Robot children

Have you seen the sci-fi film Eva? Well, the idea of an adopted robot child is not so far-fetched as they are already under development.

Why commit yourself to 30 years of responsibility when you can enjoy the toddler years, again and again... but switch your child off when you want a good night's sleep?

Here are 3 videos of baby robots. You only need to see the first couple of minutes of each to get the idea.

• QRIO interacting with human toddlers  watch the last part, where they hug and tuck in their new friend
• CB2 used to model child development  notice that the child feels and reacts to touch as a human would
• iCub learning as a child  you can see how it 'learns' to interact within its own environment

Would you have a baby robot in your home - as company or as a playmate? Will children of the future interact with computer friends?

The future

Here are some predictions for the future. [This is the 42 min video we saw in class.] 
These predictions date from three years ago so some are already 'coming in'.
To find out more about technology that already exists, look here. [This is the 2 min clip that some groups watched.]


What are your predictions for the future?
[Helpful vocab here.]


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? ethical?

There are other examples of robot technology successfully being used on or in humans here. In this case, a woman is cured of long-term depression at the touch of a button.

Soul Surfer

Bethany Hamilton is a true example of overcoming. 


This young inspirational girl promised herself to not give up her surfer career for anything in the world.
When she was 13 years old , this young surfer, suffered a shark attack while she was surfing, causing her a fateful disgrace, the loss of the left arm.
However her desire, determination and spirit  granted her the opportunity to follow her dream, surfing.

What do you think about this fascinating example of overcoming? Does it inspire you to realize your goals no matter how far awaythey are?

more information

SUPERNENAS HIP-HOP

Hip-hop is a very well known type of dance nowadays. It started in the 1970s in the Bronx, in New York City. There are some people who still believe that only black people can dance it and that's not true any more. In Spain there are many national competitions where you can sign up to and participate, though there may be some semi-finals first.

The Supernenas are 10 girls from Sant Adrià del Besós who train during all the year to achieve a final choreography. During the past years, they have won all of the competitions in Spain and the last two years they went to America to try and win the World Championship. In their surprise, this summer in Las Vegas they were thirds! When I first say them dance in Sant Cugat in may, I was amazed as how they all moved together, at the same time, and the intensity of every movement they made. It was...WOW!

So after watching this video, would you say there's a lot of work behind each performance? Or is it easy and simple to achieve such an incredible result?

Reality vs Plastic

We are surrounded by photoshop, and that can lead to several problems for teenagers, including eating disorders.

Dove is trying to make people realize that the beauty standards today are artificial and unrealistic, and the average woman has no chance of meeting them. If you criticize the model because she doesn't fit the artificial, unrealistic standards, you are missing the point. So yes, unfortunately, that’s how beauty industry works. At the start of the video we can see a beautiful woman. After the photoshop and the editing, we can see a pathetic plastic girl.

What do you think about our plastic world?

Andrea Díaz-Varela Vargas

addicted to facebook?

Recently, social networks have become extremely popular. People, especially teenagers, waste a huge amount of time looking at insignificant photos of people at Facebook, or just chatting to friends who they see every day. Is it normal to see this as something quotidian?

In cities, nearly everyone, except very young and old people have Facebook. Some of them just use it to keep in contact with far away friends, or just to keep up with what some members of the family are up to. But there is a problem: a part of Facebook users are becoming addict until the point of affecting school grades and social life in a negative way, without including sleepless nights and people just ‘talking’ to each other by facebook chat. Is this worth it? Is it better than rather talking with your friends somewhere?

Here are some real opinions from some students:

´´ I’ve outsourced my social life exclusively to Facebook Inc. Hence, it doesn’t really matter if I spend a lot of time on Facebook, because it substitutes for face time as well and has made my life more organized and efficient.``

´´ I think that there are three kinds of Facebook users. One the kind that is just keeping in touch with long distance friends. Two the older relative just trying to keep up with their niece. And three the kind that gets all dressed up to just take a Facebook photo. Personally I don’t want to take the chance that I’ll end up a number three and frankly I find the risk too much and the satisfaction that I would get out of it to low.``

´´ well i actually have stopped using Facebook by changing my password, but now i just find other ways to distract myself. ``

´´It’s horrible, but so hard to stop! I know how much time it takes up, but when I get sick of homework or something, it’s too easy to just click, click, log in. And then you’re stuck mindlessly on it, and don’t realize the time passing… it really is ‘addicting,’ but I’m not sure if it’s really an addiction. Distracting, for sure though. But I don’t want to deactivate mine, mostly out of this weird fear of missing something happening. Or if someone puts up bad pictures of me. Which is stupid, because I don’t party hard or anything. I wish Facebook had a time limit that one could set, so I could say, ‘okay, today I’m only going to go on for 35 minutes total,’ and then could actually adhere to it``

7 Billion: How Did We Get So Big So Fast?

In 200 years population grew from 1 bllion to 7 billion. Will we keep growing like this?

Can the world hold that many people? On what does it depend?

True or False?

Many newspapers and the player himself, Cristiano Ronaldo, are claiming that there's a global campaign against him.

Are these statements the result of fatigue due to this campaign or is it all just imagination?

   

• Do you think he's justified to say this? 
• Do you think it's true that people are jealous of him?

Christmas or commercial?

A few days ago to my house arrived the new magazine of games and toys of the Corte Ingles, my brother already has a huge list of all the things he wants.

Yes Christmas advertisement have begun and there is till left more than one month for Christmas. The big brands have begun with their advertisemenst making discounts, attracting people to buy. When did we change the Christmas spirit? Where is it?

It is true that everybody loves getting presents but we don’t have to forget that Christmas it’s a time for being with the family a time where we have to behave perfectly.

Why are we losing the Christmas spirit? Is Christmas spirit going to disappear and it is just going to be totally commercial? Have you got Christmas spirit?

War Generation

Few days ago Activision Company, has produced the second part of the world famous battle game: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3.

This videogame has a great content of war images which can be very influential for young people, like shooting people, exploding ships or killing terrorists. Also this game imagines the idea of the third world war which is also very influencious.

 Many scientists agree that this type of game can produce an aggressive behavior but separate studies denied it.

So what is your real opinion about this type of games?

Moments

How to define a moment?

Moments. All those instants that pass in front of our eyes constantly, and without us noticing, disappear in time without being given importance. Those moments are the ones that make us be ourselves, that change our lives and make them special.

This video made me realise how moments seem insignificant to us, while they really are the main characters of our daily lives. Have a look.

So, how would you define a moment?   What did the video made you feel?

Ana Las Hayas

What a wave!

Have you seen this video? At least 880,000 other people have (there are various versions on Youtube) in the last three days alone (at time of posting). So maybe you should take a look!

Do you surf? Do you want to after seeing this? What does or would it feel like to ride such a wave?

Is this how things work in China?

I saw this video a few days ago and I couldn’t believe what I was watching.


WARNING: the video is disturbing. If you feel this should not be posted, please email the site administrator Mr L asap. Thanks.

This is the second video I’ve seen related to accidents taking place in China. In another, a young girl is knocked over and ignored by passers-by. Terrifying accidents where someone probably dies and many people standing near them, recognising what has happened, but totally ignoring them.

Is this moral? I mean, if this happened here, everybody would take notice and many people would try to help and help the woman to survive or if she doesn’t at least calling for the ambulance or the police. On the contrary, the Chinese drivers decide to ignore her as if it was something normal and pass just by her side without even stopping and being curious about what had happened.

I cdouldn't understand why they would be like this but I was told that apparently the sanitary system in China is very complicated. If someone decided to help an injured person and take him or her to the hospital they would have to pay for them. So, as not many people have money for that and medicines are so expensive, they prefer to ignore those situations.

I definitely think that this is unacceptable. Such a country, which is growing day-by-day, should not permit these things. The contrast is clear and frightening: one of the richest countries in the world is nurturing one of the poorest societies - a society that can’t take care of others due to an unfair health-care system that cures just those who can pay…

Vandalism or Art?

Do you really think practicing this "city sport" represents a vandalic act? Nowadays the youth usually  spend their time recording road descensions in a very risky way. Do you think they do it to rebel themself and free their acomulated adrenaline or its simply another way of Art expression?



Hugo Cuesta

The big debate...

Well... is he?

Can I have your number?

Alejandra Séculi from Paula’s account

This video is showing us how the way our feelings are expressed has changed so much.

A long time ago boys used to tell girls how much they loved them by a letter or a poem or being sweet with them while expressing their feelings, but now things seem to have changed:

-Why are boys so direct?

-How would you feel if you were the girl in this situation?

-Do you think this is harassing her?

Alejandra Séculi

Bieber believer?

I guess if you are a Bieber believer, you will be certain that a fan's claim to have fathered Justin's baby is all a pack of lies. But could it be possible that this icon of innocence went from "cute and gushy to aggressive" as Californian Mariah Yeater states?

Dressed to look young an innocent for American TV show, The Insider, the 20 year-old claims that she had a brief liason with Bieber four years ago, culminating in 30 seconds of unprotected sex in a backstage toilet.

Was it just a matter of time before the squeaky-clean image of this 'family' pop-star was tarnished by temptation?

If none of this is true, should we or the government act to stop the Mariah Yeater's of this world from stirring up trouble? Or should libel laws be ignored in the name of entertainment?

Natural-born hunter?

'It's primeval, not evil': The brutal civil servant who loves killing and skinning elephants in the wild screams the headline in the Daily Mail, a UK tabloid newspaper. Reported the same day as pile-up on the M5 motorway that killed 7 and injured over 50, is this really news? Are we shocked that people hunt? Does it matter that this man is a civil servant? Does it matter that he claims to have killed over 300 creatures? Is he brutal? Or as he himself states, is hunting natural and are its critics hipocrites who are happy to torture animals for fresh meat at home? Read the article here.

The Killing Game

At the moment, 5 US soldiers are on trial for killing civilians in Afghanistan. Should soldiers be put on trial when at war for their country? 

According to the article, US military training raised the percentage of soldiers shooting to kill from 15% in World War II to 55% in Korean (1950s) and 90% in Vietnam. Does this mean that military training breaks down a natural reluctance to kill other humans?

We all know that atrocities are commited by both sides during war (such as at My Lai, in Vietnam, in which almost 400 villagers were killed). The journalist who wrote the article appears to believe that training the troops to think twice could change this. Do you think that soldiers can be shown how to respect enemy troops and civilians?

Don't sleep with your smart phone nearby

A fellow named Daniel Sieberg was telling me his hard-and-fast rule for getting through the night.

He takes all of his digital devices -- laptops, tablets, cellphones, anything portable that has a screen-- to another room before he turns off the light. 

He has come to terms with the fact that the technological gadgets that have so thoroughly insinuated themselves into his life that they can become addictive.

So, when it's time for slumber, he locks them out. He won't even let his cellphone charge overnight in the bedroom: "If it's there, I would have the temptation to turn it on and check it." We have learned to celebrate, even revere, the wireless gadgets we carry around and the inventors who bring them to us; the response to the death of Steve Jobs this month was emblematic of how important our do-it-all phones, our computers, our tablets and related digital devices have become.

We say that the technology has changed life as we used to know it. But how much is too much?

- Are we over-communicated?

- Do you feel as if somehow you were unable to disconnect completely?

- Do you think that this can be a serious problem for future generations?