For me, the most interesting and worrying moment is when Kevin Warwick starts to explain his work. Kevin's goal is nothing less than to be the one who ushers in a new age of cyborg humans. He states:"The future I see [as] very rosy if you are a cyborg, or if you are an artificial intelligence machine. If you are a human, well, your time's up."
If he's right, you might want to get on the winning side as soon as possible - why not apply to be his research assistant? You can find out more about him at www.kevinwarwick.com
What makes Kevin special is his degree of personal commitment. In 1998 he started experimenting with a transponder chip (inserted in his forearm) connected to his nervous system. This chip provided a link between his nervous system and other electronic devices. It allowed him to operate doors, lights, heaters and other computers without lifting a finger. He was able to use his hand movements to operate a cyborg hand or (as if he were disabled) a motorised wheelchair.
Obviously this 'connectivity' is limited as it is only one-way. So can you guess what his stage two was? To study the transmission of signals between people. He upgraded his chip and then went ahead and implanted another in his wife - so that they could 'communicate' movement to each other at a distance. And the next step? Obvious, logical and potentially frightening: to progress from movement to the transmissions of thoughts and emotions.
What do you think? Is this research exciting? interesting? irrelevant? scary? worrying? necessary? dangerous?
I do agree with the first part of the video(Cleopatra), as far as i'm concerned, it can't really harm humans, because it is not alive, and it hasn't got intelligence, therefore, it can not evolve and harm you.
ReplyDeleteI am really opposed, and i honestly think that will be a very serious mistake, with the strange and crazy ideas of Dr Kevin Warwick, i mean, it's just stupid, he can't just stick a usb on his head and pretend to control things as if he where a jedy, it's just not possible, mainly because we are not made to do such things.
what happens if one day, he decides to do some weird experiment, and injects human tissue to an active and potentially harmful robot, well, that's it, that means our end, mainly because we are made of bones that can be "easily broken" and a robot with artificial intelligence is made out of a metal skeleton, that can kill a human easily.
Blade runner by Ridley Scott, some chapters of Galactica or even terminator, because if he achieves his strange goals,
May god have mercy on us...
Sorry, between "easily. and blade runner", should be:
ReplyDelete"I recommend him to watch:"
This video is very interesting as i 2009 a film was made called "Los sustitutos" which nearly all the people in the world had there own robot and the persone stayed at home plugged literaly to a machine and via mental they controlled there robot which was quiet the same as they were, but much more young, as they were robots they could do whatever they wanted to. ( I do recomend see this film).
ReplyDeleteDr Kevin Warwick said, "if you are a human, your time is up" meaning that in a near future maybe everybody will have part of the body robotic having extra memory and more de our actual 5 senses as if humans will evolve because of machines.
Kylia Pattje
The first part of the video shows a robot which is not really harmful and dangerous for humans and which it only does what he has been required to do.In addition,it advises when somebody leaves the house,it wakes up the people who live in the house,etc..which make this robot seems very interesant but as well very expensive.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand,the second type of robots that appears in the video is completely diferent and weird.Moreover I believe that his ideas could cause problems to humans as Suri said might kill them.I found amazing and unique what he did with that USB attached to his head and with the idea to control objects.It's just absurd and stupid.
Jordi Soldevila
First of all i have to say that i really enjoy these futuristic videos that talk about all the new technologies that are being developed. I find it extremely interesting and useful to be updated on all the things that are happening and that might become part of our lives any time soon.
ReplyDeleteTo start with, the virtual house runner that the video talks about is really not much of an invention as the idea has been in the minds of loads of humans for years now. However, it still is an achievement for its originator as even though the idea has been around, no one has ever been able to actually bring it to life. Also ,even though this technology would probably improve our overall quality of life, it has a negative side to it as it would be very expensive and only the wealthiest minority would be able to afford these kind of systems.
Regarding the other developments mentioned in the video, i do think they would be interesting and a big step for our society but i find they could evolve to become a threat to us, humans. According to what the broadcast says, scientists are looking forward to creating machines that are so intelligent and powerful that they would be able to do a lot more things than us and to control themselves. I see this as a threat to our society because if we create objects that are stronger and that don't need us in order to act or make decisions, they will soon want to do what they please leading to wanting to get rid of us. What would we do if we suddenly had these machines living in between us and that wanted to destroy us?
Finally, i think technology has an important negative effect on us as it catches a lot of our attention making us waste a lot of time with it. Also, new technologies or games that have been and are being developed are aimed for individual use for which it's making us do a lot more stuff on our own, tearing out society apart.
I think the first robot(Cleopatra) is really cool and will make us have more security at home. But when the video continues this is really shocking.
ReplyDeleteWe are creating machines that are more intelligent than humans.
This will bring destruction to the world, the robots will controls us and will finally kill the human species. I am personally really worried, I think we should create robots like Cleopatra which help the world in a lot aspects but not robots that will do all our work.
Jordi Ferrer Raventós
Well, this video is even more frightening! I have to admit that the intelligent house is cool as it can clean for itself and do many other functions that will help humans to have more time to work or do other things like sport and relax. But as the video says, the technology controlling the house is not able to control absolutely everything and I think that's relieving as we may have a certain control over machines!
ReplyDeleteHowever, as far as the second part of the video is concerned, I have my hairs standing on end! Kevin Warwick's predictions for the future are absolutely terrifyning for humans. He says robots will become more intelligent than us and that we will have to join them if we don't want to be destroyed as they can become our enemy, and due to the fact that they are superior, they will have the power to overcome us. We've always been the only ones on earth and we have been always superior to all the other species, so having to accept that in the future we may have to be slaves of robots takes you aback.
However, I hope that humans will evolve enough to maintain our first place in this technological race. I can't imagine a future in which humans follow the orders of superior robots!
Without any doubt, technology would progress at the point that in the future we will have robotic societies, so robots will dominate humans.
ReplyDeleteIn the future robots would be so developed that they would do everything, so humans may disappear in the future. In this video, the most impressive thing for me is the house that cleans itself. However, I think that in the future, this type of inventions would appear and would produce the extinction of humanity, so, we would like that technology could dominate us? The answer is no, because then what would happen? Kevin Warwick, in the video he states "The future I see [as] very rosy if you are a cyborg, or if you are an artificial intelligence machine. If you are a human, well, your time's up." I think completely the same as he thinks because is the most logical thing, that robots will dominate humans. In the future, technology would be so powerful that in some time, I think, the world would end because if humans dissapear, the world dissapears.
Finally, technology is progressing very quicly and in the future technology (specially robots) will dominate humans and to an extreme, also, robots would dominate the worls snd produce the exticntion of humanity.
Santi NG
Scary is the first word that just came out of my mouth after watching this video. Is unbelievable how technology is improving so fast, everyday we are moving a step up towards our new world controlled by technology. And yes I have to admit that is fascinating what we are capable of doing with the technology but at the same time is just so frightening. I remember when I first watched this video at school what made me stop and think about our world being controlled by technology was, when Brian was telling us about how he doesn’t have to remember to go and turn the lights out of his child’s room and how he doesn’t even have to say good night to him anymore just because there’s a computer which is programmed to do this. And this made me realise what could we end up being in the future.
ReplyDeleteAs Kevin said; “If we have machines more intelligent than we are, they will decide what they want to do”. By the end machines will control us and we won’t have the power to stop it, just because they are more intelligent than us and they will beat us. “There’s no protection for something is more intelligent that you are”. We won’t have the power to get to their level of intelligence and so the answer is to be one of them. “If you can’t beat them, join them”, what Kevin said. This is even more frightening, humans being robots, machines. The world will completely change and so we. Technology will be the answer of everything.
I found all this really interesting, as we are part of it but at the same time horrifying. The world is change and so are we, because if we don’t “change” then we will disappear as our intelligence will not be able to cope with the world.
I agree with Jordi Ferrer in the sense that 'Cleopatra' looks quite cool, but I think all or at least a great part of this technologic/technical innovatios are simply not needed.
ReplyDeleteWe already live in a society surrounded by machines and technology and it's actually working quite well, so my question is, why and what for do we need more?
This things seen in the videos are actually frightening and scary, lots of things that Kevin Warwick says make us think he's mad but what he says is true in a way.
Machines could end up controlling us, if they are more intelligent than us, therefore I think this technological 'progress' should stop at some point.
Mario Romeo
To start with, I must say that everything related with robots gives me a creepy feeling. It's something which I've always been afraid of. I know it sounds interesting and cool to imagine having a machine that looks like a human (in a way) that does all the things, we humans, can't be bothered to do. It's amazing to think how we are creating machines that are far more intelligent than us, and expect that they will simply take orders from us. What I say, might sound over the top, but still it's something which I can't help feeling.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm from a generation that are used to new tecnologies coming out everyday, and we practically have lived always with computers, robots are still somthing which boggles my mind. Maybe it's like someone from our parent's generation, which still find hard to use a computer, but instead of a computer, I can’t understand robots.
I can't help but think about when the Europeans conquered America. How they thought they were more intelligent and had better tecnologies that they were able to conquer them, and use them as slaves. I just picture this with humans and robots. We think we will be able to use them as "slaves", but honestly, I don't understand how. In my opinion they will take control over us, and therefore, use humans as their "slaves".
Jennifer Arnau Cattanach
Firstly, I agree with the system of cleopatra and I support it. Technology will evolve, we can´t stop that, what's more every time it's evolving quicker. Cleopatra is a good example of it, a very complex system that will installed in houses in the near furture.
ReplyDeleteThe second part of the video (for me the most interesting but as well frightening part) is very difficult to analyse. The main concern is that artificial inteligence could improve by its own (like in the book I,robot by Isaac Asimov). Nevertheless there is a fascinating future in technology with robots and artificial inteligence.
In conclusion I think we should carry on evolving and doing our best to improve technology and we souldn't be very concerned about it.
LLUÍS CAÑADELL I ESTRAGUÉS
In my opinion it is obvioulsy frightening and surprising. I mean, Kevin started this in 1998 and society still sees all these new projects as a future happening, we are not aware of new technological projects and systems that will change our way of living. It is here, what seemed far away yesterday is now knocking on our door and it's catching us atonished. We should be shocked, right?
ReplyDeleteIt is an incredible and serious issue. We must start to get information and really put some interest, as it is our future and we must be able to know about it. If this idea isn't put forward I can imagine us being controlled by technology because we don't know about it and we'll let ourselves lead by it, and that is really scary.
In my opinion the videos of advanced technologies are really interesting and shed some fascinating light about the future to come. These new technologies will surely have a very big impact in our lives and will help us improve our quality of life. By that I mean to say that the house will be controlled with our hand movements and probably as in the video "Cleopatra" it will be very useful for our lives. I think Cleopatra will play a very important part in our lives. I also think that it is very important that new technologies are developed so that we can improve in medicine, scientific research and other essential aspects of our lives.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand I think Warwick's idea of the robots is really crazy. I think having robots is good although having them develop emotions and being more intelligent than their owners can be really dangerous. As we can see in movies, robots can dominate humans if we make them more intelligent than us and as Warwick says "if you are a human, your time is up!". I find this really threatening and I hope that governments make laws to avoid robots taking control of this world.
I believe mankind will always have control over machines, computers and robots. Our intelligence and our inventions must not become a tool against ourselves, turning men into slaves of machines. The danger is there, but I am optimistic this will never happen.
Sonia Hermosilla Díaz
Although technology is increasing exponentialy and as also artificial inteligence, as we have seen in class the video about Polyworld, robots will never control humans.
ReplyDeleteI believe that independently that IA can evolve by itself, robots will still obey humans as they are ruled by the three laws of robotics:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through passivity, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to 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.
So, the only thing that robotics can do is make our lifes easier, and more comfortable.
In addition, Warwicks idea of becoming a robot is mad, but it can have great benefits, for example, if you have just had an accident and you have lost your leg or arm, you can implant a robotic extremity and control it with your mind (as we control our own extremities, se send a signal and they obey).
I found really scary the fact that in the future we will be controlled by technology. What scares me most is that this was started in 1998 and so this should be finished by now.
ReplyDeleteKevin points out humans will no longer be useful because there will be robots with artificial intelligence which will do everything for us. This part is the most scary part of the video. Just thinking about robots having controll over us and being the main source of society gives me goosebumps...
To end, I would like to point out that I extremely disagree with him when he says human should become robots on the future. Even though, I think it's quite impossible for this to come true.
This video is really amazing. I can't believe us human beings, being capable of inventing and innovating such inventions as the video showed us.Our generation is due to see most of this experiments come to life and becoming part of our daily life. We are about to start a completely new life, but are we prepared? Is this going to affect us in some aspects?
ReplyDeleteI was really surprised when this video showed how can a computer, in this case called "CLEOPATRA", could manage maintaining a house and reminding their inhabitants such things as birthdays, tasks ...
In my opinion I really hate some computer telling me what to do, although the house does plenty of things that you can save up. This house will be for humans a step back. If we live in this houses on the future we are on the point of becoming lazy people without nothing to do. We will be bound to stay at home all day long. I think it is healthy to walk around your house and doing some tasks that can be spreaded within the family members. In addition I would like to complain about the monotonous voice CLEOPATRA has, I would be likely to get mad in few days.
What most amused me from this video was the scientist who wanted our brains to be better. This scientist is studying the sinapsis of neurons. He wants and is carrying well enough that our brain can achieve more imagination and more speed in our thinking. Firstly it would be marvellous in maths exams to think rapidly as I never have time to finiosh them. And secondly it would be perfect for novel writers to have more imagination or for cinema directors aswell. We could see amazing films from incredible novels!
All of this can be spectacular in the future, IF WE MANAGE TO CONTROLL IT...
I've always tried to distinguish and clearly difference the idea between humanoid and robot. People, when talking about robots, strictly think about a world in which machines attack humans with the aim of controlling or even destroying them - a bit like Terminator Movies.
ReplyDeleteSo far we have seen how many scientist have developed machines capable of doing hard work, and much more effectively than a human does. Those machines, which work on there own and now exactly what to do, are robots. Personally I support the idea that specially powerful companies should take part in this new technology age and take in this new robots designed to make a production line more dynamic. I also agree with having some type of domestic machinery which would help the on doing home tasks, such as cleaning, cooking, folding clothes, making beds, even shopping. Moreover, if we have got the enough technology and brain to invent those sort of things, we are also capable of making sure that any small problem does not break down the whole operating system.
On the other hand, artificial intelligence has developed quite quickly on the las few years, which has surprised me a lot. Scientists and experts are creating identical robots to a human being that by means of computing imitates the movements of a person. However, even though the project seems fascinating and worth making more, you can clearly see what is a humanoid and what is not. The great mystery is that if those experts in artificial intelligence are capable of making a machine that can evolve and build up its own feelings. It is really scary, but why should this robots turn up attacking us? Couldn't they just be friendship and helpful?
In conclusion, if we are prepared for doing such a thing, of creating a humanoid who can think, react and behave in some way due to its feelings, we should be prepared beforehand to disconnect it, or to make sure that it doesn't takes on for more.
Do you imagine the potential humans would have if this machines could really think and judge by themselves...They would not die ever...