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Category: robotics/AI

Finally, there’s a crowdfunding campaign for people who want to watch giant robots fight to the death.

MegaBots Inc. — a Boston-based company that builds huge, human-operated, fighting robots — launched a Kickstarter campaign today (Aug. 19) to raise money to develop a huge, gun-toting robot, in preparation for an upcoming “duel” with a similar “battle bot” from Japan.

The campaign has already drawn in nearly $200,000 of the requested $500,000, and robot fans have until Sept. 18 to contribute funds. [See photos of MegaBots’ massive “battle bot”].

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A brief introduction on the coming technological singularity. And a hint at how digital peer to peer cryptocurrencies like bitcoin which was the first. Will turn the ‘internet of things’ into the ‘economy of things’. Plus also I feel validates the case for a new debt free monetary system to provide a universal citizen’s dividend.

#technologicalSingularity #singularity #AI #cryptocurrency #bitcoin #citizensDividend #socialDividend #universalBasicIncome #basicIncome

Discuss this video: http://www.reddit.com/r/CGPGrey/comments/2dfh5v/humans_need_not_apply/ http://www.CGPGrey.com/ https://twitter.com/cgpgrey ## Robots, Etc…

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=c_YV_omTtAg

But the ultimate goals of the project are nothing short of amazing: “The best possible outcome is to map the entirety of existing cache of neural network algorithms and applications to this energy-efficient substrate,” said Modha. “And, to invent entirely new algorithms that were hereto before impossible to imagine.”

IBM scientists are advancing toward “neuromorphic” computing — digital systems that process information like the brain — and launching a complete ecosystem for brain-like computing, with important near-term applications and visionary long-term prospects.

“For decades, computer scientists have been pursuing two elusive goals in parallel: engineering energy-efficient computers modeled on the human brain and designing smart computing systems that learn on their own — like humans do — and are not programmed like today’s computers,” said Dharmendra S. Modha, IBM Fellow and Chief Scientist for brain-inspired computing.

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Computer scientists have found that robots evolve more quickly and efficiently after a virtual mass extinction modeled after real-life disasters such as the one that killed off the dinosaurs. Beyond implications for artificial intelligence, the research supports the idea that mass extinctions actually speed up evolution by unleashing new creativity in adaptations.

Photo credit: Joel Lehman.

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Interesting…but I’d rather it was ME that was immortal, not some virtual copy.

By learning everything there is to know about you and your online habits, social network ETER9 promises a kind of digital immortality wherein an artificially intelligent agent continues to post on your behalf long after you’re dead. The future is creepier than we ever imagined.

ETER9, a startup launched by Portuguese developer Henrique Jorge, is still in the beta phase, but 5,000 people have already signed up for the service. It currently features a Facebook-like newsfeed, and a “cortex” that works much like a Facebook wall. But that’s where the similarities end.

This Social Network Turns Your Personality Into an Immortal Artificial Intelligence

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https://soundcloud.com/a16z/a16z-podcast-techs-big-ideas-and-the-swallow-the-red-pill-moment-with-dan-siroker-and-marc-andreessen

The Curiosity rover has snapped a brand new self-portrait and, like any good newbie selfie-taker, it’s figuring out its best angles—not only to show itself off, but also to show us something new about the Martian landscape it lives on.

This newest selfie was made, like the others, by stitching together panoramic shots from the rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager. But by dropping to a low-camera angle and not an overhand shot like before, we’re suddenly able to see the full surrounding horizon. Essentially, we’re seeing not just Curiosity in this selfie; we’re also seeing what Curiosity sees. That view becomes even more pronounced in this second version of the selfie, this one with the horizon wrapped entirely around the robot:

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Videos of creepy robots trying their best to walk like humans (with absolutely no help from their abusive owners) are nothing new, but this new footage of the Atlas humanoid walking robot, developed by Google-owned company Boston Dynamics, is a game changer.

Usually these videos are shot in a lab, or on a treadmill — an artificial environment where the terrain that the robot is walking on can be controlled and maintained.

However, the latest video from the Boston Dynamics team, which gets funding from the US Defence budget, shows the Atlas robot running through a real forest.

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