"Resistance is Futile!"

[rpicardi1]

Like "The Terminator, Rise of the Machines" or the invasion of the Borg in "Star Trek, First Contact," machines may take control of the human race around 2029. Given advances in computer intelligence and nanotechnology, we could start looking more and more like Borgs and become part of the hive under the control of the Queen Bee central computer.

Machines will achieve human-level artificial intelligence by 2029, a leading US inventor has predicted.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7248875.stm

[saxmusickman]

Fat Chance

Totally agree with the 2029 part - post apocolyptic world, filled with the pathetic remnants of human civilization. However, the expected machines are not going to be present. The electro-magnetic pulses from the first nuclear weapons exchanges, probablly within the next four years, will wipe out most electronics and make any artificial intelligence that is currently under development about as useful as dirt.

Machines aren't going to destroy or rule us; we'll have done that long before the T-800's arrive.

[pstraten]

We may well be at the beginning of a new form of humanity. What would you call it--homo cyborgus or homo computeris?

The people volunteering for "implants" is already beginning to seem eerie to me. Won't be long, I think, for the microchips to be connected directly to the brain.

Hell, I already felt like some sort of mech monster being wanded for the plate in my shoulder coming home from Lindbergh Field...

[Paul1953]

First, they made body piercing "acceptable". The next round starts as "fashion accessories"

[rdamurphy]

Hey, it might not be all bad!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21271545/wid/11915829

Robert

[muskokaandtahoe]

Japan has done a number of very interesting animation videos on the issues surround man:machine interfaces. Perhaps the best known is the Ghost in the Shell series (from which the US movie series The Matrix was derrived).

GITS, as it's known, is set in a society where "cyber-brains" are a routine implant and mechanical body part replacement a necessary physical attribute to the military, police, and on occasion, criminals. Cyborgs - the man/machine blend -- are the norm. Androids -- machines that resemble living things -- are common but as the complexity rises of whatever the android is representing, increaing lacking in complete sophistication.

There are many aspects of the series that are interesting some of which are germain to this thread. Consider a central premise of the series: "offline" storage of your memories. Does a full backup constitute replicating your "ghost" (soul)? Or is the ghost something a bit different? What happens when your memories are hacked? How about just your eyes? Are you then responsible to any actions that follow? Far fetched? Sure. But maybe not that far.

Right now... when do we recognize we have cyborgs among us? What about people w/hip replacements? Do Insulin pumps make a cyborg? How about artifical hearts? Some combination of the above or will it take something else? IMO we've already crossed the line.

Androids are clearly just a machine and machines are owned property. But with sophisticated programming it's not far fetched to consider an advanced android pet like a dog. Or something completely different, say a small dinosaur. 10, 20, 30 years down the road of hardware and software advances, perhaps such products will reach the sophistication of small child and marketed as a "pet" for the lonely adult. Who knows what the porn industry will want to do (e.g., these are the themes in GITS: Innocence).

Will we be making androids for military purposes and what happens when they conclude they don't want to die (e.g., the theme of Blade Runner)? What's their legal status when their software can make conclusions like that?

How much cybernetic change upon a human will it take before that "person" is really an android? Does that change their legal status?

There are many, many interesting questions along this path.

[rgarber]

There was something I watched a couple of months back, and it's all sketchy to me now, where this company has made these exoskeleton type things where a guy climbs into it and the person can lift and move heavy objects easily. Something like those diggers you see the humans use in Matrix (the last one of the series). Pretty cool stuff.

[chucksc]

At least Robots won't get headaches! lol!

[rgarber]

I wonder if a robot can be taught to use the route editor...

[pstraten]

Chuck,

You mean an end to "not tonight, dear, I have a headache"? What a brave new world! But I might need a new kind of implant myself. Not that I consider myself an old "softie..."

[saxmusickman]

Aliens

There was something I watched a couple of months back, and it's all sketchy to me now, where this company has made these exoskeleton type things where a guy climbs into it and the person can lift and move heavy objects easily. Something like those diggers you see the humans use in Matrix (the last one of the series). Pretty cool stuff.

Funny you should mention that. In 1986 when the movie ALIENS came out, Ripley battled the Alien Queen in an exoskeletal power loader; basically a wearable forklift. It was just a movie prop, but in real life, Caterpillar Corporation got several calls from companies that were interested in buying the loader seen in the movie!

[sfrr]

Why not 2028? or 2030? =P

[van2001ko]

Why not 2028? or 2030? =P

2029 is a year from The Terminator. That's where they get that number from. One of the my all time favorite movies. Speaking of which, I've just got finished watching "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

[rdamurphy]

Maybe it's time to revisit:

Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics"

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Robert

[Paul1953]

Idealistically, that's fine, unfortunately Asimov was writing fiction.