Pentagon developing humanoid Terminator robots

I love how reality is always subtly different from our futurist imaginings. Like, we imagined the menace of the glowing red Terminator eyes, but no-one could have foreseen the "prance of death" these robots have. The gingerly, almost balletic little hops they do from step to step, it's both cute and unnerving in an uncanny-valley kind of way. Then when you imagine them with guns on top, it becomes fully terrifying. Imagine being hunted by a prancing Angel of Death...who could bash through walls if he wanted, and track you with heat sensing and echolocation...*shivers*

  On 7/18/2013 at 2:56 AM, usagi said:

 

  On 7/17/2013 at 9:32 PM, Godwin Austen said:

Two words:

 

EMP grenades.

 

they're a total bitch to find though. I mean you do get some handed to you at critical points e.g. infiltrating level 2 of the Versalife building, but otherwise they're rare and expensive as fuck. I tend to conserve them as much as possible.

 

Due to the general mobilisation, Sam Carter, as a renowned veteran, will use his operational skills to provide a regular supply on decisive points.

the only flaw I see with the big-dogs as far as military applications, they would be very vulnerable to RPGs, much more than any kind of tank. Hopefully DARPA is working on ways to make them unstoppable killing machines and not just killing machines

i like this one that throws cinderblocks and this one that runs 28 miles per hour (45 km/h)

  On 7/19/2013 at 3:42 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

the only flaw I see with the big-dogs as far as military applications, they would be very vulnerable to RPGs, much more than any kind of tank. Hopefully DARPA is working on ways to make them unstoppable killing machines and not just killing machines

I'd think that even most light weaponry could certainly disable a bigdog robot. They're complicated systems, so the main problem with them I think is the technical support they need. It's probably a long way until they are reliable enough to take on any kind of mission, what good is a thing like this if you have to watch after it like a toddler all the time.

Compare it with a Humvee... a Humvee is cheaper, much much simpler to repair, can carry more stuff including troops and weapons, is more robust, and can generally move much faster. The only advantage I see in the bigdog vs. a humvee is that it can shuffle its way to some places a humvee cannot.

So dunno, what are bigdog applications? I cannot think of anything besides what they show in the videos: slowly carrying small-to-medium-sized things where a wheeled vehicle or a helicopter is no go...

good. now send them to detroit

So earlier in this thread I said I try to keep up with crazy-ethical-boundary-crossing nanotech stuff. Found some:

Technology Review: How Smart Dust Could Spy on Your Brain (July 16, 2013)

  Quote

"Intelligent dust particles embedded in the brain could form an entirely new form of brain-machine interface, say engineers."

  Quote

Today, Dongjin Seo and pals at the University of California Berkeley reveal an entirely new way to study and interact with the brain. Their idea is to sprinkle electronic sensors the size of dust particles into the cortex and to interrogate them remotely using ultrasound. The ultrasound also powers this so-called neural dust.

The article goes into the technological limitations that have to be overcome to make this work. It's worth reading.

Here's the actual scientific paper about the technology: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1307.2196v1.pdf

I've quicksearched the article for cancer: not one hit. You know the effect of this "dust" in the brain may not be much different to dust in lungs. It's a bit alarming to have not a single mention of this in such a paper...

IT BEGINS

  On 7/21/2013 at 8:37 PM, luke viia said:

So earlier in this thread I said I try to keep up with crazy-ethical-boundary-crossing nanotech stuff. Found some:

 

Technology Review: How Smart Dust Could Spy on Your Brain (July 16, 2013)

 

  Quote

"Intelligent dust particles embedded in the brain could form an entirely new form of brain-machine interface, say engineers."

  Quote

Today, Dongjin Seo and pals at the University of California Berkeley reveal an entirely new way to study and interact with the brain. Their idea is to sprinkle electronic sensors the size of dust particles into the cortex and to interrogate them remotely using ultrasound. The ultrasound also powers this so-called neural dust.

The article goes into the technological limitations that have to be overcome to make this work. It's worth reading.

 

Here's the actual scientific paper about the technology: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1307.2196v1.pdf

 

how do you get them in?

Interesting, but it's not as easy as just building a thing that can run

http://youtu.be/l3eeg82KmJs

There are going to end up being play schools for robots to learn how to do stuff just like we have aren't there. The robots that end up in special needs will be sold at knock down prices for Christmas and the A+ students will end up serving the queen and her corgis in Buckingham Palace. We'll have got to the point by then of realising that it's kind of pointless sending one army of robots to fight another army of robots so we might as well just have a big game of Jenga to solve worldly disputes instead. There will be a robot to put all the pieces back in the box afterwards, naturally.

  On 7/21/2013 at 8:55 PM, goDel said:

I've quicksearched the article for cancer: not one hit. You know the effect of this "dust" in the brain may not be much different to dust in lungs. It's a bit alarming to have not a single mention of this in such a paper...

In whatever tech blog i saw this on last week, someone mentioned the build up of scar tissue quickly rendering the implant useless as it wouldn't be able to interact with the tissue it was inserted to monitor. The hurdles are not small for this idea, and perhaps other groups are figuring out more logical routes to interface with the brain.

Yeah, maybe I was overreacting for a bit, but it worries me that a couple of "brilliant" engineers build some incredibly intelligent stuff without thinking about some consequences outside of their own field.

"...Ooops...we forgot about the human body reacting to stuff that gets in there (with a certain delay of a couple of years perhaps...)"

It wouldn't be the first time smart people being rather not smart outside of their own thinking box.

  On 7/21/2013 at 11:52 PM, goDel said:

Yeah, maybe I was overreacting for a bit, but it worries me that a couple of "brilliant" engineers build some incredibly intelligent stuff without thinking about some consequences outside of their own field.

 

"...Ooops...we forgot about the human body reacting to stuff that gets in there (with a certain delay of a couple of years perhaps...)"

 

It wouldn't be the first time smart people being rather not smart outside of their own thinking box.

i second that.

  On 7/21/2013 at 11:26 PM, Timothy Forward said:

There are going to end up being play schools for robots to learn how to do stuff just like we have aren't there. The robots that end up in special needs will be sold at knock down prices for Christmas and the A+ students will end up serving the queen and her corgis in Buckingham Palace. We'll have got to the point by then of realising that it's kind of pointless sending one army of robots to fight another army of robots so we might as well just have a big game of Jenga to solve worldly disputes instead. There will be a robot to put all the pieces back in the box afterwards, naturally.

*nods*

*passes spliff*

  On 7/21/2013 at 11:52 PM, goDel said:

Yeah, maybe I was overreacting for a bit, but it worries me that a couple of "brilliant" engineers build some incredibly intelligent stuff without thinking about some consequences outside of their own field.

 

"...Ooops...we forgot about the human body reacting to stuff that gets in there (with a certain delay of a couple of years perhaps...)"

 

It wouldn't be the first time smart people being rather not smart outside of their own thinking box.

This kind of thing is said to be as a result of specialization in science, people indeed lose sight of the bigger picture. And perhaps of the obsession with single topic areas that propogates certain peoples minds that end up expert in obscure fields, doesn't help. We still need renaissance men in this day and age to pull and put everything together where basic incrimental development is not enough, i think.

Also, it doesn't mean that they weren't thinking about it. Maybe it just wasn't relevent to the presentation of their ideas. (which are not original and they had better not get a general patent for)

  On 7/22/2013 at 12:38 AM, phling said:

 

  On 7/21/2013 at 11:26 PM, Timothy Forward said:

There are going to end up being play schools for robots to learn how to do stuff just like we have aren't there. The robots that end up in special needs will be sold at knock down prices for Christmas and the A+ students will end up serving the queen and her corgis in Buckingham Palace. We'll have got to the point by then of realising that it's kind of pointless sending one army of robots to fight another army of robots so we might as well just have a big game of Jenga to solve worldly disputes instead. There will be a robot to put all the pieces back in the box afterwards, naturally.

 

*nods*

 

*passes spliff*

 

Marilize

You've got more chance of getting one of those talking cars from Knightrider, and they haven't even made one of those yet!

Made one of what yet?

Ah, nevermind. The picture made that sentence clearer, lol. *sips coffer*

  On 7/22/2013 at 12:57 AM, delet... said:

 

  On 7/21/2013 at 11:52 PM, goDel said:

Yeah, maybe I was overreacting for a bit, but it worries me that a couple of "brilliant" engineers build some incredibly intelligent stuff without thinking about some consequences outside of their own field.

 

"...Ooops...we forgot about the human body reacting to stuff that gets in there (with a certain delay of a couple of years perhaps...)"

 

It wouldn't be the first time smart people being rather not smart outside of their own thinking box.

 

This kind of thing is said to be as a result of specialization in science, people indeed lose sight of the bigger picture. And perhaps of the obsession with single topic areas that propogates certain peoples minds that end up expert in obscure fields, doesn't help. We still need renaissance men in this day and age to pull and put everything together where basic incrimental development is not enough, i think.

 

Also, it doesn't mean that they weren't thinking about it. Maybe it just wasn't relevent to the presentation of their ideas. (which are not original and they had better not get a general patent for)

 

yindeed (though these guys may have actually just been that sort of absent minded engineer, which is always terrifying). The way patents play into all this technology is pretty spooky stuff too. I'm part of a "patents in nanotechnology" linkedin group... people are really gung-ho about making sure they own every bit of "inventing" they do on that scale. Like making a box a certain way.

  On 7/21/2013 at 9:12 PM, isaki said:

 

  On 7/21/2013 at 8:37 PM, luke viia said:

So earlier in this thread I said I try to keep up with crazy-ethical-boundary-crossing nanotech stuff. Found some:

Technology Review: How Smart Dust Could Spy on Your Brain (July 16, 2013)

  Quote

"Intelligent dust particles embedded in the brain could form an entirely new form of brain-machine interface, say engineers."

  Quote

Today, Dongjin Seo and pals at the University of California Berkeley reveal an entirely new way to study and interact with the brain. Their idea is to sprinkle electronic sensors the size of dust particles into the cortex and to interrogate them remotely using ultrasound. The ultrasound also powers this so-called neural dust.

The article goes into the technological limitations that have to be overcome to make this work. It's worth reading.

Here's the actual scientific paper about the technology: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1307.2196v1.pdf

 

how do you get them in?

 

By sprinkling, apparently.

Or you know, maybe people get them free with a trip to guantanamo.

  On 7/22/2013 at 4:54 PM, luke viia said:

Ah, nevermind. The picture made that sentence clearer, lol. *sips coffer*

 

 

  On 7/22/2013 at 12:57 AM, delet... said:

 

  On 7/21/2013 at 11:52 PM, goDel said:

Yeah, maybe I was overreacting for a bit, but it worries me that a couple of "brilliant" engineers build some incredibly intelligent stuff without thinking about some consequences outside of their own field.

 

"...Ooops...we forgot about the human body reacting to stuff that gets in there (with a certain delay of a couple of years perhaps...)"

 

It wouldn't be the first time smart people being rather not smart outside of their own thinking box.

 

This kind of thing is said to be as a result of specialization in science, people indeed lose sight of the bigger picture. And perhaps of the obsession with single topic areas that propogates certain peoples minds that end up expert in obscure fields, doesn't help. We still need renaissance men in this day and age to pull and put everything together where basic incrimental development is not enough, i think.

 

Also, it doesn't mean that they weren't thinking about it. Maybe it just wasn't relevent to the presentation of their ideas. (which are not original and they had better not get a general patent for)

 

 

yindeed (though these guys may have actually just been that sort of absent minded engineer, which is always terrifying). The way patents play into all this technology is pretty spooky stuff too. I'm part of a "patents in nanotechnology" linkedin group... people are really gung-ho about making sure they own every bit of "inventing" they do on that scale. Like making a box a certain way.

Oh god, really. And the way the US patent office is now, well you know the rest. Although at least there's engineering and applied chemistry in what they're doing. It's not like patenting gestures and other such troll moves that happen on the computer side of things.

more weird electronics o the future:

whaddya say watmm? cool tech to look forward to, or disconcerting 'disposable computer' future?

  On 7/18/2013 at 3:08 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

what i dont understand is why hasn't some hollywood filmmaker made a dystopian realistic robot wars type thing, like put predator drones and big dogs all over your fucking movie.

im hoping spielberg's robopocalypse gets made and is awesome. a podcast with the writer of the book peaked my interest.