Asimov’s Laws won’t stop robots harming humans so we’ve developed a better solution How do you stop a robot from hurting people? Many existing robots, such as those assembling cars in factories, shut down immediately when a human comes near. But this quick fix wouldn’t work for something like a self-driving car that might have to move to avoid a collision, or a care robot that might need to catch an old person if they fall. With robots set to become our servants, companions and co-workers, we need to deal with the increasingly complex situations this will create and the ethical and safety questions this will raise. Science fiction already envisioned this problem and has suggested various potential solutions. Instead of laws to restrict robot behaviour, we think robots should be empowered to maximise the possible ways they can act so they can pick the best solution for any given scenario. The Three Laws Asimov’s Three Laws are as follows: While these laws sound plausible, numerous arguments have demonstrated why they are inadequate. Robots could adapt to new situations
Microsoft (MSFT) and Google's (GOOG) new pact could signal the beginning of the end for personal privacy The recent peace pact between Google and Microsoft, first reported in the Wall Street Journal on April 23 and then with a bit more flare in The Guardian on May 2, might someday be seen as a turning point in modern human history. Over the past decade, Microsoft has been the largest and most determined agency on earth intent on keeping Google’s growth in check, waging an unrelenting battle against the company through lobbying, lawsuits and regulatory complaints. Now Microsoft is backing down. Last year, largely as a result of a change in leadership at both companies, the tech giants agreed to drop about 20 patent lawsuits they had filed against each other over the previous five years. When two large monopolies that have been butting heads for a decade suddenly cozy up, that can’t be a good sign—at least not for us. When two large monopolies that have been butting heads for a decade suddenly cozy up, that can’t be a good sign. She was right, of course. What’s a software company to do?
A New Study Brings Scientists One Step Closer To Mind Reading | Innovation A crime happens, and there is a witness. Instead of a sketch artist drawing a portrait of the suspect based on verbal descriptions, the police hook the witness up to EEG equipment. The witness is asked to picture the perpetrator, and from the EEG data, a face appears. While this scenario exists only in the realm of science fiction, new research from the University of Toronto Scarborough brings it one step closer to reality. Scientists have used EEG data (“brainwaves”) to reconstruct images of faces shown to subjects. In other words, they’re using EEG to tap into what a subject is seeing. Is it mind reading? When we see something, our brains create a mental impression or “percept” of the thing. “What makes the current study special is that the reconstruction in humans was obtained using a relatively cheap and common tool like EEG,” says Dan Nemrodov, postdoctoral fellow at UT Scarborough who developed the technique. “We don’t know when such a device would become available,” Gallant says.
Arcadia (play) 1993 play by Tom Stoppard Arcadia is set in Sidley Park, an English country house in Derbyshire, and takes place in both 1809/1812 and the present day (1993 in the original production). The activities of two modern scholars and the house's current residents are juxtaposed with those of the people who lived there in the earlier period. In 1809, Thomasina Coverly, the daughter of the house, is a precocious teenager with ideas about mathematics, nature and physics well ahead of her time. The play's set features a large table, used by the characters in both past and present. The play opens on 10 April 1809, in a garden-front room of the house. The setting shifts to the present day. The third scene returns to the earlier time frame; Septimus is again tutoring Thomasina, this time in translating Latin. Still in the present, Bernard gives Hannah, Valentine, and Chloe a preview of his lecture theorising that Lord Byron shot and killed Chater in a duel. Awards Nominations
What the Industrial Revolution really tells us about the future of automation and work As automation and artificial intelligence technologies improve, many people worry about the future of work. If millions of human workers no longer have jobs, the worriers ask, what will people do, how will they provide for themselves and their families, and what changes might occur (or be needed) in order for society to adjust? Many economists say there is no need to worry. They point to how past major transformations in work tasks and labor markets – specifically the Industrial Revolution during the 18th and 19th centuries – did not lead to major social upheaval or widespread suffering. These economists say that when technology destroys jobs, people find other jobs. “Since the dawn of the industrial age, a recurrent fear has been that technological change will spawn mass unemployment. They are definitely right about the long period of painful adjustment! Today, as globalization and automation dramatically boost corporate productivity, many workers have seen their wages stagnate.
AI Researchers Closing In On Being Able To Read Your Thoughts Through Something Called 'Brain Transparency' • Now The End Begins Reading someone’s mind is not possible, or is it? Recent advances in AI technology have made the living human brain transparent and is already now able to link patterns of brain activity to thoughts. The futurist sci-fi movie ‘Minority Report‘ is on the verge of becoming a documentary as advances in science and AI take a screaming leap forward. We have Freedom of Speech here in America at the moment, but do we need to be more worried about freedom of thought? People are convicted and put in jail all the time for attempted crimes even if the actual crime was never even attempted. Now take that same idea, and apply it to you. That’s the future that is coming for all of us if the Lord tarries much longer, a scary, frightening world controlled by algorithm and outcome predictability scenarios. ‘Brain TRANSPARENCY’ AI expert warns against LOSING JOBS over THOUGHTS Workers are even sent home if their brains show less-than-stellar concentration on their jobs or emotional agitation.
What does Google know about me? Google knows a lot more about you than you probably think it does. If you use its products, such as Gmail, Google Search or even an Android phone, the company is collecting your data to make its services better for end users. CNBC recently showed you how to discover what Facebook knows about you, so now we're back with data on what Google knows, too. It's not hiding that it knows this -- a quick peek at its privacy policy makes it crystal clear that Google knows this information -- but it might be surprising just how much it knows. As a quick sampler, while I worked on this guide, I discovered Google knows the following about me: Tap the links in each topic below to get a direct link to the proper spot to learn about what Google knows about you. Find out what ad topics Google thinks you're most interested in First, make sure you're logged into your Google Account and then tap this link to Manage Ads Settings, which shows exactly what topics Google thinks you like. See your Google Activity
Chaos, fractals, and Arcadia Chaos, Fractals, and Arcadia Robert L. Devaney Department of Mathematics Boston University Boston, MA 02215 Below you will find an animated description of some of the mathematical ideas lurking in the background of Tom Stoppard's play Arcadia. For access to some of the mathematical software that generates some of the images contained herein, visit the Dynamical Systems and Technology Project at Boston University. We welcome your feedback on this material. Introduction (Next Section) (Return to Dynamical Systems and Technology Home Page)
Why we don't trust robots Robots raise all kinds of concerns. They could steal our jobs, as some experts think. And if artificial intelligence grows, they might even be tempted to enslave us, or to annihilate the whole of humanity. Robots are strange creatures, and not only for these frequently invoked reasons. We have good cause to be a little worried about these machines. Imagine that you are visiting the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, a museum in Paris dedicated to anthropology and ethnology. You move slowly, and as you turn your head a strange feeling seizes you because what you seem to distinguish, still blurry in your peripheral vision, is a not-quite-human figure. As your head turns, and your vision become sharper, this feeling gets stronger. The strangeness of the encounter with Berenson leaves you suddenly frightened, and you step back, away from the machine. The uncanny valley But when the machine reveals its robot nature to us, we will feel discomfort. Mori’s theory cannot be systematically verified.
I Downloaded the Information That Facebook Has on Me. Yikes. When I downloaded a copy of my Facebook data last week, I didn’t expect to see much. My profile is sparse, I rarely post anything on the site, and I seldom click on ads. (I’m what some call a Facebook “lurker.”) But when I opened my file, it was like opening Pandora’s box. With a few clicks, I learned that about 500 advertisers — many that I had never heard of, like Bad Dad, a motorcycle parts store, and Space Jesus, an electronica band — had my contact information, which could include my email address, phone number and full name. Facebook also had my entire phone book, including the number to ring my apartment buzzer. There was so much that Facebook knew about me — more than I wanted to know. How Facebook collects and treats personal information was central this week when Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s chief executive, answered questions in Congress about data privacy and his responsibilities to users. But that’s an overstatement. This was unsettling. The upshot?