For this particular blog, our main focus of discussion is how humans are becoming more like machines and how machines are becoming more like humans. Below you will see essays, articles and videos explaining our different sub topics.
Unlike other systems, human intelligence can perform any task they can describe. For instance, if you can
describe how to solve an equation you can solve it too. You can describe how a coffee maker works without being able to do the coffee maker work. Indeed,
the designer of any machine can describe how it works; therefore the machine cannot be
smarter that its designer. It can work quickly, but not smarter.
Do robots have feelings? Could we ever create a robotic human? Rosalind
Picard, Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT, presents at Rice's
2011 Veritas Forum. She discusses her work on affective computing, an
interdisciplinary field that explores new sensors and systems that
recognize and respond respectfully to human emotions.
So you want to text in class again but don't want to cause a disturbance in class again? You urgently need to update your friends about your hopeless life on Twitter but don't want to risk the life of your phone? Introducing, Siri! Siri is an interactive app for the iPhone in which you can just ask Siri just about ANYTHING you want, and she will magically make it happen at a matter of seconds. Why is she important you ask? Well, with Siri, you don't have to depend on physical strength to text, instead just tell Siri who and what to text and she'll do it without the stress of pressing a couple of buttons. This will save you valuable time in the long run. Also you can tell it to do simple commands. Although "Siri, make me a sandwich" is kind of stretching the truth, she does other things. Like for example, you can tell it to remind you about an important date, set your alarm for the next day, etc. With the evolution of Siri, who needs the daily stress of pushing buttons constantly. YOU control her, and she is your slave (if you have an iPhone batteries and accessories not included.) It has become so dependent on humans that it is evolving from iPhones, into cars as well! Again, we see the connection of how technology has become human; how humans are more dependent on technology's functions rather than themselves, and how technology is becoming human and being given human like characteristics. Want to learn more about Siri in cars? Click here!
The book/DVD presentation entitled the Understanding the Digital Generation goes into deft about how in the 21 century adolescence are coupled with the technology around them but it is not being used to their full advantage. On the official website http://www.understandingthedigitalgeneration.com/ it explains how teachers today aren't fully equipped to teach in this particular generation. The world it not what it used to be 20 or even 10 years ago. The technology advances that students have access to are being on waisted recreational purposes. Everday the younger generation becomes more involved with technolgy which causes personalities to be more digitally robotic.
In the article (click here), the Japanese have developed a human like female android. Japanese scientists have created this android to look and act like a human being; she responds to people's movements and she has silicone skin that feels real. In the article it's mentioned that in years to come, they hope to develop an android that could pass off as human: "An android could get away with it for a short time, 5-10
seconds. However, if we carefully select the situation, we could extend
that, to perhaps 10 minutes." Even though they can make it somewhat of a reality, its doesn't seem close to having genuine emotions, it's programmed to react a certain way once it come across a specific interaction. They even said they can hopefully have interactions that lasts 10 minutes, which is nothing like a human at all.
