April 25, 2008

Robotics

Lee Gutkind came to campus last night to give a talk. He is a well-known creative non-fiction author. He read a bit from his book, "Almost Human: Making Robots Think." He said quote, "The book is about one triumph and 55,000 disappointments." Well, if that doesn't make you want to read it...

RobotBut really, his stories were pretty interesting. I think robots are taking over the world. Or at least Lee thinks so. Nerds are now making robots to be autonomous thinkers. They can play soccer. They can take care of you in old age. They can give you hugs.

No really. You can buy yourself a hug robot with velour arms. It will take care of your "spirit."

Excerpt from Lee Gutkind's book:

Dozens of cavorting mechanical creatures, along with tangles of wire, tools, and computer innards are scattered haphazardly. All of these zipping and zooming gizmos are controlled by disheveled young men sitting on the floor, folding chairs, or tool cases, or huddled over laptops squinting into displays with manic intensity.
I can definitely picture that.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous8:11 PM

    oh dear...the sad thing is, i can picture it too...it makes me sad that the future of the world probably lies in the hands of people like that...

    ReplyDelete