Google acquires developer of military robots. (Boston Dynamics)

"The world's largest Internet search company acquired Boston Dynamics, a privately held company best known for building robots that look as if they belong in a science-fiction movie and which are often co-developed or funded by the U.S. military.

The acquisition is the latest by Google's secretive robotics division, led by Andy Rubin, the former boss of the company's Android mobile operating system. Google's new robotics division has acquired more than a half-dozen other robotics companies."

Oh yeah.

So you're aware that google have managed to snag Ray "singularity" Kurzweil too right?

So the company with the biggest interest in AI algorithms and software has just become the proud owner of the company that builds the best robotic hardware...

Ray will build the brain and Boston Dynamics will build the body.



I really hope they're keeping that "don't be evil" motto in mind. >.<

there isn't an economic market for robotic, except in production plants and in the military.

We are on the edge of change comparable to the rise of human life on Earth…Within 30 years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will end.
- Vernor Vinge (San Diego University Professor of Computer Science. Speaking in 1993)



The ultimate achievement of bio-control may be the control of man himself…The controlled subject would never be permitted to think as individuals. A few months after, a surgeon would equip each child with a socket mounted under the scalp and electrodes reaching selected areas of brain tissue…the child’s sensory perceptions and muscular activity could be modified or completely controlled by bioelectric signals radiating from state-controlled transmitters
- Curtiss R Schafer (Engineer, Norden-ketay Corporation)

Last Edited by Ohwell on 12/18/2013 06:21 AM

Oh yeah dude. Mr Kurzweil like many others want to acquire godhood or immortality via technology. He even said that in 30-40 years that we'll be able to connect our brain to a cloud, not only that, he wants to be able to download your brain data so to speak and inplant into a robotic copy of yourself. Basicly YOU 2.0.

Now to me, this sounds like a death cult emerging. Is he saying that you have to kill your first body in order to remerge into another ones? Is that new robotic you, really you still?

No imo it's just a copy.

Oh I'm sure it'll swear on it's silicon heart that it is you and it will believe it too.
But it won't be the same you that sat down and plugged in... that will be gone.

I'm all for augmentation of the human lifespan, even augmentation of our physical bodies to a certain degree but they can stay da fuck away from my mind because they really don't have a clue how it works really.

You are incorrect imo.

I suspect you are not keeping up with current developments in deployment in everything from the service industry to the domestic sector, it can be tough to keep pace as it is happening very fast.

South Korea for example, one of the most technologically advanced nations on Earth has robots already employed in roles as diverse as prison guards, preschool assistants, waiters, receptionists and so on.

It may be a little slower to manifest in the west (due to our love of unions and jobs, jobs, jobs,)but it's inevitable.

edit: I should also add that another reason it's a lot slower in the west is because while robots rolling about on their own collecting bins or whatever might be perfectly fine in somewhere like Japan, they wouldn't last 5 minutes on the street in a western nation without getting the shit kicked out of them... and that's a fact.

Last Edited by Lucky Charms on 12/18/2013 07:45 AM

policy enforcers.

can't wait to 187 them.

People need to wake up and understand that Google (and Facebook, etc) ARE THE MILITARY. Google in particular was created by DARPA, the military's research arm. They never stopped BEING military, they just cover it up. And the real enemy is US - the American people.

No, it's not "you", nor is it really human. To be human is to be organic as being organic and fully participating in the natural world and experiencing it, including the experience of decay and death, is an essential part of the process of being - and understanding. To become the metal man is to become the Golem or the Frankenstein monster, a truly unnatural creature with no place in or understanding of the natural world and its creatures. Ultimately the consciousness in there, such as it would be, would be driven to destroy what it can never fully participate in, rather than rejoice in its role as part of creation.

I have always believe that the greatest literary work of modern times, and perhaps...ever...is "Frankenstein" as it examines what happens when man exceeds his role by creating a totally new creature that does not belong in the natural order....and then abandons his responsibilities to that creation. That has been the nature of science ever since....to discover new things in a childlike joy of discovering while having NO real sense of responsibililty for either what is created, or its effects upon the rest of the world. Things are done because they CAN be, not because they should. There is a complete lack of moral framework or understanding in their undertakings, truly, they know not what they do, and in their hubris they will never listen to others.

The ordinary person reading this article need only ask, "Why does Google need all these robots, especially robots like those galloping "animals" that can easily outrun men at 16 mph?" There IS no "good" answer to this, nothing that can benefit the public.

I love it. We need to pass that logo around.

it isnt new
[link to www.bustedtees.com]

He still took HAL out though, LOL.....

I guess it's new to me - probably to a lot of other folks too. I think people need to learn to hate and fear the Google. Maybe it could be the name for the new robotic race...the Google.

Last Edited by mehitable lives on 12/18/2013 09:32 AM

So could people's natural antipathy towards robots give rise to a new liberal cause....robotism? I'd say maybe we could have a goal of a robot president someday but Obama already beat us to it.

Yes he did, and John Conner kicked Skynet's ass multiple times.

Neo pissed all over the Matrix.

Let them build their toys and their hollow men and their virtual brains, humanity will prevail because we can.

If we build a genuine AI we will have to deal with it.

If we confirm it is sentient then pulling the plug is murdering a new life form... it would get very messy, ethics, civil rights.

Robots demand the vote... the robot suffrage movement.

The L.A cyber riots of 2022.

Equal rights for robots!
Robot/human marriage!

It'll be the same shit we've gone through over and over again throughout history... it's just this time the skin color will be polished chrome, the sexual orientation will be USB, and they are smarter, stronger and faster than ALL OF US.

That's it man, I'm flushing my phone, that bitch Siri has been getting a bit cheeky for my taste lately.

But seriously, we build a real AI these questions will have to be addressed.

Last Edited by Lucky Charms on 12/18/2013 09:39 AM

Until they can figure out how to give their robots a "soul", which is where Man gets his imagination from...we'll always have an edge. Robots can only follow programming or deviate from it in predictable ways....Man can be completely unpredictable because he has a soul...and because the natural world itself will not cooperate with these artificial beings. Even they are subject to the entropy of rust and other natural elements.