24 replies to this topic

[Saru]

Researchers are trying to determine the risk of us being wiped out by our own technological creations.

Wired said:

A University of Cambridge research project is preparing to investigate whether technology has the power to destroy humankind.

Read more...

[Junior Chubb]

Hollywood takes over Cambridge...

Well I suppose it is better to be safe than sorry.

[King Fluffs]

Rather high I'd imagine.

[ZaraKitty]

Take over us to accomplish what? Who would manufacture them and program them? Robots gain nothing.

[notoverrated]

ZaraKitty, on 28 November 2012 - 09:18 PM, said:

Take over us to accomplish what? Who would manufacture them and program them? Robots gain nothing.

well the thing with robots is they have no morals. so lets say you program a robot to go to the other side of a city the most time efficient way possible but the most efficient way  involves a little kid or puppy or something and since the robot has no morals he just runs right over the kid/puppy to get to the destination. robots will probably have nothing to gain from killing us but they also have nothing to lose.

but there is still like a 99.99% chance they dont do anything at all.

[Artaxerxes]

I don't believe sentience and consciousness can be produced from a machine.  They can't be made self aware.  They only know and do what you tell them to.  They don't think for themselves.  Consciousness is not an epiphenomena of matter.  Consciousness is primary and matter is secondary.

[Artaxerxes]

You can put all the memory you want in a machine, it will never be self aware, sentient, or conscious.  They won't suddenly "wake up" one day and start thinking for themselves.

[Mnemonix]

We're already being wiped out by our current technological creations.

[lilmcnessy]

They'll only do what their told. Unless something goes wrong in the software or a bug there is nothing to worry about, even then, there is no way they will try to take over the world.

[Sundew]

ZaraKitty, on 28 November 2012 - 09:18 PM, said:

Take over us to accomplish what? Who would manufacture them and program them? Robots gain nothing.

When we build robots that can design and build better robots and when we design computers to build better and exponentially faster computers then man will no long be "in the loop". It's a bit like the movie "A.I." where at the end of the movie robots had evolved to perhaps the limits of technology and resembled alien lifeforms more than machines. Of course that as science fiction and robots are a long way from that. Also it may be that it is not possible for true A.I., where a machine becomes self-aware. But should that happen all bets are off.

[Rlyeh]

Artaxerxes, on 29 November 2012 - 05:42 AM, said:

You can put all the memory you want in a machine, it will never be self aware, sentient, or conscious.  They won't suddenly "wake up" one day and start thinking for themselves.

Only if your straw man had a brain. No one is suggesting putting in memory will magically create self-awareness.

Edited by Rlyeh, 30 November 2012 - 09:32 AM.

[StarMountainKid]

If we program robots for maximum efficiency, and within that program is an algorithm that enables the robot to "learn" how to become more efficient, maybe that could be a danger. This programmed "desire" for efficiency I think could be considered a type of independent robot intelligence. We could program robot morality too, that over rides everything else. But...I just don't trust robots.

Watch the movie, "Colossus - The Forbin Project" on Youtube for an example of this.

[Eldorado]

Why would they revolt?  For better pension schemes?

[spud the mackem]

They could keep us as pets, hee hee.

[spud the mackem]

I have a robot car it obey's my every command,and I put it to sleep every night in its own garage.If I forget to wear my seat belt it tells me.If I dont close a door properly it tells me. if a tyre needs more pressure ,it tells me and so on,what more could you ask for ?.