What's the next big thing beyond computers? Robots? When and how?

[breakingcontact]

Are the robots about to rise? Google's new director of engineering thinks so? | Technology | The Observer

 

[TXARGUY]

Time machines!

Although I am very aware that the breakthrough isn't going to come from me because of course I would already know if it did.

Disappointing.

 

[no2gates]

Just need to overcome that nasty problem of exceeding the speed of light. Damn laws of physics!

Time machines!

Although I am very aware that the breakthrough isn't going to come from me because of course I would already know if it did.

Disappointing.

 

[TXARGUY]

Just need to overcome that nasty problem of exceeding the speed of light. Damn laws of physics!

If we could suspend the laws of physics for one day we could be Multi billionaires.

I'd spend the time smashing atoms to create tons of gold and palladium and you could take the time machine back when land was being given away for pennies and acquire all the land in the Permian Basin and Bakin areas.

Then once the suspension window was closed we could split the spoils.

 

[no2gates]

Or, just go back in time and buy winning lotto tickets in multiple states.

 

[TXARGUY]

Or, just go back in time and buy winning lotto tickets in multiple states.

I had considered that but with the suspension window at 24 hrs I think possible $/hr equation makes my plan far exceed Lottary winnings. Even numerous winnings wouldn't get much over only a few billion.

 

[HillRider]

Kurzweil is a psychopath who wants to live forever.

Kurzweil's job description consists of a one-line brief. "I don't have a 20-page packet of instructions," he says. "I have a one-sentence spec. Which is to help bring natural language understanding to Google. And how they do that is up to me."Language, he believes, is the key to everything. "And my project is ultimately to base search on really understanding what the language means. When you write an article you're not creating an interesting collection of words. You have something to say and Google is devoted to intelligently organising and processing the world's information. The message in your article is information, and the computers are not picking up on that. So we would like to actually have the computers read. We want them to read everything on the web and every page of every book, then be able to engage an intelligent dialogue with the user to be able to answer their questions." Google will know the answer to your question before you have asked it, he says. It will have read every email you've ever written, every document, every idle thought you've ever tapped into a search-engine box. It will know you better than your intimate partner does. Better, perhaps, than even yourself.

Sometimes Google pulls back the curtains and shows what they are truly up to, and it is nothing less than control over our thoughts and minds.

I don't think for the sake of this Republic we can allow any corporate entity attain this level of power.

Read Marshal McLuhan and you will find that you know very little about the nature of technology.

Sometimes I wish I were Amish.

 

[TXARGUY]

Google and the Obama administration are arm in arm.

The Amish won't be tolerated much longer. How do I know? They are religious and don't cotton to the gay community.

On a side note who in the Hell would want to live forever? The longer I live the less I recognize this world.

 

[no2gates]

What about gay Amish Robots?

Google and the Obama administration are arm in arm.

The Amish won't be tolerated much longer. How do I know? They are religious and don't cotton to the gay community.

On a side note who in the Hell would want to live forever? The longer I live the less I recognize this world.

 

[TXARGUY]

What about gay Amish Robots?

Look at you! Solving the social issues of tomorrow, today.

Are you sure you don't already have a time machine?

 

[HillRider]

And I'm not even saying that I believe Kurzweil or Google can succeed in their quest for AI. I don't believe it is possible and it rests on their faulty view that our intelligence and minds can essentially be simulated by a computer.

What is scary is that they are openly declaring that they want to collect all our data and know everything about us, to know our very thoughts. Knowing what the NSA is up to and what they have access to, makes this a very scary proposition.

 

[TXARGUY]

And I'm not even saying that I believe Kurzweil or Google can succeed in their quest for AI. I don't believe it is possible and it rests on their faulty view that our intelligence and minds can essentially be simulated by a computer.

What is scary is that they are openly declaring that they want to collect all our data and know everything about us, to know our very thoughts. Knowing what the NSA is up to and what they have access to, makes this a very scary proposition.

Don't be so sure. I recently watched a PBS documentary where they were controlling robotic and remote objects by reading the electrical impulses of a test subjects brain.

They were also able to create text using the same method.

While this sort of cutting edge technology could lead to huge leaps in fields such as prosthetics and neuroscience the social implications of it being used on a large (population wide) scale are more than scary.

Of course there were those who believed that cameras would capture their souls. There were also those, some scientists included, who believed that the human body could not withstand speeds over 20mph.

Some fears of technology are no less than crazy. Others are extremely warranted.

I can already see it now; people lining up to get their new cranial implants so that they can play the latest version of Angry Birds.

All they'd have to do would be to call it the iBrain and slap an Apple logo on it.

 

[HillRider]

Don't be so sure. I recently watched a PBS documentary where they were controlling robotic and remote objects by reading the electrical impulses of a test subjects brain.

They were also able to create text using the same method.

While this sort of cutting edge technology could lead to huge leaps in fields such as prosthetics and neuroscience the social implications of it being used on a large (population wide) scale are more than scary.

Of course there were those who believed that cameras would capture their souls. There were also those, some scientists included, who believed that the human body could not withstand speeds over 20mph.

Some fears of technology are no less than crazy. Others are extremely warranted.

I can already see it now; people lining up to get they're new car cranial implants so that they can play the latest version of Angry Birds.

All they'd have to do would be to call it the iBrain and slap an Apple logo on it.

Yeah, I'm definitely not overconfident in this belief. This example sounds more like cybernetic/cyborg technology, man merging with machines rather than machines developing consciousness. I definitely think this is possible and even more frightening.

 

[breakingcontact]

 

[diveRN]

 

[mitchntx]

The next big thing to come along will be simple math using a pencil and paper.

 

[Flyingswords]

Google and the Obama administration are arm in arm.

The Amish won't be tolerated much longer. How do I know? They are religious and don't cotton to the gay community.

On a side note who in the Hell would want to live forever? The longer I live the less I recognize this world.

Didnt they try to plug up a pc to a cow's hind end? I think I saw it on tv a long time ago

 

[TXARGUY]

Didnt they try to plug up a pc to a cow's hind end? I think I saw it on tv a long time ago

Not sure if its what you're talking about but they have done extensive (tax payer funded of course) studies on cattle rear ends in attempts to show that cow farts contribute to global warming through green house gases.

 

[TXARGUY]

My fear is that we are the precursors of the Borg.

Turns out; we're the enemy!

Did you ever see a Star Trek episode/movie where they were plugged into machines be it even through chips in their brain?

No. You haven't.

They used hand held devices.

Who was plugged in?

 

[TXARGUY]

The Borg was plugged in.