Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #05156
To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: JVernonM@aol.com
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 20:31:19 EDT
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: What does purposeful mean, anyway?
In a message dated 7/8/99 8:00:34 PM Eastern Daylight Time, bshannon@tiac.net
writes:
> Also I think Sony rather proved that people want robots in their home before
> they want wild
> automatous ones running around wild.
>
Absolutely! And that is my point. Let's say that Aibo became common. Everyone
has one. They are surplused everywhere. You pick one up for a song and add
something special to it. A neural net, a unique, innovative controller.
Perhaps, if you are lucky you improve the design. Someone else does the same,
layering on top of what you accomplished. Suddenly, you start to see
intelligence, or a reasonable facsimile. The living machine is born. This is
how EVERY significant advance in mechanics and application has come about
throughout history. Living machines WILL come from practical robots. NOT the
other way around. To use Chiu's analogy, the automobile should have been
worked on for centuries until it was completely autonomous and living, then
you just put a steering wheel on it and you got a practical application for
it. Mr. Tilden's argument about wild robots is just as ludicrous.
Jim
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