Existing in New York City: Trying to Learn How to Be a Good Robot

Foto by tgw, New York City 2012
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As We Are Existing
Did you ever stop and consider the millions and millions of scientists around the world who are working on the mad side of science every hour of every day somewhere? Like this nanotechnology. We may as well face it: millions of scientists truly believe in this nanotechnology. www.foresight.org is an amazing site for me, though, OK, I'll admit it, I don't understand a hell of a whole lot of what I read on it, but it's still fascinating for me to try and read it and understand it because it's stuff some of my brainier fellow human-monkey beings are full-fledged and hell-or-high-water-like into and believing in in a "foresight" manner. Check out their Nanodot Weblog: www.foresight.org/nanodot/.

Like here's a fascinating kind of scary little item I found at the Nanodot Weblog, dig this:

Humanoid robot for military showcases advances in robotics

Posted by Jim Lewis on November 7th, 2011

Among the emerging technologies expected to transform society over the coming decades [my emphasis], robotics at all scales is interesting because it provides graphic evidence that technology is getting better at mimicking increasingly complex movement and behavior [again, my emphasis]. Last month we noted the impressive progress achieved by Boston Dynamics’ AlphaDog project to develop a robot “pack animal” for the US military [My comment (interjection): Can you see the principles of a drone/robotic army and air force evolving here? Turn war into a continuous scientific sport?] Apparently there has been equally impressive progress in developing a humanoid robot capable of faithfully mimicking human movements to test protective suits for use by the military, and ultimately, to replace humans in a variety of arduous and dangerous tasks [my emphasis]. This month IEEE Spectrum gave us this update: “Stunning Video of PETMAN Humanoid Robot From Boston Dynamics“, by Erico Guizzo:

… The humanoid, which will certainly be compared to the Terminator Series 800 model, can perform various movements and maintain its balance much like a real person.

Boston Dynamics is building PETMAN, short for Protection Ensemble Test Mannequin, for the U.S. Army, which plans to use the robot to test chemical suits and other protective gear used by troops. It has to be capable of moving just like a soldier — walking, running, bending, reaching, army crawling — to test the suit’s durability in a full range of motion. …

I also asked Raibert if they could eventually use PETMAN or PETMAN-related technologies in other projects. In other words, are we going to see PETMAN used in applications other than the chemical suit tests?

“You bet,” he says. “There are all sorts of things robots like PETMAN could be used for. Any place that has been designed for human access, mobility, or manipulation skills. Places like the Fukushima reactors could be accessed by PETMAN-like robots (or AlphaDogs), without requiring any human exposure to hazardous materials. Perhaps firefighting inside of buildings or facilities designed for human access, like on board ships designed for human crews.” …

After watching the video, Guizzo’s comparison to the Terminator Series 800 model doesn’t strike me as all that far-fetched. When they announce something that reminds us of the T-1000, I’ll know that advanced nanotechnology is imminent.

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The Wolf-Man Robot
After noticing that some state has authorized the poisoning of tens of thousands of blackbirds--because they are doing what comes natural to them, finding a food and water source along their natural migration paths through our Midwest farming regions--and then after reading the above horn-tooting post on the Nanodot Weblog about our humanitarian military investing millions and millions in researching robotic warfare toys, I reflected on how we human-monkeys hate anything natural. One of our mistriggered notions we've had in our rather stupid minds considering the death-defying nature of human-monkey progress is that we must ELIMINATE Nature from this planet. These nanotech scientists--and like I said, there are millions of them out there--in nanoengineering, nanomedicine, nanodesign, nanoimaging, nanomanagement, etc.--seem to recognize this trait and are trying to compensate for it by creating these robots to mimick us, to become the future slaves for us, to do all our shit work for us, to take chances for us, to even take bullets for us. The new soldier's first issue will not be an AKA but will be a remote-control device that operates his robotic replacement on the battlefield.

This all stemming from us stupid creatures considering ourselves above nature in some big-pie-in-the-sky wonderland of eternal-life fantasy. I think of Heaven as a world full of crazies; Hell being where all the sane that walked among us go. Remember, the fictitional Jesus taught that scumbags of all kinds from child abusers on up to mob wackers and politicians who diddle young girls in their offices with illegal Cuban cigars can come to Heaven if they just "confess their sins" and then righteously follow old Jesus on up the tribulation trail [remember, Hitler was a Christian].

I'm just thinking how these millions of bright-ass scientists, mad or otherwise, are devising new principles (mechanical principles) of matter, of being, or corporeal existence, of spirit, of mind, of the future of our evolving into a totally mechanistic society--because, in case you didn't know it, scientists through mathematics and computer robotics have their own universal language and communications capabilities--life reduced down to a binary mathematical way of existence--Being and Nothingness--pure Existential existence.

Looking forward to Doomsday this year! ARE YOU READY?

thegrowlingroboticwolf
robotically for The Daily NanoGrowler

A Little Taste of New York City Art:

James Rizzi's New York City Heart--his native Brooklyn pulsating on the right; his downtown Manhattan world pumping it up on the left. R.I.P. Ratso.