robots
October 24th 2007 06:39
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Robots have come in all manner of sizes and designs over the decades. And as we push deeper into the 3rd millennium robots are starting to appear more and more as real utiltities designed to aid and abet the human race.
We already have sentient artificial intelligence; machines that can think and operate by themselves, without human interference or executive control, and the more we experiment and make breakthroughs in robot technology the more chance of something going awry. Japan is leading the field.
But enough of the serious implications, what about the entertaining kind of robots? The Iron Giant, Number Five, Robby the Robot, ED-209, and Hector from the Farrah Fawcett vehicle Saturn 3. Actually some of those have been not only down right mischievous, but murderous. What am I talking about?! Well, let’s not get too hot under the collar, for a start they’re all fictional robots, created in movieland. But I’m sure US military has been plugging away on robot technology for strictly combat purposes.
SRL made a short film I saw in the late 80s at a film festival. I believe it was a combination of animatronics, stop-motion animation and remote-controlled robotics. It was called A Bitter Message of Hopeless Grief. It featured several robots underground battling it out to the nasty end, occasionally re-fuelling from an underground spring of crude oil. The film left a deep impression on me like a strange and troubling dream.
I've sent the future and it works. Yes, automaton is just around the corner. Best get yourself a little robot dog for a pet, one of those service robots to clean the house, and one of those Naomi Campbell sleek 'bots to service other needs when you're all alone. My favourites here are Maria from Metropolis, which you can see George Lucas blatantly ripped off for C-3P0, but hey, I love Star Wars, so whatever. I love the Nanofly 'bot as well, kinda cute'n'clunky. Bender always makes me laugh though, and that's imperative in this incoming cold climate of metal and chrome.
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Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
I always loved robots, Robbie The Robot, was my first favourite.
I actually worked, (on a film), with the guy who made R2D2, and I think CP3O, he was an interesting guy, he received two Oscars, one for Star Wars and one for 007, he built the original Aston Maritin, which, becasue they didn't have CIG in those days, meant everything had to work on the car! Well, the bullets were not actually coming out from the parking light holes, but, the ejector chair and whatnot, and R2D2 had a small person in it.
The thing is, at the end of the day, robots will always be someone's servant, they cannot create "consciousness" as we know it, but, that does not mean the right wing extremists will not create "police bots" that will harvest the unruly crowd...
cheers
great pics
fog
Comment by Raoul Duke
Style of Eye
Very true ... fully armed "policebots" ... scary.
Thanks for the great comment.