All the recent Terminator threads have me thinking...

[Sothis]

How far aware are we, from being able to build a Terminator-like construct, capable of thinking and learning, of interacting so completely with humans that with skin, it could pass as human. Though for now, I'm just talking about the machine, not organic components.

[Superman]

Don't hold your breath.

But, the other day I did see an info-mercial that featured a small robot vacuum cleaner that could even turn around when it bumped into walls. Could this be the stepping stone to the Terminator? We can only wait and see...

[Peregrin Toker]

We can't yet, but I'm sure we're going there.

[Loki]

Our largest problems have been the bipedal gait and the AI.

[Raoul Duke, Jr.]

Our largest problems have been the bipedal gait and the AI.

Sony has made some pretty big strides (pardon the pun) in the bipedal locomotion department. Run a search on "Sony" AND "Asimo" to check it out. Reportedly, their Asimo robot can walk, vary the length and speed of its strides, turn corners without stopping, and negotiate stairways. Of course, at 5' in height and weighing in at somewhere around 800 pounds, it's not gonna pass for Kristanna Loken any time soon.

[SirNitram]

The AI is gonna be tougher, but that's because people insist on doing it top-down...

[Rye]

THere's extensive documentation on how skynet becomes self aware on the second terminator 2 dvd. Apparently, the way it does it is this:

it's programmed for self preservation. It's programmed to learn as much as it can about the systems its connected to to maximise efficiency. IT learns that all the systems that it's making efficient go through itself, it learns that everything goes through it, and it needs to be saved above all else.

The humans realise it's now self aware and try to shut it down, now realising that humans are trying to go against its programming, it nukes russia knowing the counterattack will destroy its enemies in the US. Then it starts rounding up humans to be orderly disposed of and to design new terminators. Then John Connor turns up and shows everyone how to fight.

So that's why it hates JC (not jesus).

If a neural net could learn that it is the centre of a system, then i think it counts as self aware. Luckily we don't have neural nets in anywhere near skynet's league for learning capacity, but that's because it's from a future that only exits because it existed (or something like that).

Look on the second dvd in the t2 box set for more.

[Superman]

Yes, but all things considered, I don't think Skynet would get along very well with Jesus either...

[Raoul Duke, Jr.]

THere's extensive documentation on how skynet becomes self aware on the second terminator 2 dvd. Apparently, the way it does it is this:

it's programmed for self preservation. It's programmed to learn as much as it can about the systems its connected to to maximise efficiency. IT learns that all the systems that it's making efficient go through itself, it learns that everything goes through it, and it needs to be saved above all else.

The humans realise it's now self aware and try to shut it down, now realising that humans are trying to go against its programming, it nukes russia knowing the counterattack will destroy its enemies in the US. Then it starts rounding up humans to be orderly disposed of and to design new terminators. Then John Connor turns up and shows everyone how to fight.

So that's why it hates JC (not jesus).

If a neural net could learn that it is the centre of a system, then i think it counts as self aware. Luckily we don't have neural nets in anywhere near skynet's league for learning capacity, but that's because it's from a future that only exits because it existed (or something like that).

Look on the second dvd in the t2 box set for more.

Funny thing is, if Skynet had never sent the Terminator back to abort John Connor, there might never have been a John Connor. And if Skynet hadn't sent the T1000 back to kill John directly, John might never have gotten so good at dealing with Skynet's technology -- Skynet literally helped create its own worst enemy.

[Rye]

Also if it didn't send itself back in time to kill john connor (and thereby destroy itself later) it wouldn't exist in the first place. Skynet cant help but be screwed at all points.

I personally would have sent a terminator into the past just to make me if i were skynet.

[NecronLord]

I personally would have sent a terminator into the past just to make me if i were skynet.

See SM Sterling, Terminator 2 : Infiltraitor

[Arrow]

WRT to the AI part of this, neural nets would do the trick. The problem is how building one that is large enough to handle the load. With modern binary computers, building such a system is either going to "impossibly big" (one microcontroller per neuron) or extremely slow (running multiple neurons on a process). The real problem is physical size and power consumption. The principle of locality should keep communication most delays from being a problem. Also, even though your doing a bottom up design with neural nets, you still need memory storage that is both very large and very fast; this may or may not be a problem (it really depends on your design; a central memory with multiple connections to various parts of the net should do the trick).

Now, advances in molecular computers or quantum computers could neatly solve these problems, but they require a much better understanding of the science behind them. Quantum computers probably have the best shot of giving rise to true AI.

[neoolong]

Funny thing is, if Skynet had never sent the Terminator back to abort John Connor, there might never have been a John Connor. And if Skynet hadn't sent the T1000 back to kill John directly, John might never have gotten so good at dealing with Skynet's technology -- Skynet literally helped create its own worst enemy.

I think that was intentional. Some added irony to the story.

[weemadando]

This is a re-make of a joke from PCPowerPlay magazine, I claim no intellectual property over this at all.


Sony Killbot Mk1


Sony Killbot Mk2


Sony Killbot Mk3?