Believe it or not I set a personal record running a half marathon the next morning (unfortunately I was not in costume)

Dr. Barry, a former astronaut and “Survivor” contestant with an M.D. and a Ph. D., has put his ideas into action. He has a robot at home that can take a pizza from the delivery person, pay for it and carry it into the kitchen.

“You have the robot say, ‘Take the 20 and leave the pizza on top of me,’ ” Dr. Barry says. “I get the pizza about a third of the time.”

From In the Singularity University, Humans are so yesterday by Ashlee Vance in the New York Times.

Now they just need to add a camera to the bot to thwart the pizza delivery thieves that take the money and don’t leave the pizza.

Great soundtrack (to be expected from Spike) and a few good laughs and touching parts. I thought the film was a pretty endearing retelling of the classic robot-boy meets robot-girl (plus a bit of tragedy).

Give it a watch (it’s about 25 minutes) if you can at the official site (note that only 5000 ‘seats’ to watch are opened a day).  The official site: http://www.imheremovie.com

Here’s the trailer:

“it was the best dream in the history of dreams” – Sheldon

Pretty certain it’s from http://botropolis.com/.

You might ask “why?”  Why not?

From Geekologie.com

The researchers…generally discounted the possibility of highly centralized superintelligences and the idea that intelligence might spring spontaneously from the Internet. But they agreed that robots that can kill autonomously are either already here or will be soon. [NYTimes.com]

The article isn’t all that scary, though the fact that this type of conversation is now necessary is telling about the types of technology already available worldwide.  The conversation (which actually happened about 6 months ago in Feb ’09) was focused on setting research limits (no doubt to stop researchers from truly making a man-eating self powered robot that Fox News is so scared of.  I’ll be scared of it too when it’s coming after me for it’s next pit stop.

It continues though and ends ironically that Artificial Intelligence could actually make up for human short comings,

Dr. Horvitz said he was hopeful that artificial intelligence research would benefit humans, and perhaps even compensate for human failings. He recently demonstrated a voice-based system that he designed to ask patients about their symptoms and to respond with empathy. When a mother said her child was having diarrhea, the face on the screen said, “Oh no, sorry to hear that.”

A physician told him afterward that it was wonderful that the system responded to human emotion. “That’s a great idea,” Dr. Horvitz said he was told. “I have no time for that.” [same article]

And by “failings” he apparently meant ability to interact and emphasize with other people.  Er…maybe that Dr. was a robot already.

Get Your Cyborg Name

1. I hate driving (in traffic or not) now.  It’s not that I find it difficult (though it arguably is the most dangerous thing I do these days), it’s just that I could be working, reading, sleeping or doing ANYTHING else besides putting all of my energy, effort and attention into driving a car and dodging dumb drivers (and not-so-dumb pedestrians and cyclists).
2. It’s also decreased the time I spend outside or talking to people quite drastically.  But that’s an entirely different topic.

The real issue, I think, is a total loss of efficiency when driving becomes the ‘job’.  Removing focus from the task is dangerous (even listening to music can be hazardous…I recommend pulling over to change CDs or get an ipod/changer).  According to a 07 Gallup poll, Americans spend about 46 minutes in a car every day as a product of their commute.  Worse is 85% do the commute alone.

My point is this: The need for great public transportation is more than ever (but it’s absence is a long trend), but the real need is for automation.  The more control we secede to technology in getting us to where we’re going (face it cars already park themselves) the better off America will be, in my humble opinion.  The effects will be this:

• falling traffic injuries and fatalities
• drastically lower drunk driving offenses
• less congestion
• shorter commute times
• increased commuter productivity (remember, that’s 46 minutes that you could either spend working or sleeping)
• fewer traffic collisions
• and probably a few benefits that I haven’t thought of.

Some people are already thinking about this, but they always do with a caveat (that the public isn’t ready).  I call bulls**t.  I already hate driving.  Really the only excuse is technology (but there are bright spots there).  The military always has the best stuff and in the case of vehicles that drive themselves it’s leagues ahead of any civilian application (just read about the DARPA challenge or the newest “tools” that have come from it).  Like the internet this technology will trickle down (but not soon enough for me) and revolutionize the way we get around.  

To the left is a picture of a advanced concept of the Autonomous Mobile (Autonomobile) which was designed by the same dudes that did the G1.  I don’t necessarily think this will garner the attention of the car enthusiast in America, but it does show how different a car that drives itself will make our lives (VERY VERY different).

Kinda like a small RV crossed with a unshapely Geo Metro, meets the bay windows of a beautiful Vermont home.

Looking at it only makes me think of one other thing: If cars are this cool and functional, why the hell do we need houses?!