Re: Will Robots take over?

On Jun 26, 1:29 pm, al Guacamole <a...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
Got this bit of news in email. It's a little scarry....

BRAIN-MACHINE INTERFACES

Brain-machine interfaces could someday be used routinely to help
paralyzed patients and amputees control prosthetic limbs with just
their thoughts. Now, University of Florida researchers have devised
a way for computerized devices not only to translate brain signals
into movement, but also to evolve with the brain as it learns.

"The status quo of brain-machine interfaces that are out there have
static and fixed decoding algorithms, which assume a person thinks
one way for all time," said Justin C. Sanchez, a UF assistant
professor of pediatric neurology. Sanchez and his colleagues
developed a system based on setting goals and giving rewards.
Fitted with electrodes in their brains to capture signals for the
computer to unravel, three rats were taught to move a robotic arm
toward a target with just their thoughts. "We think this dialogue
with a goal is how we can make these systems evolve over time,"
Sanchez said.

Read more here:http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20080626A2

"The Last Days on Earth is a 20/20 science fiction special which aired
on ABC[1] in August 2006 and has been aired on The History Channel.

The show counts down the seven most likely ways in which the world
could end, including gamma ray bursts, machine rule, asteroids, super
volcanoes, nuclear war, pandemic flu, and global warming. It includes
input from a number of scientists including Michio Kaku, Stephen
Hawking and Kevin Warwick. In 2007 it received an Emmy nomination[2]
for its graphic and artistic design.

The Disasters

These are organized from least likely to most likely:

7a.) Death of a Star: Gamma Ray Burst
7b.) Death of a Star: Black Hole
Number seven was actually two alternate views of what could
happen to a
star and how it could destroy life on earth.
6.) Intelligent Machines
5.) Supervolcano
4.) Asteroid
3.) Nuclear War
2.) Plague
1.) Climate Change"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Days_on_Earth

Some people criticized the show because it included climate change,
but I think they were talking about a much worse change than is
currently under discussion and perhaps from other causes. As I recall
scientists on this show said that machines will not simply become 2
times or 10 times more intelligent than human beings, they could
become billions of times more intelligent than humans.

Actually, given the current state of the political system in the U.S.,
it's not to hard to imagine a point in the future where people might
say let's just let the machines run the government.
.