24 Nov 2009
I went for a stroll through the graveyard the other day. It was a random event, however, enjoyable to a certain extent. I didn’t intend to make a photoshoot out of it, however, I found some interesting scenes and moments along the way.
I was thinking about the people who had gone through life and were now buried in the cemetery. What might their lives have been like? How must they have looked? Could there be a trace of history they have left behind? What will their descendants think or know about them? Did they even have offspring at all?
It’s interesting when all these questions come to mind as you start formulating all these stories about lives you know nothing certain about, except for their last words. I sometimes wonder about what will my last words be, I would at least hope for them to be somewhat meaningful. Or maybe something completely random would do just as well.
27 Oct 2009
“Boston Dynamics, makers of BigDog, i.e., the coolest robot ever made, are in the process of building a dynamically balanced humanoid. PETMAN is their new 2-legged robot sponsored by the US Army for the purpose of testing chemical protection clothing for the soldiers.
Boston Dynamics has not released much information about PETMAN other than that the project has 2 phases : phase 1 has a 13-month duration focused on design and phase 2 has a 17-month duration for building, validating and installing the robot. The company expects to deliver the robot in 2011.”
via Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.
25 Sep 2009
Yesterday was National Punctuation Day in the U.S.A. and although I do not live in the US, I wrote this short ode to the Inverted Question Mark:
I am in love with the inverted question mark “¿”. It hangs like a light bulb, with such charisma and curves. It is but a mere symbol, however, a symbol so special to me. I am in love with this question mark, as it states the unraveling awkwardness of the world, a strange world in which I grew up in. ¿Is it true, my love, that a question should start with you? You represent a world with many languages, many signs, and many symbols. My inverted question mark, you represent change, beauty and awkwardness. My inverted question mark, you will always be my true undaunted love.
22 Sep 2009
The atmosphere ringed on for ages, with purple-green horizons staring back at me. And the eyes grew from deep within the trees. I knew I was there, at the right place, at the right time.
I wandered around the tree, one that would be cut down in the following months. I heard sounds of acoustic guitars rattling by near my head; while the bass drum, suspended in mid-air, bang swiftly to the rhythm of drum and bass.
The climbing plants created envelopes around me, and the canvas was covered, bloodshed. I new it was the place, but was it the time? I felt the grass whispering to my feet, don’t strangle me please, don’t kill me. And the buzzing of the birds, and the tweeting of bees, it rang through my brain, tormenting.
It was all going to fast, I could barely understand. It might be the time, but it might not be the place.
And I turned to the tree again, shivering. Icicles formed on the branches of the climbing plants. I was sweltering in the 40ºC mid-day heat. The sky turned orange, then purple again. I did not understand, I felt the violins scream around me. Or they might have been guitars, squelching at incredible speeds. Key change.
I touched the tree, as it slowly faded away into dreams, dreams of a past taken away from me, dreams of a photograph erased, dreams from a lost post, dreams from a memory.
13 Sep 2009
You may have heard of (or seen) HONDA’s humanoid robot ASIMO before. ASIMO stands for “Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility” although many would argue that it is in reverence to Isaac Asimov. Currently over 100 units exist, and each costs about 1 million USD.
It has been featured in many different shows, including CES, amongst others. Many believe ASIMO to be a step forward in the progress of true AI. I have read comments on forums and on the videos themselves of people who are alarmed that they would one day take over the world. There are concerned people voicing their thoughts on humans playing god.
All of this has been going on for decades. Some of us look for answers to our creation, wanting to explore the duplication of our processes, and genuinely believing that our mind is composed of algorithms that can be replicated into a machine that can be said to be intelligent. Some of us hate the fact that we are trying to recreate life, and composed others based on our intelligence, stating that it is immoral.
Well, for those of you who are scared about your safety: Robots won’t take over the earth, nor will they turn evil as pictured in the film “I, Robot”. However I do believe the age is coming in which the creations of the imagination and creativity of science fiction authors such as Isaac Asimov’s are turning into real life events. And I do believe that some day it might be possible that they could in turn right their own viruses, spyware, spam the whole internet, conduct highly specialised cracking attacks, amongst other things.
I mean, computer programs can already compile and recompile themselves, as several professional adware programmers have shown in the past. It is only a matter of time before the creation of the spark that will give life to a rational being, one that can act not only for the wellbeing of others, but for it’s own wellbeing. One that can induce creative thoughts, and produce creative output.
That will be an age in which a computer will be able to effectively upload it’s code to the web, allowing expansion over the net, replication in different programming languages, and collaboration of thousands of millions of bots infesting supercomputer clusters.
However, back to earth, back to the 21st century. I found 3 really impressive videos of ASIMO that I would like to share with you. Voice your comments back to me if it causes any interest.
A rundown on ASIMO’s main features:
ASIMO coordination intelligence and interaction with other ASIMO’s:
ASIMO conducts the Detroit Symphony Orchestra: