Do You Find Robots Creepy?

[Warrigal]

Hello, Aldous. Welcome to the forum.Before I retired I taught a computing studies course to students in Year 10. Intelligent Systems was one of the optional lobes and as part of that lobe the curriculum required the students to read some Asimov stories from the I Robot series. The point of the exercise was to have the students compare and contrast robots in fiction with real working robotic systems. We also talked about cyberphobia and compared anxiety about the computer revolution with similar concerns about mechanisation and the Industrial Revolution. I encouraged them to read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and we had an excursion to the movies to see The Lawnmower Man starring Pierce Brosnan. We had very little equipment at the school but we did use Lego to set up and program some simple systems involving sensors. That was about 25 - 30 years ago.

 

[RadishRose]

Hey, my first post on SF, so apologies in advance for any mistakes!
I for one, welcome our robot overlords. lol sorry.
Seriously, I'm fascinated by the advancements in robotics and AI, and i'm a pretty avid consumer of all things science and sci-fi. The writings of Asimov come closer to reality by the hour, it seems. I hope I'm around to see the first Strong AI come online. If it turns out to be a creation that deems Humanity redundant we could be in trouble, as in the "Terminator " films, lol, but I'm more optimistic, and prefer the theory that it could be hugely beneficial for mankind, helping us to reverse some of the damage we've done to our home as a species. But hey, who knows?

Hi Aldous!



Welcome to the Forum!

I should have named my thread: Do You Find Humanoid Robots Creepy.

Oh, thanks for reminding me of one of my favorite movies: "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"!

 

[RadishRose]

 

[Warrigal]

RadishRose, your illustration is an example of automation. It has just one action that is repeated over and over. Even if the action is more complicated it is no threat to humanity. A few monotonous jobs are eliminated, that's all.

What worries people is machines incorporating artificial intelligence that allows them to make judgements and to learn from experience and adjust without humans tinkering with the programs. These machines are aware of their environment via various sensors. Self driving cars require artificial intelligence.

I have ridden on the San Francisco driverless trains (BART) and it was a bit unnerving knowing that there was no-one at the wheel but at least the train was confined to a track and was in a tunnel so the possible risks to safety were few. I'm not very confident about driverless cars. Tests show they have problems recognising a stop sign if it has been graffitied.