The Real Robots are coming!

According to the NYTimes article: Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man, by John Markoff, (Published: July 25, 2009), our computers are getting too smart. There are already computers that can vacuum my house and cut my lawn. they can detect intruders in my house. They can take a man to the moon and back. They help me remember 100's of phone numbers. They can search for a picture faster than I can take it. Are computers someday going to write this post for me? John seems to be concerned about a real world sceneario like the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, where HAL tries to outsmart his creators. A great movie created in 1968 and maybe a predictor of the future? Humans have been doing a pretty good job of screwing up the world lately, maybe a computer could do a better job?


On the other hand, in the same article Kurzweil makes a case for computers continuing to offer some big pluses for society. I agree with him - computers have extended life and made it more fun. "Other technologists, notably Raymond Kurzweil, have extolled the coming of ultrasmart machines, saying they will offer huge advances in life extension and wealth creation."


Thinking logically, computers have advanced life tremendously - with technology, we can transplant a heart, and even use an artificially created heart, but will we someday replace part of or an entire brain? Some days I feel my cell phone/PDA (personal digital assistant) is a small extension of my brain that I carry everywhere and lost with out it. Maybe one day it will be called a DAP or Digital Assistant Person? For some really interesting info on AI check out: Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.