WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME?
GAME OVER! NEXT!
Seriously: A ping pong playing robot. Fairly impressive.
In fact, this entire storyline is impressive: Mankind, in a dialectic feedback loop, will create ever more impressive robots AND robot minds, no doubt till the day one of these creations does experience real sentience - and at that point, will these robots be alive?
And a key definition of life is self-preservation. Do the math from there.
It might all work out awesomely, with humanity re-creating itself in more robotic forms; or it could end with HK's patrolling the skies 24/7, shooting at the rat like mammals who still inhabit the bombed out tunnels and underground structures. Who knows? But rest assured, we - you and me and all of us - are going to find out whether you like it or not. Nothing can stop this progress. So, as with many (most) things: Might as well enjoy the ride.
Say hello to the latest creepy invention of Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro - who excels at making creepy robots. It's his "thing", I suspect. Go on and look it up. This is a "telepresence" robot, meaning, for example, I could be talking to you through the robot, and the robot's facial expressions would match mine. The obvious end to this technology are surrogates, wherein copies of me would speak to copies of you, while the original is safely stored in a Cyro-Ark, bound for Vega. Or something to that effect! And of course, there would be plenty of opportunities to either A. Confuse the copy with the original, or B. The copy thinks it's the original.
Now, Prof. Ishiguro is not selling or presenting any of his robotic creations as sex toys. But... c'mon! It's technology 101: If it can be used for sex or to provide titillation, that will be the first widespread use of the technology; in this same rule, if it can be used for killing or destruction, that will be the first use of the technology. Sex and Death - they power everything.
It's going to be a wondrous Tomorrow....
There is an approaching crossroads we will face, which briefly is: Our technology grows ever more powerful - exponentially so - yet our minds remain mostly that of tribal creatures, ever on the lookout for "Others". This tribal mindset - which we share in large part with the rest of the animal kingdom - is the major reason for our wars, violence, hate, etc.
But we're so very much better at expressing this hate, this fear. We've been living under this new danger since the invention of the nuclear bomb, but now, with nuclear technology in reach of almost any dedicated people, what's to keep that genie in the bottle for much longer? What's to prevent our technology from killing us?
Not much. A wing and a prayer. We are well underway now into the next paradigm - robotic warfare. Does anyone think this will in anyway improve the human condition?
Or, is it more likely with the horrors of war a step removed, we'll find ever more reasons to fight?
While you can. Cuz our future robotic overlords won't be so tolerant of your jokes.
