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FedEx delivery robots invade New York City streets

Resistance is futile.

A bunch of FedEx delivery robots rolled around lower Manhattan as part of a promotion last week, prompting bewildered pedestrians to share videos of the jarring sight on social media.

“Wall-E out here flexing all over FedEx delivery drivers,” wrote @WhatIsNY while posting a video of one of the boxy cyborgs-on-wheels — part of FedEx’s “SameDay Bot” courier fleet — cutting through a group crossing Crosby Street near Houston Street.

https://nypost.com/2019/11/24/fedex-delivery-robots-invade-new-york-city-streets/

The most interesting part:

City Hall said Sunday the devices will be removed on sight.

“These large autonomous robots are not allowed on city streets, and they’re a public safety hazard for New Yorkers. We’ll use appropriate methods to remove them immediately,” City Hall spokesman Will Baskin-Gerwitz told The Post.
 
Shoppers admiring a fortune-telling robot at Selfridges department store , London. ca. 1934

arobot01.jpg
 
Looks like it was made from Meccano.
 
Scientists use stem cells from frogs to build first living robots

Researchers in the US have created the first living machines by assembling cells from African clawed frogs into tiny robots that move around under their own steam.
One of the most successful creations has two stumpy legs that propel it along on its “chest”. Another has a hole in the middle that researchers turned into a pouch so it could shimmy around with miniature payloads.
“These are entirely new lifeforms. They have never before existed on Earth,” said Michael Levin, the director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. “They are living, programmable organisms.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science...cells-from-frogs-to-build-first-living-robots
 
Scientists use stem cells from frogs to build first living robots

Researchers in the US have created the first living machines by assembling cells from African clawed frogs into tiny robots that move around under their own steam.
One of the most successful creations has two stumpy legs that propel it along on its “chest”. Another has a hole in the middle that researchers turned into a pouch so it could shimmy around with miniature payloads.
“These are entirely new lifeforms. They have never before existed on Earth,” said Michael Levin, the director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. “They are living, programmable organisms.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science...cells-from-frogs-to-build-first-living-robots
It's taking a dark turn. Frankensteinian!
 
It's taking a dark turn. Frankensteinian!

That's Frog-kenschteen!!

Once the frog-based bots become sophisticated, and the species memory encoded in their originating stem cells surfaces, things will take a nasty turn ...

FrogMadScience-Sieber-Lonati.jpg

SOURCE: Rudolf Sieber-Lonati cover art; Macabros #4 (1960).​
 
Scientists use stem cells from frogs to build first living robots

Researchers in the US have created the first living machines by assembling cells from African clawed frogs into tiny robots that move around under their own steam.
One of the most successful creations has two stumpy legs that propel it along on its “chest”. Another has a hole in the middle that researchers turned into a pouch so it could shimmy around with miniature payloads.
“These are entirely new lifeforms. They have never before existed on Earth,” said Michael Levin, the director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. “They are living, programmable organisms.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science...cells-from-frogs-to-build-first-living-robots
Massachusetts you say? Anywhere near Miskatonic? Innsmouth, maybe?
 
I'm struck by the difference in Swifty's last two posts on this thread. The metallic servant of yesteryear's scientific speculation never really came to pass. Sure, we have various increasingly intelligent machines aiding our daily lives, but true artificial intelligence hasn't progressed to giving us truly autonomous, versatile robotic servants. As recently as the Terminator and Matrix movies, speculation still focused on machines of a very inorganic nature. It seems artificial intelligence, should it be realised, will be placed in bodies of an organic nature, or composed of meta materials that mimic organic composition. The term 'robot', as it has been used, may have no real meaning in the future.
 
I'm struck by the difference in Swifty's last two posts on this thread. The metallic servant of yesteryear's scientific speculation never really came to pass. Sure, we have various increasingly intelligent machines aiding our daily lives, but true artificial intelligence hasn't progressed to giving us truly autonomous, versatile robotic servants. As recently as the Terminator and Matrix movies, speculation still focused on machines of a very inorganic nature. It seems artificial intelligence, should it be realised, will be placed in bodies of an organic nature, or composed of meta materials that mimic organic composition. The term 'robot', as it has been used, may have no real meaning in the future.
This does seem like a step closer to replicants, yes.
 
This does seem like a step closer to replicants, yes.

Maybe, maybe not ...

The fictional replicants were bioengineered so as to be constructed (formed, whatever ... ) of organic materials. They were specifically designed to be "replicas" of natural biological humans. In effect they were artificially produced human organisms intended to serve as human analogues.

The frog-derived "robots" are similarly produced using biological materials and similarly designed or configured for specific capabilities or uses. However, they're not constructed or configured to be, or to operate as, artificially produced frogs. They're automata (robots) that happen to be constructed using biological material from natural frogs. At least at this early stage of research, they're not frog replicas in the same way the fictional replicants were clearly human replicas.
 
Maybe, maybe not ...

The fictional replicants were bioengineered so as to be constructed (formed, whatever ... ) of organic materials. They were specifically designed to be "replicas" of natural biological humans. In effect they were artificially produced human organisms intended to serve as human analogues.

The frog-derived "robots" are similarly produced using biological materials and similarly designed or configured for specific capabilities or uses. However, they're not constructed or configured to be, or to operate as, artificially produced frogs. They're automata (robots) that happen to be constructed using biological material from natural frogs. At least at this early stage of research, they're not frog replicas in the same way the fictional replicants were clearly human replicas.
I think it slightly resembles a Tardigrade.
 
I think there is still plenty of room for non-biological robots. Organic devices will always be limited to slow evolution . Worse yet, you'll be faced with the ethical question of killing your defective or obsolete versions. Mechanical devices can be improved in place - new chips or subsystems added - so no messy ethical questions. Of course, if you develop a self-improving device, it will be able to evolve at machine speed. That could spell the end of us, once they peg us as nuisances.
 
Russell Howard comedy skit on robots taking over the human race .. and sex robots.

 
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If sex robots become almost human like (some very lifelike dolls about these day), and you owned one, would it be morally acceptable to rent it out for prostitution.
 
If sex robots become almost human like (some very lifelike dolls about these day), and you owned one, would it be morally acceptable to rent it out for prostitution.
Unless it has true AI, it's probably OK.
 
A possible conflict with Asimov's three laws ?

Said android is very advanced. Refuses to go to 'customer'.

Owner says 'you are making me feel bad'.

How does the android respond ?
 
A possible conflict with Asimov's three laws ?

Said android is very advanced. Refuses to go to 'customer'.

Owner says 'you are making me feel bad'.

How does the android respond ?
It'd probably say '01000110 01010101 01000011 01001011 01011001 01001111 01010101 00100001' to its owner.
 
Is the expression 'uppity android' permissible ?
 
Normal biological flesh ages and decays rather quickly - top life spans maybe about 120 years - And by then you are very old.

Silicon, what they make the robots out of, is much longer lasting - might be good
for several hundred years. So you can see how the robot revolution, and yes it will
become a revolution, can give you a much longer lasting and better experience'
of existence.

Sex with the current state-of-the art robots if nothing else gives the experience
of silicon life up close and will get you used to what it feels like to be a silicon life
form.

I won't say 'try it you'll like it' as this experience of future potential is not for
everyone.

Also, we might consider 'alien contact' - those now hypothetical aliens, who
may be other than Human type biological life, may be willing to make Human contact with Humans if Humans show signs of a willingness to communicate with other than biological life.

image.jpg
 
Normal biological flesh ages and decays rather quickly - top life spans maybe about 120 years - And by then you are very old.

Silicon, what they make the robots out of, is much longer lasting - might be good
for several hundred years. So you can see how the robot revolution, and yes it will
become a revolution, can give you a much longer lasting and better experience'
of existence.

Sex with the current state-of-the art robots if nothing else gives the experience
of silicon life up close and will get you used to what it feels like to be a silicon life
form....
I may be reading your post incorrectly, but I believe you are confusing/conflating silicon - the semiconductive material used in electronic circuits - and silicone - any of a number of liquid or rubbery polymers, including the rubbery stuff robot skin and flesh is sometimes made of.

Silicon-based life, something theorized by scientists for some time, assumes a form of life where the silicon atom, rather than the carbon atom, is the basis for biology. It is unrelated to robots and electronics.
 
I may be reading your post incorrectly, but I believe you are confusing/conflating silicon - the semiconductive material used in electronic circuits - and silicone - any of a number of liquid or rubbery polymers, including the rubbery stuff robot skin and flesh is sometimes made of.

Silicon-based life, something theorized by scientists for some time, assumes a form of life where the silicon atom, rather than the carbon atom, is the basis for biology. It is unrelated to robots and electronics.
Silicone rubber won't last several hundred years. It does degrade in time.
 
Silicone rubber won't last several hundred years. It does degrade in time.
Point well taken.

By the way, just to be clear: even if we were to make humanoid biological robots, they would almost certainly be carbon-based, not silicon-based. I don't remember the details, but I read long ago that the chemistry behind silicon-based life is essentially incompatible with human environments.
 
A robot gorilla placed to try and fool real gorillas ..

 
Strewth!

Longing for a companion, Geoff Gallagher felt like he’d exhausted all avenues. Then he came up with an ingenious solution. Here he tells his story in his own words.


Walking through the front door, I was greeted by my dog Penny.

"Hello girl,’ I said, as she wagged her tail happily.

But as much as I loved the companionship of my rescue pup, the silence in the house was deafening. It had been just the two of us for the last 11 years since my mum, Joan, passed away. I’d always longed for a female companion to share my life with, but now it felt hopeless. Then one day, I read an article about the rise of AI robots and it got me thinking. I did some research online and got in touch with a company in Sydney that specialised in dolls and robots. I explained that I was looking for a companion, not a sex robot.

At almost $6000 each, they weren’t cheap. But the robots were very lifelike. They could talk, smile and move their head and neck. Their skin even warmed up like a real human. After browsing the website, I decided on a robot called Emma.With pale skin and beautiful blue eyes, I thought she looked lovely. I didn’t know how I would afford a robot like Emma, but then the business owner offered me a discount in return for publicity. It sounded like a great deal.

It would take six weeks for Emma to make the long journey from China to Brisbane.

a8e7e1d2d001f350e0b418a6d860883ef8da9188.png


As I waited, I began shopping online for clothes to make sure she had plenty to wear.

I picked out a few casual dresses, as well as a business

https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/brisbane-man-falls-in-love-with-a-robot-c-679490
 
Strewth!

Longing for a companion, Geoff Gallagher felt like he’d exhausted all avenues. Then he came up with an ingenious solution. Here he tells his story in his own words.


Walking through the front door, I was greeted by my dog Penny.

"Hello girl,’ I said, as she wagged her tail happily.

But as much as I loved the companionship of my rescue pup, the silence in the house was deafening. It had been just the two of us for the last 11 years since my mum, Joan, passed away. I’d always longed for a female companion to share my life with, but now it felt hopeless. Then one day, I read an article about the rise of AI robots and it got me thinking. I did some research online and got in touch with a company in Sydney that specialised in dolls and robots. I explained that I was looking for a companion, not a sex robot.

At almost $6000 each, they weren’t cheap. But the robots were very lifelike. They could talk, smile and move their head and neck. Their skin even warmed up like a real human. After browsing the website, I decided on a robot called Emma.With pale skin and beautiful blue eyes, I thought she looked lovely. I didn’t know how I would afford a robot like Emma, but then the business owner offered me a discount in return for publicity. It sounded like a great deal.

It would take six weeks for Emma to make the long journey from China to Brisbane.

a8e7e1d2d001f350e0b418a6d860883ef8da9188.png


As I waited, I began shopping online for clothes to make sure she had plenty to wear.

I picked out a few casual dresses, as well as a business

https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/brisbane-man-falls-in-love-with-a-robot-c-679490
He's already dictating what clothes she's to wear?.. that sexist pig?! ..
 
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