Robots with guns
Friday, April 14, 2006
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2006-04-13-robot-soldiers_x.htm
I see a dozen articles like this every day, so this is just one slice of the pie when it comes to where tech and robotics is going, especially battlefield tech. One of my recent favorites was the "
BigDog" which DARPA developed and can carry I think 80lbs., stands about waist-high, jogs at a trot, and can't lose its balance (running through mud, water, snow, even when kicked). They want it to be able to run supplies in to troops who are stuck in battle or camped in a remote place.
I'm trying to think if this is the first robot that's being tailored specifically to carry a machine gun and shoot people on a battlefield. I think it is. Sheesh. I remember the day when a jerky robot arm with two clickity-clack fingers and an opposable thumb was jaw-dropping stuff that made people gasp in awe. That's all so antiquated now. It's hard to believe that I never thought I'd get to say 'antiquated' and 'robot' in the same sentence (well, in two adjoining sentences). I wonder if there's a giant robot junkyard somewhere, where our once-loved cast aways are all conspiring to rebel...
I don't think it should be too long until we finally see the above technologies - robots carrying supplies and shooting machine guns on the battlefield - coupled with social humanoid robot technology (think
Asimo). In fact I only see the two coming together, naturally, and being able as a result to rise far above their current limitations. Unlike our species, the robotic species evolves exponentially - such is the norm when you have computers for brains. Even though good AI may current only have the reasoning of a 3 year old, they're getting smarter. So, yes, I'm sure there'll be a day when walking robot soldiers enter the battlefield, while human officers sit safely in a command post a few thousand miles away (and actually, the latter is already true).
One day they're serving beverages, the next they're blowing up enemy encampments. Isn't this how the cylons started?
Free TV on the internet (no, really)
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
http://news.com.com/2100-1034-6060306.htmlThis "could spell trouble for cable and satellite providers, but it also throws into question the strategy of telephone companies spending billions to get into the paid TV business" even though "no one is expecting Internet television to cannibalize traditional TV models overnight."
All I can say is, FINALLY. In the beginning, there was free TV and radio. And it was good. Then the internet came along, and computers became more sophisticated, and Metallica promptly pissed all over it. Dark days reigned and people cowered as fat cats and boy bands and an army of goon lawyers unleashed terror upon the earth, suing 9-year-olds and grandmothers into submission (because they damn well deserved it, right!) until everyone fell into line. But then, there was a tiny glimmer of sunlight: somebody got a fucking clue. And not just any somebody, AOhelL. On the sixth day, in2tv was created, and we saw it, and it was good. The world trembled at the knowledge that the business world could both embrace technology and give people what they've wanted all along: free TV on the internet.
And the other big name fat cats looked upon the offering, and they saw that it was good, and they said "Let me in on that" because obviously it was an exciting new business model that could make them loads of cash just on the hype alone. And the world didn't explode, nor did the sun cleave itself in two; TV was had for free on the internet and not one poor soul had to go without a Land Rover or beach condo or silk TP on that day.
Yes, when people get over their "internet flu" and realize it isn't the scourge of the universe or that people who share on it are not all black-hearted thieves, maybe they'll embrace it. It's a giant playground, a totally formless frontier, and there's just no excuse to not listen to what the people want (for once) and then give it to them. With the amount of homes coming online every day, and that broadband is almost as common as mom's meatloaf, that just leaves a lot of empty room to move and nobody using it.
And cable and satellite TV companies? Your service costs too much, anyway. And who the hell wants to pay for 16 different shopping networks in your tier packages just because they wanna keep up with
Battlestar Galactica and
Mythbusters? I doubt many.
TV will never go the way of the do-do bird, no. It'll be around long enough for the day when we can implant it right into our eyeballs, and even past then when our grandchildren can watch TV while they're snoozing in their interplanetary hypersleep chambers. But what
will happen is that TV will have to change. Telecom will have to merge with high-speed internet
and cable TV. Create a weird hybrid telecablecom beast if you must, but these are your orders. And it'll have to look and act a lot more like the internet. Which will have to look and act a lot more like TV. Got it? This is your new business model, to wake up and smell the coffee and quit focusing so much on your designer wallet. Give the people more of what they want and less of the worthless crap you want to heap on us, and things might work out nice.
I see a dozen articles like this every day, so this is just one slice of the pie when it comes to where tech and robotics is going, especially battlefield tech. One of my recent favorites was the "BigDog" which DARPA developed and can carry I think 80lbs., stands about waist-high, jogs at a trot, and can't lose its balance (running through mud, water, snow, even when kicked). They want it to be able to run supplies in to troops who are stuck in battle or camped in a remote place.
