Above all, I would not expect a wise race, at great expense, to set loose an army of self-replicating robots.
Barney Oliver


I grew up in a time when TV was the state of the art in technological advancement.
As I got older we went from 1 channel to 3 and in 1963 when JFK was assassinated I was in charge of the reel to reel recorder set up in front of the TV to record the whole funeral.

Now we have Microwave ovens and Ipods. The computer is used in every phase of our lives, and if we have fewer than 100 channels on our boob tube we are considered deprived.

In Japan they have robots in use as babysitters. They have very advanced face recognition software and can sound the alert if one face is missing out of many. I hope the kids don’t play hide and go seek often.

Now the Japanese are developing a robot to take care of the elderly dispensing medications and following them around.

Funny, they used to revere their ancestors and respect their elders above all others. I guess they are just adopting another tradition from America.

I bring this up because I have been reading more and more articles that are pointing out that scientists are becoming a little worried about some of the developments in artificial intelligence that could precursor the end of life as we know it.

The facial recognition programs I spoke of above have resulted in the department of defense contracting to produce a remote controlled helicopter with a recoil-less rifle capable of tracking and killing one specific individual. Now that’s some high tech shit.

I hope I don’t piss Bush or Cheney off too much. I do have a face and I want to keep it.

The first known case of robot homicide occurred in 1981, when a robotic arm crushed a Japanese Kawasaki factory worker. There are currently 4000 robots serving in the US Military, including reconnaissance Talon bots that scout for roadside bombs in Iraq and PacBots that Unsuccessfully poked around Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Afghanistan.

Scientists are not worried about robots taking over the world but of people using robots to take over the world.

The computer has already mastered the human in all board and card games with one rather important exception. That exception is rather remarkable.

The game of Go is considered to be the oldest in the world. It was developed before writing and there is no way to be certain of how old it is, but it is considered to be the first game ever developed. According to legend it was invented by an emperor who wished to teach his foolish son the virtues of balance and patience

So, if you ever read a story about a computer beating the Go master of the world you will know that the end is near and if you are not on good terms with your personnel computer you should head for the hills.

I sometimes wonder if I could ever cope with life without my computers. I even have a watch that has a USB connection to my computer so I can set the time by the atomic clock and type in my contacts notes and appointments.
I talk nice to all my computers and haven’t kicked one in a long time. When I did, it was a moment of insanity and I swear I went to an anger management seminar afterwards.
Computers are my friends and if they went away I would not be able to cope.

My older brother taught me to play chess when I was 5 years old.
When I was 6 I beat him in 12 moves. He quit playing chess after that.
When I try to play against my computer I understand my brother better.

I hope that Go stays a human game for a long time.

I’m getting a little worried now.