Category Archives: Automata

Can Robots Be Trusted?

Robby the Robot embodied Asimov’s robotic laws. The robot also provided an early demonstration of self-driving cars.  Watch this a clip from the 1956 movie, "Forbidden Planet," which introduced Robby the Robot to the public.
Robby the Robot embodied Asimov’s robotic laws. The robot also provided an early demonstration of self-driving cars. Watch this a clip from the 1956 movie, “Forbidden Planet,” which introduced Robby the Robot to the public.

In “Self-driving cars and the Trolley problem,” Tanay Jaipuria provides an interesting and valuable examination of some of the dilemmas posed by trusting automatons such as self-driving vehicles to take care of people: Continue reading Can Robots Be Trusted?

The End of Life As We Know It

European wealth surged after the European’s adopted Arabic numbers, including recognizing the existence of zero and infinity, which led to calculus and ultimately the Industrial Revolution [1]. Steam power, assembly-­line manufacturing, and applied science made Europeans the richest people in history, because technology increased productivity. But then the rapid rise of productivity came to a near halt, soon after the “Internetal Revolution.” Why?

Continue reading The End of Life As We Know It