Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
China: Remote Controlled Pigeons
February 28th, 2007Why not have the rat brain slices control the flying rats? Via: Wired: Scientists with the Robot Engineering Technology Research Center of east China’s Shandong University of Science and Technology say they implanted micro electrodes in the brain of a pigeon so they can command it to fly right or left or up or down. […]
Growing a Brain in Switzerland
February 21st, 2007If you liked the one about the bits of rat brain and the flight simulator, you’ll love this! Via: Spiegel: A network of artificial nerves is growing in a Swiss supercomputer — meant to simulate a natural brain, cell-for-cell. The researchers at work on “Blue Brain” promise new insights into the sources of human consciousness. […]
Direct Correlation Between Computing Power and Doom?
February 13th, 2007An 80 core CPU? Massively parallel home computers? I don’t know whether this news is more absurd or obscene. Oh sure, better games, HDTV, AI. Notice how none of this crap has anything to do clean air, food and water? How many cores will a CPU need in order to provide people with clean air, […]
Street-Fighting Robot Challenge Announced
January 25th, 2007They want terminator robots more than anything. Via: New Scientist: A contest to build a robot that can operate autonomously in urban warfare conditions, moving in and out of buildings to search and destroy targets like a human soldier, was launched in Singapore on Tuesday. The country’s Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) is offering […]
Military Builds Robotic Insects
January 24th, 2007Explosive payloads coming soon. Via: Wired: If you feel something crawling on your neck, it might be a wasp or a bee. Or it might be something much more dangerous. Israel is developing a robot the size of a hornet to attack terrorists. And although the prototype will not fly for three years, killer Micro […]
UK Report Says Robots Will Have Rights
December 20th, 2006Will the robots get orange jumpsuits, too? Via: Financial Times: Far from being extracts from the extreme end of science fiction, the idea that we may one day give sentient machines the kind of rights traditionally reserved for humans is raised in a British government-commissioned report which claims to be an extensive look into the […]
America’s Robot Army
December 6th, 2006Recently, I wrote, “In the early battles of the Rise of the Machines, victory will go to the side with the monkey wrenches, not the side with the terminator robots. The bad news? The bad news will be the result of another couple of decades worth of autonomous weapons research and design. You won’t want […]
U.S. Army to Game Designers: Take Out Vulerabilities to Technology
November 28th, 2006They’re making warfighting doctrine internally consistant with the other fallacies of technological society. They’re not learning from Their mistakes in Iraq. The Myth of the Machine is so tantalizing, it blinds even the most power mad psychopaths, and opens them up to strategic defeat. That’s good news. In the early battles of the Rise of […]
‘Big Brother’ Cameras Listen for Fights
November 25th, 2006Via Cnet. This is the key sentence: The sound system also means fewer people can monitor more cameras in surveillance centers, Vorst added. They want autonomous mode weapons and surveillance technology more than anything. They want low level operators out of the loop so increasing amounts of control can be centralized into a smaller number […]
A Smarter Computer to Pick Stocks
November 25th, 2006This is a funny article about black box trading systems, along with quotes from crackpot, technology fetishist and (would you believe?) hedgefund manager, Ray Kurzweil. Sure, “invest” your money in a half cocked bum fight between super computers! Via NY Times: Ray Kurzweil, an inventor and new hedge fund manager, is describing the future of […]
