A few days ago I read an article in the prestigious IEEE Spectrum and after making a free interpretation of the text, I have more questions than answers. In short (which is interesting in the article), I can anticipate that the foundation of the text revolves around the uncertainty in the labor market creates the appearance (increasingly) of robots replacing humans in positions work, until a short time ago, did not conceive otherwise than "made by humans". Not shrink away too much in this introduction and thinking the same phone line that brings Internet today, a generation ago was working to billions of women in charge of communicating with each other destinations around the world. Thousands of millions of jobs lost and if we start the article, we discuss what can be together soon.
The article is a transcript of a conversation between a journalist and a distinguished faculty member at Rice University who also runs the "Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology" at the University, where they both address the issue we announced in the header of the article: "humans are being displaced from their jobs by robots." In the article mentioned activities already leaving many (but many) people on the street without a future hopeless labor. Automated boxes with RFID tags in department stores, the machines clean the floors, transportation systems, GPS-guided, robot maids who bring order to the table, the menu is being replaced by tablets (tablets), the plants like Foxconn electronics manufacturing, assembly or automotive parts and a huge list of jobs that are not just statistical numbers. They are people, like your father, as you and with your children in future generations.
Many are excited, in some parts of the world, demonstrating that auto run themselves and are able to park without human intervention, where loaded GPS information with the vacant parking lots and take the car only up there to you do not waste time looking for a place to park. To start the comments: how can we call this if it were a newspaper headline: "Efficient and secure automatic handling system, demonstrates the technological advancement of our industry." Or it could appear stating, "Millions of taxi drivers and truck drivers, around the world lose their jobs after the adoption of the new vehicles with automatic handling systems. Global shock. "Both headlines were talking and informing the very triumph of technology?
The article talks about the advances and replacement of people in work in the field, with planters and harvesters that run unattended, enabling higher yields with fewer people and, as mentioned earlier, the list could be endless. Although it seems to be a maze with no exit, we all know that there are things that machines can never achieve. Can you imagine a TV series made by robots cool all the same? It would be just awful, right? However, that does not mean that at that time, the world population has been decimated as far as work is concerned. It will take a significant and radical cultural change to realize that there will be jobs (job specific) labor market will disappear and will be exclusive of the machines. And workers moving from machines to machines that can give us pleasure, is addressed in a talk time of technological advancement that has taken the automotive industry. Performance and comfort are exceeded every day while competing brands every inch, offering the best but, are not we creating monsters that pollute more, made more difficult to recycle materials? That is, (following controversial comments) got out of the vehicles, abandoned its use and opted for transportation means more "green"? What are we doing? Are we moving towards a technology harmful to ourselves?
The conclusion of the talk focuses on that article expresses a concern about the legacy we are leaving to future generations in terms of moving forward with technology, no matter where the end of this great Tower of Babel. Regardless of how many will be displaced and how big will the gap between those socio-cultural master technology to come and those who can not even access them as consumers. And on this particular topic, in the comments of the article, there is a realistic analysis presents the following suggestion: "If machines will keep the jobs of the people, who will become consumers, how the machines ? If there is a consumer public that you can choose between product A or product B, there is no competition, only a monopoly. The evolution of AI (Artificial Intelligence) between machines will grow to levels capable of meeting data ignore the consumer products, reason why, always buy the same product, bankrupting the other companies. And the destructive spiral will continue until they are ... alone? "
Where do we take the AI and the evolution of the Robots? Is it open further the gap between powerful companies (who have the most efficient machines) and the poor or marginalized by the system? Without reaching the end of the article, surrounded by paranoia that may not exist in 2045, is unhealthy understand today that a machine can do the work of one or more operators, will not work for one or more families. From a sidewalk, a business is not to be missed, while from the other lane, the opposite, is losing the dignity of a job and a future. For one production line that requires only one or two maintenance technicians, why another? A market without consumers, jobless and penniless? Does the man know put an ethical limit to this crossroads ahead? What do you think?
It is not at all unreasonable that a film is subject to certain "legal assessment" before its release. After all, no person or company wants to get "stuck" in a negative way when a movie plays a "sensitive matter". For "2001," Stanley Kubrick made a great effort to convey publicly that HAL 9000 had nothing to do with IBM, but in April 1966, almost two years before the premiere of the film, sent a letter referring to "the state of affairs with IBM "in relation to psychotic behavior HAL 9000-murderer who was going to show on the big screen ...
Already there are countless occasions when we talked about artificial intelligence in one form or another redirect all their might against the human race. One of the best examples is definitely in "2001", which turns 45 years old next April. The film has been studied by experts of all kinds, but in general, what we get closer to those who follow the tech world is the reaction of the AI system HAL 9000, and its consequences. Almost two years before the film's release, the actions of HAL 9000 caused some concern in Stanley Kubrick, who through a letter sent to Roger Caras Productions Polaris requested additional information on IBM's position as to HAL 9000, because as puts it in the text, one of the main themes of the story is "a psychotic computer".
Both Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke has said repeatedly that the "advance letter" between HAL and IBM was just a coincidence. Officially, HAL belongs to "Heuristically programmed Algorithmic computer", but the fact is that IBM, like other companies, has a presence in the film (some no longer exist, as in the case of Pan Am). The fact that IBM "being there" and HAL 9000 was dedicated to killing astronauts Kubrick warrant concern, but equally interesting is the response of Roger Caras. To be completely sure of the situation, contacted DC Faces Hollister, Corporate Director of Public Relations at IBM, which made it clear that the IBM name was not associated in any way with the failure of HAL 9000, and that obviously was not an IBM machine.
The final position of IBM stated that if it was associated by name to the "equipment failure", there would be no objection if Kubrick decided advisory companies mentioned in the credits of the film, nor would objections provided that IBM is "buried "in the list with other companies, and that was not specifically advertised as providing" technical advice "to HAL 9000. The decision no doubt came to fruition, but this response "diplomatic" makes it clear that in the halls of the giant blue someone asked the same question that Kubrick. Do not forget that IBM was going through a golden moment with the complete success of your system 360, and tarnish his reputation with a film, it was more indirect association, was crazy.
A group of scientists from the Universities of Sheffield and Sussex are developing what could become the first artificial brain of honeybee history. The ambitious project aims to build an accurate computer model that mimics perfectly the behavior of the brain of one of these insects and use it as "trip computer" of a flying robot can operate autonomously. If they succeed it will be a major step in the development of artificial intelligence (AI).
A team of scientists is working on the creation of a computer model that emulates much of the brain of a honeybee. The European honeybee (Apis mellifera), also known as domestic bee or honey bee, bee species is the most widely distributed in the world. This team, consisting of experts from the Universities of Sheffield and Sussex hopes to develop a kind of "robotic bee brain" that can play to perfection governing systems vision and sense of smell of these insects and use it to command which would be the first autonomous flying robot with the ability to behave autonomously as a bee. Work has already begun, and if successful will be fulfilling one of the greatest challenges of modern science: build a robotic brain capable of complex tasks. Generally, such work has focused on the mammalian brain emulation. But insects also have brains "powerful", including a greater ability to discriminate odors or chemicals present.
According to James Marshall, a computer scientist at the University of Sheffield as part of this task force, "a simulated brain is one of the great challenges of artificial intelligence. So far, many attempts to recreate biological brains have focused on cognitive systems found in humans, monkeys and mice. We have so far neglected the simpler organisms like insects, despite having surprisingly advanced cognitive abilities." Scientists hope to use these flying robots in search and rescue missions, or even mechanical pollination of some crops. This project will also serve to better understand how the brain of Apis mellifera.
Like it or not, Google does not rest and while you put your content before the start of a new extension for Chrome, the people of Mountain View is working on an artificial brain of billions of neural connections using 16,000 computers. While still unable to go into space as the mind of the crew and then conspiring to kill all humans in it, now is working to identify cats on the web through a learning process that does not carry any human assistance.
Although Einstein said that human stupidity is one of the only certainties, our brain is the machine that every scientist dreams of imitating through some invention that forever revolutionize artificial intelligence. The calculation capacity, the unused potential and everything that makes the mystical brain has drawn attention to laboratory scientists Google X, apart from the invention of augmented reality devices and cars that drive themselves, have made research on neural networks and how machines can learn alone if they are connected to each other and the Internet. Thus, the artificial brain of Google begins to take shape.
The first test was done to the neural network consists of 16,000 processors Google more than a billion connections was to get online and expose it to 10 million thumbnail images found on YouTube videos. The neural network then began searching for what humans look for more: cats. According to information leaked, the neural network is taught herself to discover the cats in the pictures, and the result will be presented by researchers next week, but they are very satisfied as cats have been recognized efficiently in a list than 200,000 objects. It also reconfirmed the biological hypothesis that says that individual neurons are trained to detect important objects, even in the era of today are cats.
This learning model which is called "deep learning" (Learning in depth) is part of the latest in research of speech recognition by computers these days, and Microsoft also demonstrated to be aware and in the process of investigation. Despite not even dream of achieving the power of human cortex, the Google brain artificially proves to be more and more intelligent as it faces huge amounts of data. Is that since Google insisted that there was some support for the selection and identification of objects during the learning process and that this could have been neurologically successfully completed by repetition. That is, they never told "this is a cat", but the neural network invented the concept itself.
