
but they're listening to every word I say
Self driving cars are pretty much here and work
So that right there knocks out all trucking and taxi jobs
Make a self driving car small and stick a forklift on it and goodbye warehouse and dockworker type jobs
Construction and mining jobs aren't gonna be far behind
Etc
http://www.audioentropy.com/
That's pretty cool! Mind you all it really shows is that chimps aren't necessarily well adapted to either quad-walking or bipedal walking (they're less good at the latter than us). But thinking about it more, the act of being able to keep half your body still while moving probably does confer an energy saving advantage. I'd say youre likely on to something when it comes to long-distance running, too- it seems like one of our few physical advantages over a lot of the animal kingdom is stamina. I guess I was thinking of stable and slow cases, where we definitely expend more energy staying upright than is really warranted. But for fast continual movement even humans do have an inverted pendulum dynamic so yeah, fair call.
Edit: as to applying to robots, we're kind of in the too-soon-to-tell phase. We don't quite have the technical abilities to mimic a lot of biodynamic phenomena so there's all sorts of power-weight-range limitations to contend with, otoh we're developing new actuation methods incredibly quickly so the best methods from an energy perspective depend a lot on what you start with and what you can afford.
I certainly agree that there is a rapidly approaching labor problem, in that robots are replacing jobs. But I think it will be a slower slide towards a robotic future, than "10 years from now" replacement.
But they still can't do everything, and they still can't replace us in everything. Bender bending Rodriguez isn't happening soon. A more niche replacement will happen. A self driving car. A robot miner. Sure, those things are being done. But a robot won't put down the mining pick and then drive you home in your car.
but they're listening to every word I say
I don't know that that type of versatility is all that necessary though
Like what would be the benefit of a robot that can both drive a car and mine coal
Two separate robots for those functions would probably be easier to build, program, and maintain
http://www.audioentropy.com/
Of course I pulled those specific numbers out of my ass, but I guess the gist of it is about right. I'm sure you get the idea. From a selfish point of view, at least it's a net win for the part of the world I live in.