Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Pentagon to Merge Next-Gen Binoculars With Soldiers’ Brains
May 3rd, 2007If you think that the ultimate goal for this project is a set of “Star Wars”-style binoculars, you’ve got another thing coming. Of course, we can’t leave it up to the Wired reporter to connect the dots. The article asks, “Why all the rush?” Three years ago, I wrote: The ultimate goal is to replace […]
DARPA Grant Recipient: “We Can De-Animate People”
March 13th, 2007Paging Dr. Mengele… Dr. Josef Mengele, please pick up a white courtesy phone. Via: Wired: Darpa’s human-enhancement programs were looking promising. In February 2002, Darpa asked Congress for a new, $78 million-per-year push for research including “the development of biochemical materials for enhancement of performance.†That was on top of $90 million to explore how […]
Israel Unveils Portable Hunter-Killer Robot
March 8th, 2007Via: Reuters: An Israeli defense firm on Thursday unveiled a portable robot billed as being capable of entering most combat zones alone and engaging enemies with an onboard armory that includes a machine-pistol and grenades. The VIPeR, roughly the size of a small television, was invented as part of Israel’s efforts to develop weaponry that […]
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 […]
