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I just finished my bedtime reading, an essential survival guide on robots, with sections on How to Treat a Laser Wound, and How to Spot a Rebellious Robot Servant.

Author Daniel Wilson got his Ph.D. from CMU in robotics and worked in research labs at Microsoft, Intel and PARC.

Particularly helpful is his primer on How to Spot a Hostile Robot:

“Robots are notoriously difficult to predict because they generally lack facial expressions and body language. Without such subtle cues, you should ask yourself a few general questions:

• What is the robot designed for?
• What is around the robot?
• Has the robot been tampered with or modified?
• Is the robot moving or advancing?
• Does the robot have glowing red eyes?
• Does the robot have clenched fists, spinning buzz saws, or clamping pincers?

TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS
Steer clear if your gut tells you that something is not right.”

HUAR is one grass roots response. They are particularly disturbed by “scientists building robots specifically made to breathe fire“

Which all reminds me of my blog question: Can we transcend human intelligence with an evolutionary algorithm yet maintain an element of control, or even a bias toward friendliness?

Alas, Wilson dodges the question of self-replicating nanobots altogether. They could eat the Earth in 2.78 hours. =)

17 responses to “Be Prepared”

  1. ▓▒░JASE░▒▓ Avatar
    ▓▒░JASE░▒▓

    Hi, I’m an admin for a group called Signage & Typography, and we’d love to have your photo added to the group.

    Reply
  2. avlxyz Avatar
    avlxyz

    Reminds me of Robotron 2084… and they probably got the year wrong 🙂

    Reply
  3. Gwênlyn Avatar
    Gwênlyn

    Can we transcend human intelligence

    Transcend what?

    Reply
  4. The Rocketeer Avatar
    The Rocketeer

    I thought earlier this week Skynet was finally being activated when I heard that Israel is considering using AI for their missiles. This can’t be a coincidence…

    We need a 24 hour watch on Arnold Schwarzenegger… just in case.

    Reply
  5. PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE Avatar
    PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE

    Talking about robots scifi etc ….

    And Be Prepared : STAR TREK (2008) Teaser – official (J.J. Abrams)

    And his first mystery box for the movie : http://www.ncc-1701.com

    ; )

    Reply
  6. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Paramount bought the movie rights for the Robot Uprising. J.J. Abrams is ahead of the curve here, naming his production company Bad Robot… a nice connection there at the beginning of the trailer…

    Reply
  7. OriginalGunner Avatar
    OriginalGunner

    I’d say the transcendence of human intelligence is the natural path of evolution. Evolution is about the big fish eating the little fish. While its cool watching my DNA traits being propagated, its cooler watching my cultural traits (memes etc) propagating and they could very well survive into becoming part of the singularity. Its’ really my only shot at any form of immortality.

    Reply
  8. The Rocketeer Avatar
    The Rocketeer

    They’re already starting to put out warnings…
    No Rockets, No Ray Guns, No Robots!

    Reply
  9. PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE Avatar
    PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE

    By the way GOOD NEWS EVERYONE !

    Venter Institute Scientists Create First Synthetic Bacterial Genome

    ROCKVILLE, MD—January 24, 2008—A team of 17 researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) has created the largest man-made DNA structure by synthesizing and assembling the 582,970 base pair genome of a bacterium, Mycoplasma genitalium JCVI-1.0. This work, published online today in the journal Science by Dan Gibson, Ph.D., et al, is the second of three key steps toward the team’s goal of creating a fully synthetic organism. In the next step, which is ongoing at the JCVI, the team will attempt to create a living bacterial cell based entirely on the synthetically made genome.

    Reply
  10. Jim Rees Avatar
    Jim Rees

    I picked up one of those Intel space men at Supercomputing for my six year old son.

    Reply
  11. j_silla Avatar
    j_silla

    "Wilson penned "Uprising" while a doctoral candidate at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon U. with much of the information based on actual robotics. Book includes sections such as "Know Your Enemy," "Fight Back," "How to Treat a Laser Wound" and "How to Pose as a Humanoid Robot."" 2005
    http://www.movieweb.com/news/71/8671.php

    "Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant to pen the script." 2006 http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/1646722/

    2008 J.J.Abrams Star treck is sure filming while cloverfield is doing well in theaters, universal seems to have got Spilderwick from him, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0009190/

    Bad Robot Productions seams to have things fired up,
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Robot_Productions

    He seams to get alot of praise from the distributors
    http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1215680,00.html

    "He is in the extraordinary category of being able to do many things at the same time," Roth said. "He is one of the most brilliant and passionate minds in television." http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?v...

    Myers’ next project is "The Love Guru," a comedy he co-wrote based on a character of his creation, which is heading for an August start. Among the projects he is attached to star include Paramount’s "How to Survive a Robot Uprising."
    http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3idbe7...

    Interesting he has firstlook deal with Paramount, I hope he’s not producing on the studio lot, he’s sure to lose out if he does. And there is no sign of this film being on development list for 2009. Shouldn’t you have word with him to speed things up.

    Reply
  12. arvind k Avatar
    arvind k

    http://www.cc.gatech.edu/ai/robot-lab/online-publications/formal...

    Reply
  13. PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE Avatar
    PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE

    Talking about Rebellious Robots.
    Have you seen this amazing short movie, buzzing on the Web ?

    Ataque de Pánico (4.48 minutes, 300 $)

    Giant robots appear out of the mist and attack Uruguay.
    A 2009 Uruguayan sci-fi short horror film, directed by independent filmmaker Fede Alvarez.

    Reply
  14. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    So I read the new book Robopocalypse by the same roboticist Ph.D. author as this earlier primer on how to survive the whole gambit. It is a most excellent read, and we learn on p.101 (binary no less), what to expect on the zero hour of the uprising:

    "The cars… The cars are hunting people and there’s nobody in them and, oh my god. Run!
    The smart cars have come alive. Other vehicles too. They’re on autopilot and killing people."
    robopocalypse-us
    I know what that feels like
    Google Robocar Racetrack Ride

    Reply
  15. PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE Avatar
    PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE

    I don’t know if you saw it, but Steven Spielberg is making it his next project :

    "The Robopocalypse is coming — just not in the way you’d feared. DreamWorks and Twentieth Century Fox have joined movie-making forces to reanimate Daniel H. Wilson’s fictional (for now) literary account of a future, robot-helmed doomsday. The studios have thrown some guy named Steven Spielberg behind the lens of this cinematic cautionary tale, and plan to scare the bejeezus out of us all when it premieres July 3, 2013"

    Will look for the book in Paris this week. Another cool book I would love to see adapted is Daniel Suarez ‘s Deamon ! If you haven’ t read it yet, here is a cool one !!!!

    Reply
  16. jhagerty52 Avatar
    jhagerty52

    This is a great book. You go in presuming it’s satire or tongue-in-cheek, but then you’re not sure. I’ve also got his companion in the same series "Where’s my Jetpack?" http://www.amazon.com/Wheres-My-Jetpack-Amazing-Science/dp/15969...

    I’ll have to catch up on Robopocalypse.

    Reply
  17. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    and now I have come face to face with the spinning blade bot from OffWorld IndustriesTough Jobs are Made for Robots

    Reply

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