ailady


The words below are from Dr. Maja Materic, computer scientist studying artificial intelligence, and Director of the Robotics Laboratories at the University of Southern California, quoted from the overly-styled millenial documentary Me and Isaac Newton by Michael Apten. Above images are stills from the film, depicting Materic, her child, and some of her robots.
There's always this worry on the part of some people that robots will take over the world. But robots will always be completely different from people because they've evolved in a completely different context. There's really no comparison. [...] We'll just have to make sure, as they become more complex, that we understand them well enough. The same way we have to understand any creatures. Nothing else is controllable today, not just robotics. Animals aren't controllable and yet we are not always threatened by their presence.

- sally mckay 3-25-2004 8:00 am

Another notable tidbit I learned from this film is that Steven Pinker has remarkably nice legs.
- sally mckay 3-25-2004 8:19 am


I went to school with this guy named Mark Tilden, he pioneered the building of, and term "Beam Robotics". An acronym for (Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics, and Mechanics), they are "analog" robots that use "a paradigm of minimalist electronics to construct mechanical "lifeforms" that usually parallel a natural counterpart."
Some pictures here:
- ric (guest) 3-26-2004 3:01 am


Huh, the URL didn't work.
http://www.beam-online.com/Robots/Galleria_other/tilden.html
- ric (guest) 3-26-2004 3:02 am


Thanks for the link, Ric. The enlargements of those thumbnails are pretty nice looking, tho I find myself underwhelmed by the insect-like appearance of the bots themselves. Love that sci-fi reflecty stuff they're sitting on, which probably makes me an art nerd. I also like the terminology: miniballs, solar walkers, symets, and photovores.
- sally mckay 3-26-2004 8:59 am


I don't know... I'm equally creeped out by cute robots and cute babies. what does that mean? I just don't like things with a blank expression... don't know what they're gonna do or what they're thinking... like "hmmm, brains..yummy" or something errie like that.
- bunnie 3-30-2004 11:34 pm


I agree. robots might grow up an take over the planet. babies definitely will.
- sally mckay 4-30-2004 11:58 pm





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