25. December 2008 by admin.

I went with my family to Disneyland at the beginning of December.  In the House of Innoventions (in TomorrowLand) is something pretty incredible…Asimo the robot.

Let me tell you why Asimo (“Advanced Step in Innovative mobility”) is incredible.  When I was in college, I studied Cognitive Science, which included understanding why computers can’t think and can’t become sentient simply because their complexity increases exponentially.  I had a professor, John Searle (a brilliant guy who inspired me tremendously), who was notorious for having written the Chinese Room Hypothesis, which proved that because computers can formally arrange symbols in an order which emulates (‘emulates’ being the key word) human speech, doesn’t mean that the computer actually understands the symbols it has arranged.  (Note: Searle wrote a number of books, including “Intentionality” and “Speech Acts” which are amazing books—you should check them out if you get a chance).

You might think this is a relatively obvious point to make, but you’d be surprised at the number of people in artificial intelligence who didn’t (and still don’t) get this, including Marvin Minsky, Putnam at Stanford, and most of all, Ray Kurzweil.

In any event, Searle hypothesized that what gives humans the ability to communicate semantically is what he called ‘deep background’—empirical learning which occurs as children mature and interact with their environment, learning which can’t (at least easily) be taught to a machine.  This includes simple things like walking up stairs and navigating obstacles in a room.

Well, Honda managed to accomplish something amazing with Asimo—they created a robot which can not only walk up stairs bipedally and navigate obstacles, but can also run!  Yes, it actually can have both legs leave the ground at the same time.  This is amazing to see.

Asimo is a 4’ (or so) robot which has arms and legs and can speak interactively with people. Honda designed it to assist disabled people or elderly people with tasks requiring mobility and domestic tasks.   This isn’t  a ‘wait 30 years and see what happens’ creation—it is something which can now or soon be used commercially.

Chances are that if you have children after 2020 or so, you will be able to buy a robot which can act as a Nanny, home medical monitor, and security sentry, and Asimo will play a role in making that happen.

What is depressing is that the U.S. couldn’t come up with this, though that’s not to take away anything from the Japanese in realizing this amazing achievement.

If you are in Disneyland, check out Asimo.  If you can’t make it to Disneyland, check out Asimo’s website.

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24. December 2008 by admin.

Happy Holidays!

Here’s one last one for today.

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24. December 2008 by admin.

And yet another one, though not recent…

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24. December 2008 by admin.

here’s another one.

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24. December 2008 by admin.

I’m back. I haven’t posted anything in a while, but will be more regular in the coming weeks.

Here’s an image I created recently…I’m going to post a few more…

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6. December 2008 by admin.

Thought I would post one of my images for you, just for the heckuva it…I did this in a program called 3D Studio Max.

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4. December 2008 by admin.

If you read and stay current on what’s going on in the world–that is to say, you don’t rely solely on CNN, Fox, or network news to keep you informed–I believe you tend to be cynical on some level about the nature of humanity and our seeming species-level desire to extinguish ourselves.  But even so, there are some things I read which just amaze me, because they are simultaneously so venal and so easily avoided/done away with/eradicated if there was even a slight will to do.

Two cases in point, though the list these days is endless, both from www.DemocracyNow.org (one of the only news-sources that matters to me these days):

US Refuses to Sign Treaty Banning Cluster Bombs

Around 100 nations have begun signing a new international treaty banning the use of cluster bombs. Human Rights Watch has described the ban as the most significant arms control and humanitarian treaty in a decade. The convention bans use, stockpiling and trading of the weapons. It also requires signatories to clear contaminated areas within ten years. A signing ceremony is being held today in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. Norway was the first country to sign the treaty, followed by Laos and Lebanon, two countries who have been most affected by cluster bombs. The United States, China, Russia, Israel, India and Pakistan have rejected the ban.

Thomas Nash of the Cluster Munition Coalition: “There are some countries in the world that don’t seem to like to sign international treaties. The US, Russia and China are three that come to mind, many treaties that they have not signed. They won’t be here in Oslo next week, and we regret that. Those countries, if they want to be part of the international community that is protecting civilians in armed conflict, they should sign this treaty in Oslo.”

Washington, Moscow and other non-signers say cluster bombs have legitimate military uses. But according to the group Handicap International, 98 percent of cluster bomb victims are civilians, and 27 percent are children.

(Comment: because, of course, we don’t have enough other weapons with which to kill people–banning cluster bombs would create a real hole in our arsenal…)

AND

EPA Guts Mountaintop Mining Rule Protecting Streams

The Washington Post reports the Bush administration has finalized rules that will make it easier for mountaintop mining companies to dump their waste near rivers and streams. The new rules overhaul a twenty-five-year-old prohibition that has sparked legal and regulatory battles for years. Vernon Haltom of Coal River Mountain Watch said the new rules are a “slap in the face of Appalachian communities.” He said, “My home and thousands of others are now in greater jeopardy.”

(Comment: And we’re still referring to it as the Environmental PROTECTION Agency…)

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