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Waymarker said:
Yes there was a storyline about it in another ST episode where thousands of microscopic "nanobots" inadvertently infect the ships computer and systems, so a visiting scientist starts zapping them with rays to save the ship, but Picard goes into "wimp" mode and stops him by saying something like "We don't have the right to kill them if they're a race of living sentient beings".
Personally I'd have told the guy to keep zapping away til all the little buggers are dead.
PS- Picard's "solution" was to communicate with the things to point out the error of their ways which luckily made them see sense and saved the day.
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That's an episode that was mostly salvaged by the Science Advisor. Originally it was going to be dust mites that had evolved to sentience somehow, and he told them that wouldn't work because dust mites don't have enough neurons, and evolution would take much longer than the brief period the ship had been in service. So they shifted it to the nano-bots on the grounds that they were already part-way to intelligence, and an argument could be made for them evolving sentience much faster.

Not ideal, but it could have been much, much worse.
 
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Dr_Baltar

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Waymarker said:
Yes there was a storyline about it in another ST episode where thousands of microscopic "nanobots" inadvertently infect the ships computer and systems, so a visiting scientist starts zapping them with rays to save the ship, but Picard goes into "wimp" mode and stops him by saying something like "We don't have the right to kill them if they're a race of living sentient beings".
Personally I'd have told the guy to keep zapping away til all the little buggers are dead.
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I don't know why, but I get the feeling you've entirely missed (deliberately or otherwise) the ethos of Star Trek. ;)
 
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Dr_Baltar said:
I don't know why, but I get the feeling you've entirely missed (deliberately or otherwise) the ethos of Star Trek. ;)
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I just looked up "ethos" in an online dictionary and it came up with-
"The disposition, character, or fundamental values peculiar to a specific person, people, culture, or movement: "They cultivated a subversive alternative ethos" (Anthony Burgess)."

If you're saying ST has got some kind of "hidden agenda" to brainwash us poor dumb schmucks I'd like to hear it..:)
 
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Waymarker said:
I just looked up "ethos" in an online dictionary and it came up with-
"The disposition, character, or fundamental values peculiar to a specific person, people, culture, or movement: "They cultivated a subversive alternative ethos" (Anthony Burgess)."

If you're saying ST has got some kind of "hidden agenda" to brainwash us poor dumb schmucks I'd like to hear it..:)
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The agenda was never hidden. Despite Kirk/Shatner's best efforts, the ethos of the show was always about treating the new and the different with respect and understanding. It was never about "zapping away til all the little buggers are dead".
 
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Dr_Baltar said:
The agenda was never hidden. Despite Kirk/Shatner's best efforts, the ethos of the show was always about treating the new and the different with respect and understanding. It was never about "zapping away til all the little buggers are dead".
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I think all of us go along with the notion of treating the new with respect and understanding so I've got no beef with that, UNLESS they turn out NOT to deserve our respect and understanding, in which case let's get the phaser banks and photon torpedoes into action..:)
 
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Mythopoeika said:
In the future, when real AI comes into being, this may become a moral question of the day. Will humans acknowledge AIs as lifeforms?
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We could even say the same thing about the home computer we're sitting in front of at this very moment!
To me, mine is just a box or tool, nothing more, but in the future if somebody incorporated PC processors into a lifelike human figure with arms, legs and a face etc, I suppose some people would regard them as life-forms, but I never would..:)
PS- Some poor misguided schmuck fell in love with a robot woman in this Twilight Zone episode "The Lonely"-

 
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Dr_Baltar said:
The agenda was never hidden. Despite Kirk/Shatner's best efforts, the ethos of the show was always about treating the new and the different with respect and understanding. It was never about "zapping away til all the little buggers are dead".
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That's almost as unkind an interpretation as the idea that Kirk shagged everything that looked vaguely female. It really isn't supported by the actual show. I can't think of any situation where he attacked anything unprovoked. The fact that everyone remembers Kirk as a trigger-happy shagging-machine is a fascinating cultural phenomenon, and isn't a topic to go into on a thread about robots.
 
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Given the fears about robots taking jobs this report should be interesting. You may download the report at the link below.

Game changing technologies: Exploring the impact on production processes and work

This overview report summarises the findings of five case studies on the likely impact of game changing technologies on production and employment in the manufacturing sector in Europe up to 2025: advanced industrial robotics; industrial internet of things; additive manufacturing; electric vehicles; and industrial biotechnology. The adoption of these new technological possibilities will not only have consequences for the production process, but also for the working conditions of those employed on the process and on employment demands at company level. The report highlights the increase in digitisation, the greater demand for highly skilled workers, the expansion of value added to both ends of the product cycle, the even greater importance of data security, the possible reshoring of some production back to Europe, and the need to develop and observe industry standards and protocols.

https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/pub...me&utm_source=social-europe&utm_medium=banner




 
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The Robocones are coming! Evil sentient Robocones would make great foes for Dr Who.

Engineering giant Costain has given traffic cones a hi-tech makeover in a bid to reduce road congestion and improve safety for workers.

The remote-controlled bollards, dubbed “robo-cones”, can be “driven” onto motorways to close lanes when required, and left sitting by the side of the road when not in use, Auto Express reports.

Collecting standard traffic cones after roadworks have been completed is a “notoriously dangerous job”, says the magazine. Road workers frequently close off large sections of motorway in order “to avoid making treacherous sorties more often than is essential”.

Presenting the prototype robo-cone at the Cheltenham Science Festival, engineer Richard Golledge said the most dangerous part of setting up a row of cones is the “taper” - the angled start of the line that begins at the edge of a lane and moves out to close it completely.

http://www.theweek.co.uk/94159/robo...letter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter
 
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Yithian said:
Robotics is advancing so quickly now that the latest models are able to imitate actual human behaviour.

https://i.imgur.com/led15Z7.gifv

There was a guy like this who used to work in a record shop I frequented.
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I literally laughed till there were tears running down my face watching that, yet it's also very sad, the robot's failings so seemingly human. Does look like Skynet might be a few years away yet, though...
 
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More encouragement for the development of tiny robots.

Earlier this month, DARPA announced it is launching a new SHort-Range Independent Microrobotic Platforms (SHRIMP) program. SHRIMP will develop and demonstrate micro-to-milli robotic platforms for scenarios brought on by natural and critical disasters.

As IEEE Spectrum put it, it's a program to develop "insect-scale robots" for disaster recovery and high-risk environments. The topic is simple enough to understand and it also is obvious that the means of accomplishing these platforms is tough.

DARPA, said its announcement, will be facing the challenge of "creating extremely SWaP-constrained microrobotics." SWaP refers to size, weight and power.

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is interested in getting it right for search and rescue missions. A mighty giant robot may be determined enough to do heroic deeds like clearing debris but it is the swarm of insect-robots that has DARPA's attention for search and rescue scenarios that call for moving through tiny cracks and crevices. IEEE Spectrum's Evan Ackerman remarked that in search and rescue, "you're better off with lots of very small robots covering as much ground as possible."

https://techxplore.com/news/2018-07-darpa-competition-insect-scale-robots.html
 
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A cute new robot for medical students. "Stop hurting me Will Robinson!"

HAL THE ROBOT boy is convulsing. His head shakes back and forth so rapidly, it looks like he’s vibrating. His eyelids droop over his blue eyes and his mouth is ajar. He makes no sound, other than the faint whirs of his motors.

Hal was built to suffer. He is a medical training robot, the sort of invention that emerges when one of the most stressful jobs on Earth tumbles into the uncanny valley. No longer must nurses train on lifeless mannequins. Hal can shed tears, bleed, and urinate. If you shine a light in his eyes, his pupils shrink. You can wirelessly control him to go into anaphylactic shock or cardiac arrest. You can hook him up to real hospital machines, and even jolt him with a defibrillator. Hal—which is just now coming onto the market—is so realistic, and these scenarios so emotionally charged, that the instructors who run him in medical simulations have to be careful not to push things too far and upset trainees.

https://www.wired.com/story/hal-robot?mbid=nl_090918_daily_list1_p1&CNDID=38161694
 
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