bring on Skynet

UPenn's ModLab recently showed off a robot that re-assembles itself. In the video, the robot is kicked apart, then crawls back together.

While watching the video, my mood changed suddenly from fascination to a lingering nervousness - after all, if an artificial intelligence is indeed going to take over the world one day, this brings us one step that impending apocalypse. Considering the track record of human-on-robot aggression, I think this scenario is becoming more and more likely. (Thankfully, the researchers at Carnegie Mellon are thinking about humans, unlike the irresponsible UPenn students.)

Then again, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if the machines took over.

Comments

[Salame]

When I read that the robot was kicked apart, I started to tear up a little.
http://longshrift.typepad.com/longshrift/2007/01/emotional_space.html