I Robot thread

[Leovinus]

I LOVED THIS MOVIE. I just got back from the theater. Whew! What a ride!!! I am definitely buying the DVD when it comes out. This one's a keeper. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[blacknebula]

I was skeptical about going, but seeing how you enjoyed it, I'll check it out <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />.

 

[cookie_thief]

I thought it was pretty good, in an entertainment kind of way. It sorta reminded me of Blade Runner --only not so film noir-ish and without that annoying voice-over. And it obviously leaves the door open for a (surprise!) sequel.

 

[Leovinus]

** Spoiler Alert **<br /><br /><br /><br />The movie did not mention a Zeroth law, but it did mention an inevitable outcome of the first three. Perhaps that is the 0th law. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jcdenton]

I think I'm gonna see it this week, its been getting reasonable reviews on www.rottentomatoes.com, and I'm in need of a quick sci-fi fix. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[booyah]

If we ever do make AI good enough for robots like that, I can tell you now the people who make them better make a few master plugs or somthing.

 

[Leovinus]

I agree. No sense inventing Terminators. But odds are some company selling soldier robots to the army would do just that. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jcdenton]

I think its inevitable. Eventually countries are going to get sick of expending human soldiers in wars and use robots instead. Whether the robot soldiers rebel or not will depend on how carefully their programs are written. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

Of course, deliberate rebellion requires very sophisticated intelligence -- i.e., a sense of self. I don't think it's much of a threat in the forseeable future. What <i>is</i> a threat, however, is accidental or malicious abuse. If the enemy gains control over your robotic vehicles, you could have a serious problem on your hands.<br /><br />By the way, countries are <i>already</i> using robots. They aren't very autonomous yet, but they do qualify as robots. Bomb squads use them a lot, and so do emergency rescue teams. They're also widely used for surveillance (UAVs) but they are beginning to also see combat. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

Are they robots? Or are they remote-controlled machines? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jcdenton]

I know about the various manually controlled robotics in the military, however I was talking about actual robotic combat soldiers. For them to work, they would have to be given some degree of automony, such as identifying enemies and choosing the best course of action. So eventually they're going to have to be programmed to determine right from wrong, even in the most simplistic cases. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[booyah]

The mars rover thing is a kind of robot right? Or is it a kind of person controled thing?

 

[Leovinus]

It's somewhat of a robot in that it can think for itself. If ground controllers tell it to go from current location to some remote spot, they have the option of letting it pick it's own path. But that's about all.<br /><br />Of course, a really smart robot could just be set down on Mars and it would explore whereever it wanted to go and report back anything of interest to it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[strandedonearth]

Just saw the movie, and now just read the whole thread. That said...<br /><br />Well, they did put a disclaimer at the end, "Suggested by the Isaac Isamov book," for all the purists out there. I quite enjoyed it. And he did mention that he didn't like heights many times.

 

[mental_avenger]

<font color="yellow"> Are they robots? Or are they remote-controlled machines? </font><br /><br />Predator, for one, is an autonomous robotic surveillance plane. From the time it leaves the ground until it lands, it is on its own.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-left:0in;margin-right:0in" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="2" color="#ff0000"><strong>Our Solar System must be passing through a Non Sequitur area of space.</strong></font></p> </div>

 

[igorsboss]

Just saw it. Still terrible.<br /><br />I noticed yet another incongruity: the complete lack of a hispanic, asian, or other presence in an otherwise integrated human society. The humans were either caucasion or of african descent, **but nothing else**.<br /><br />I found this troubling because:<br />a) The plot positions the robots are an enslaved race, and<br />b) The african-american community consists of descendants of slaves, and <br />c) The stars of the film include african americans (who should know better...).<br /><br />They obviously attempted to depict an integrated future human society by depicting a racially integrated human-kind. However, the racial integration was black, white, robot, and nobody else.<br /><br />Someone in the casting department screwed up.

 

[avaunt]

How COOL, I know something of technology, that has escaped CALLIARCLEs' attention.<br />Who'd a Thunk it?. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Actually, far be it from me to ADD to the mindless military boostering of the Dear old US of A, but you guys have ALREADY a doughty, puissant robot warrior, AND I don't mean Arnold.<br /><br />It is call Fireant. It is a tank thing, about the third in area of an SUV, and twice the weight. It carries a BFG, and a couple of forward facing incendrie throwers. <br />It is autonamus and its job is simple.<br /><br />Parachute-Dropped into an area that your military wishes to render the safe travel of enemy vehicles impossible in, it finds itself some cover, facing a road or flat area, and waits. It can be directed to different places, or told to adopt different cover, by its sattilite comms.<br /><br />It can be given a target, or simply told to knock out anything above a certain size. It knows not to shoot at allied vehicles. How this accords with the Geneva conventions, I do not know, though of course, the RAF tended to blast any vehicle it saw in France, during the invasion, so I guess there is preccedent.<br /><br />So as time goes by, and they up grade Fireants' Operating system, EVENTUALLY they will make one smart enough to at least fool itself, that it has free will.<br /><br />Plenty of the Mooks I work along side on the building sites, are almost about as SMART as a modern PC, and THEY seem to think they have free will, though , controlled almost totally by their urges, dead to the printed word, and AMORAL scum as they are, they couldn't explain the concept to someone.<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />"explain to us what makes you believe you have free will?."<br /><br />"Ahhh, what you mean by Explain?. brain hurt, going to drink beer now, speaking later to you."<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

[Leovinus]

"They should know better."<br /><br />I disagree. Machines gradulally become smarter. It sneaks up on you. You don't feel guilty about using your toaster. Or your fridge, or your PC. Some company now makes smart vaccum cleaners that learn the layout of the floor by exploring and bumping into things. Another company makes a robot that fetches drinks for you. Nobody objects to using these robots.<br /><br />So yes, I can see how something like this could happen. It's when you start having conversations with your robot that you start to feel uneasy about their status. So far, I haven't had any meaningful conversation with any machine I've used.<br /><br />Note in 2001, Bowman and Poole did have meaningful conversations with HAL 9000. When it came time to think about disconnecting him, they worried about how he'd feel about it. This is what I'm talking about. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mooware]

Just saw this last night, pretty decent movie. Seems a little far fetched though for only being 30 years from now.<br /><br />Someone had mentioned they didn't like this movie because they didn't see any Hispanic or Asians. Interesting. I was actually more into the story line and didn't get time to look through the crowds for Hispanics, Asians, Arabs or anything else. As a matter of fact, race never occured to me. I just watched the movie.<br /><br /><br />

 

[tom_hobbes]

<font color="yellow">Would they have Yahoo Serious Direct " Pride and Prejudice?.</font><br /><br />Dude, <i>that</i> I would pay to see! <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#339966"> I wish I could remember<br /> But my selective memory<br /> Won't let me</font><font size="2" color="#99cc00"> </font><font size="3" color="#339966"><font size="2">- </font></font><font size="1" color="#339966">Mark Oliver Everett</font></p><p> </p> </div>

 

[jcdenton]

Its really annoys mean when people play the race card. As if every movie has to have a racial quota to be political correct. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

The funny thing is, it wasn't that long ago when the thought of casting a black man in the lead role of a blockbuster like this wouldn't even have occurred to anybody. And his leading lady is white woman. I think we've come a long way as a society. <br /><br />And yes, I didn't notice anything about race in this movie -- I was following the plot and enjoying the action and the human/robot interaction. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jcdenton]

<font color="yellow">The funny thing is, it wasn't that long ago when the thought of casting a black man in the lead role of a blockbuster like this wouldn't even have occurred to anybody. And his leading lady is white woman. I think we've come a long way as a society.</font><br /><br />Exactly, so why is it still an issue with some people? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[redracer02]

Man, I can't wait to see this movie. Too bad the wife doesn't like these types. Gotta wait until it is on DVD.

 

[jcdenton]

Why not go with a friend then? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>