Thinking Robots

October 11, 2011
Japanese scientist unveils 'thinking' robot

"We might ask a robot to bring soy sauce to the dinner table. It might browse the Internet to learn what soy sauce is and identify it in the kitchen," said Hasegawa.

But, cautions the professor, there are reasons to be careful about robots that can learn.

What kinds of tasks should we allow computers to perform? And is it possible that they might turn against us, like in the apocalyptic vision of Stanley Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey".

"A kitchen knife is a useful thing. But it can also become a weapon," he said.

1. "Robot, safety off."
2. "Robot, go get me some cash."
3. Robot browses the Internet to learn how to get cash.
4. Robot reads its creator's thoughts on kitchen knives.
5. Robot uses kitchen knife to get some cash.

It all seemed perfectly reasonable to me. I assume my robot opened up a new restaurant, right? Why so shocked? What did my robot do? It wielded a knife? Seriously?

May 9, 2010
Researcher offers arm to knife-wielding robot

Without the collision avoidance system, the kitchen knife naturally went right into the slab of pork. But with the system activated, it only penetrated the pig by about 1 millimeter. Haddadin's arm was unscathed. Thankfully, it wasn't subjected to testing with the "safety" off.

Oops. I suddenly feel like the CEO of a bank too large to fail. I only said "safety off" so that the robot would be willing to take on more investment risk. It was using the knife like a gorilla would? How could I have possibly foreseen the unintended consequences of my actions?

I must admit that I was a bit surprised by the enormous profits my robot generated. Perhaps the government can come in and clean up my mess. At the very least, it would seem that I need a TARP to contain the lifeblood. Can I assume that I can keep the profits that I've already distributed to the robot's one owner though?

Gallows humor!