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The threat of Big Dog

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On the automation of food production, I actually got to play with a self-driving tractor the last time I was home.  My father-in-law has one of the systems installed in his tractor.  It was a pretty fascinating experience to work a field and only have to give a fraction of the attention to the process as I would have had to 20 years ago.  It's more accurate than manual driving as well, which was the big selling point for him when he had it installed a couple of years ago.  But the huge surprising benefit for him has been the improvement in quality of life.  He can take care of other things now (particularly phone calls) on the tractor that he wouldn't have been able to do before safely, freeing up more of his day. 

 

It was also a really weird sensation as I realized that his tractor is now, for all intents and purposes, a robot. 

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"the flat composite transformed into a dynamic functional machine in about 4 minutes. It then crawled away..."

 

http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/7/5975463/transforming-origami-robot-builds-itself-by-folding

 

I lol'd real hard at that. This really cool, fluid folding to make a robot, followed by it basically flailing with the grace of a fish out of water just had me.

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You see a figure on the side of the road with it's thumb out.  You decide to pick this person up because you could use some company on your drive.  Only too late do you realize it's actually a robot.

 

HitchBOT

 

 

Quick update on HitchBot.  The hitchhiking robot managed to complete it's journey intact.  If you're in Victoria, B.C., there's going to be a celebratory finale event on Thursday, August 21st.

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You see a figure on the side of the road with it's thumb out.  You decide to pick this person up because you could use some company on your drive.  Only too late do you realize it's actually a robot.

 

HitchBOT

 

 

Am I a terrible person for seeing that video and thinking "I probably would have stopped when any work at all was involved with getting it into my car".

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Oh, the slow gait, and the strange, horrifying dragging, accompanied by that characteristic high-pitched whine. MIT is making a robotic pyramid head. Cool, cool.

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But governments tend not to like having their population starving on the streets, so I imagine they'd intervene at least enough to keep people fed (assuming production is happening in their own country, I suppose).

A very European point of view to be sure.

My view on the matter has been for a while that two things are necessary to prevent total destabilisation:

- tax use of resources/energy rather than labour/income

- provide everyone with the same basic income that is sufficient for a 'normal' life (in most Western states this is easily affordable by eliminating all subsidies/doles/etc and their attendant bureaucracies).

- make education affordable on this basic income (possibly with some saving up required, say 2 years scrimping buys you a year of university)

This lets people do what they want, which will in turn make them most likely be more productive in the long run. Because labour is now cheap due to the lack of tax on it, it's also much more efficient to get someone else to do what you need for an affordable price, and odds are they'll like doing it.

Finally, garbagemen (until they are automated away) shall finally be paid like kings.

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Hah, that's affordable schooling? Save for ten years and then apply to universities?

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That part might need tweaking for sure. In general though I don't think the early part of life is necessarily the most productive to go to university in. Also, yes that is affordable compared to the US and UK as far as I'm aware. Finally, that's assuming you don't do anything remunerative in those ten years.

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Thank god it's quieter thanks to electronic motors rather than an internal combustion engine. I was worried that I might be able to hear it chasing me.

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Thought this might be of interest

 

In experiments, Tolley's robot was able to walk through a snowstorm with temperatures reaching -9 °C, withstand flames for 20 seconds, resist water and acids as well as having its limbs driven over by a car.

 

http://youtu.be/-Ww9VtkZ8Pw

 

Via: Tested.com

Source:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26164#.VBwmCnWSzMs

 

 

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Did y'all see this Jibo indiegogo campaign video? I feel like 99% of the time that thing is going to be saying "Where'd you go?", but I can totally see this being the new medical-alert solution for the elderly or something as normal.

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Did y'all see this Jibo indiegogo campaign video? I feel like 99% of the time that thing is going to be saying "Where'd you go?", but I can totally see this being the new medical-alert solution for the elderly or something as normal.

 

Yes, I really really want one. Thankfully, part of me is still fiscally responsible enough to realize the first run of these are probably going to be crap, and the third run will probably take over the world, so I just have to wait for the second revision.

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Sweet, Jibo's raising that littler girl practically by itself.  It's like you hardly need parents!  That'll make it so much easier for the mother and father units to work their 18 hour shifts in the lunar mines. 

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The instant someone programs that thing to tell kids off, it'll be no match for a bunch of eleven year olds with sticks.

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While watching the part of the video where the guy got a call from the human woman, I thought it was going to thrn into a joke-video

"Go ahead and call her back."

"I can't do that Dave."

"Call her back Jibo."

"I don't trust this one Dave, I think she wants to tear us apart."

"Just order dinner for two Jibo."

[orders something from lowest aggregated Yelp-reviews]

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