Technically the article only says that some robots may soon outsmart some humans, which isn’t exactly news. There’s a robot scientist named Adam who formulates and tests hypotheses about yeast enzymes. He once independently derived Newton’s laws of motion in a few hours. You think Joe Biden can do that? I doubt Biden could even solve a Rubik’s cube. Robots can!
So I think we can safely conclude that the “robots smarter than humans” ship has left port. Nonetheless, nothing like a little NYT coverage to stir up belated cocktail party hand-wringing. I wonder if Malcolm Gladwell will be taking this up any time soon:
A robot that can open doors and find electrical outlets to recharge itself. Computer viruses that no one can stop. Predator drones, which, though still controlled remotely by humans, come close to a machine that can kill autonomously. Impressed and alarmed by advances in artificial intelligence, a group of computer scientists is debating whether there should be limits on research that might lead to loss of human control over computer-based systems that carry a growing share of society’s workload, from waging war to chatting with customers on the phone.
Their concern is that further advances could create profound social disruptions and even have dangerous consequences. As examples, the scientists pointed to a number of technologies as diverse as experimental medical systems that interact with patients to simulate empathy, and computer worms and viruses that defy extermination and could thus be said to have reached a “cockroach” stage of machine intelligence.
Good news: ethicists and technofuturists have been working on this for a while and have come up with at least six ways to prevent robots from turning on us. Bad news: most of them are unlikely to work. Worse news: we’ve already taught robots how to lie.
Here’s a link to a picture gallery of the Navy’s bevy of armed robots. Now here’s a link to a study where colonies of robots spontaneously invented multiple rudimentary “languages” to promote colony survival and evolution. Happy Monday!
References and previously after the jump…
References:
* Enter Adam, the Robot Scientist [Science Blogs]
* Robot discovers laws of Newton in hours [Calcutta Telegraph]
* LEGO Robot Solves Rubik’s Cube All By Itself [Neatorama]
* Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man [NYT]
* Six ways to build robots that do humans no harm [New Scientist]
* Scientists Invent Robots That Lie, Real Bender Closer Than Ever [Gizmodo]
* Gallery: Inside the Navy’s Armed-Robot Labs [Wired]
* Artificially evolving social robots [Mind Hacks]
Previously:
* And Now, A Robotic Animal That Can Chase You Up Trees
* Better And Better: Pentagon’s New Flesh Eating Robots Are Armed With Chain Saws
* Great News: Monkeys Using Mind Signals To Control Robots With Human-Like Hands
