Cyborg Alien Rescue Mission "Call of Duty Online"
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in Ex Machina. Photograph: PR
Did you program her to flirt with me? Domhnall Gleesons character asks robot inventor Oscar Isaac in Ex Machina. To which the scientific answer would be: Well, duh! The her in question is Ava, a shapely, state-of-the-art android, half-transparent plastic, half-Alicia Vikander. Isaac wants Gleeson to give his latest invention the Turing test to determine whether or not she is indistinguishable from a human. Thanks to Avas beguiling, seductive intelligence, the interviews take on a certain Basic Instinct aspect, her suggestive retorts rebounding around the glass walls of her cell. Gleesons not-so-scientific verdict: I feel that shes fucking amazing, dude!
Ex Machina is a smart, elegant thriller posing some juicy questions about artificial intelligence, consciousness and gender. It is also a movie where the guys keep their clothes on and the women dont. Looking back over movie history, it is difficult to find a female robot/android/cyborg who hasnt been created (by men, of course) in the form of an attractive young woman and therefore played by one. This often enables the movie to raise pertinent points about consciousness and technology while also giving male viewers an eyeful of female flesh. The non-scientific term for this is having your cake and eating it.
Being literally objectified women, female robots have traditionally been vehicles for the worst male tendencies. Invariably, inventors ideas of the perfect woman translate into one who is unquestioningly subservient and/or sexually obliging. A Stepford wife, to cite the best-known example. Or, as Blade Runner dismissively labels one female replicant, a basic pleasure model. The trashier end of sci-fi movies is littered with these basic pleasure models: they cater to wealthy males urges in Westworld, theyre traded like used cars in Cherry 2000, they go-go dance in gold bikinis and prey on wealthy men in Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, which inspired Austin Powers fembots, with their weaponised breasts. Theyre all programmed to flirt.
But once made flesh, these fantasies have a nasty habit of biting their male creators on the well, on the penis in the case of Eve of Destruction, a trashy sub-Terminator sci-fi in which a malfunctioning android, played by Rene Soutendijk, goes rogue. Sporting a red leather jacket, a black miniskirt and a big machine gun, this Eve sticks it to an assortment of sexist scumbags, before activating the nuclear device hidden in her vagina (havent all women got one?). Most movies are slightly more nuanced, but female robots rarely stick to their programs, leading to chaos and destruction.
It was all there right from the start, in what must be the great-grandma of female-robot movies: Fritz Langs Metropolis. The robot anti-heroine of the piece is a complex construction: mad scientist Rotwang has modelled her on his lost love, Hel, who also happens to be the mother of the movies hero, Freder. When Rotwang brings the robot to life, she takes on the likeness of the saintly Maria, Freders love interest (the real and robot Marias are played by Brigitte Helm). No wonder Freder is driven to his bed when he finds this false Maria (whom he takes to be the real Maria) in the arms of his own father. Sigmund Freud would probably have done the same.
And of course, Metropoliss robot is irresistibly seductive, with her sashaying hips and art deco fetish-gear bodywork. Robot Maria is deployed as an erotic dancer at Rotwangs club, where her burlesque gyrations drive the ogling menfolk into a frenzy. Posing as the real Maria, she ultimately foments a workers uprising which threatens to bring down civilisation. Like so many of her descendants, Metropoliss Maria embodies all the old saws that have defined women since the year dot: shes the whore of Babylon, the temptress Eve, Pandora and her box, Pygmalions Galatea, the femme fatale.
Our machines are projections of us. Theyre dreams or metaphors for our own anxieties, says Sophie Mayer, a lecturer in film studies at Queen Mary University of London, who has written on robotics and gender in cinema. Metropolis was made at the height of Freud and womens suffrage and the communist struggle around male labour. Often the anxiety in question in these movies is female empowerment, says Mayer. Cyborgs have powers and freedoms that human females are rarely allowed to have. They misunderstand the rules about gender behaviour. They can be more sexually aggressive. Ultimately, these empowered women must be punished. Metropoliss robot Maria is burnt at the stake like a witch, for example. The resolution always assures us the status quo is going to be preserved.
Ex Machina at least moves the debate on somewhat. For one thing, it asks the pertinent question of why a robot should have sexuality at all. Is sexuality a component of consciousness? Its tricky, says Alex Garland, Ex Machinas writer and director. Embodiment having a body seems to be imperative to consciousness, and we dont have an example of something that has a consciousness that doesnt also have a sexual component. If you have created a consciousness you would want it to have the capacity for pleasurable relationships, so it doesnt seem unreasonable that a machine have a sexual component. We wouldnt demand it be removed from a human, so why a machine?
Garland points out that Avas femininity is only external. People instinctively think there is a difference between male and female brains, but in many ways it doesnt stack up when you look at it hard, he says. Her seductiveness make sense in the context of the story, he argues. If youre going to use a heterosexual male to test this consciousness, you would test it with something it could relate to. We have fetishised young women as objects of seduction, so in that respect, Ava is the ideal missile to fire.
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Yoshiyuki Sankai, founder and head of cyborg-robot maker Cyberdyne, joins the ranks of Forbes Billionaires at a $1 billion net worth as the share price of his medical robotics company has quintupled since its March debut on Japans Mothers market for startups.
The University of Tsukuba PhD invented Cyberdynes main sci-fi offering, the Robot Suit HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) in tandem with cybernics, a multidisciplinary academic field which combines bionics, electronics and physics and others to create robot parts for the body (think: the 1970s U.S. TV Show Six Million Dollar Man made real). These robot arms and legs take over when our own fail through age or physical impairment. In Japan, the company rents HAL suits to hospitals and nursing homes. These same suits are also in use in Europe. They read electrical pulses in nerves going to the muscles, and offer the potential to restore movement. About 470 suits in all are currently being used in medical and non-medical facilities. Though bulky (some weigh up to 80 pounds) and expensive (approximately $150,000), Sankai has been working on more agile and cost efficient suits that will be able to be assist more people regain mobility.
I hope they will eventually be treated like glasses. Glasses used to be nothing more than gadgets that enable people with limited vision to see things better, but now theyre enjoyed as a fashion item, too, Sankai stated in an interview with a Japanese publication.
Yoshiyuki Sankai
Sankais vision is a hit with investors despite the fact the company is still in the red. It projects to break even in fiscal 2015 helped along by the governments subsidies to develop even more sophisticated robotics for the countrys growing elderly care markets. Forecaster SNS Research projects that this year the global market for what it terms wearable devices will account for nearly $20 Billion in revenue, and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 40% over the next six years. Following this zeitgeist, Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced his plans to stage a Robot Olympics alongside the 2020 summer games in Tokyo.
Sankai, 56, started on his robotics path from an early age. While in elementary school he read Isaac Asimovs I, Robot and experimented with frogs and electrical currents. He went on to complete a doctorate in engineering from the University of Tsukuba, where he studied artificial organs. Sankai created the first prototype for HAL in 1997, and founded Cyberdyne in 2004 once he had a marketable product. Forbes included Cyberdyne in its 2005 E-gang issue on robotics noting in a follow-through that Sankai had raised $15 million to construct a 20,000-square-foot research and production center near Tokyo and start certification processes in Europe. Since then, interest in Sankais work has skyrocketed.
But Sankai is keeping close control over his carefully built company. When he took Cyberdyne public, he invoked an innovative dual share structure not typical for Japan. Class B shares, which he owns entirely, make up about 42% of all outstanding shares but count as double the total voting rights of the remaining issued common shares. Companies with such a structure are more difficult takeover targets important for Sankai because he wants his technology to be used for peaceful purposes not military or unethical ones.
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Playing: Half-Life 2|Let #39;s Play|PC||Pt. 12 Storming the Beaches
It #39;s Part 12 of my Let #39;s Play of Half Life 2 on PC. It #39;s the beaches of Nova Prospect, expect casualties. Playing: Half-Life 2 Pt. 13: http://youtu.be/Y73xyCyt4n8 Playing: Half-Life 2 Pt....
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Playing: Half-Life 2|Let's Play|PC||Pt. 12 Storming the Beaches - Video
Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches overview
Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches in Florida offers patients state-of-the-art residential alcohol and drug treatment with the highest REAL success rates for addiction recovery today. Comprehen...
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Published January 16, 2015
SYDNEY Beaches at the Australian city of Newcastle were closed for a seventh day on Friday after at least two large sharks were sighted in coastal waters. Meanwhile, a teenage spear fisher was attacked by a shark 390 kilometers (240 miles) to the south.
A 5-meter (16-foot) great white shark estimated to weigh 1.7 metric tons (1.9 tons) had been spotted daily since last Saturday until Thursday off the coast of Newcastle, a city of 315,000 people 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Sydney, Newcastle City Council said.
At Ulladulla, a coastal town 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of Sydney, a 17-year-old boy was attacked by a shark.
Paramedics treated the boy for lacerations to his hand and fingers, ambulance service spokeswoman Jackie Levett said. The boy was taken to a hospital in a satisfactory condition, she said.
Luke Sisinni, who was diving with the boy identified as Sam Smith, said his friend was attacked while attempting to video a 1.5-meter (5-foot) shark.
"He said it spun around and started coming for him, so he stabbed it with his spear to try and scare it off, but it just went ballistic and bit him," Sisinni told The Milton Ulladulla Times news website.
Nearby Narrawellee Beach was closed following the attack. However, hundreds of volunteer lifeguards continued to compete in a championship competition 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) away at Mollymook Beach.
In Newcastle, photographs appeared in Australian media of a 3.5-meter (11-foot) shark mauling a dolphin on Thursday off Burwood Beach, 200 meters (yards) from where divers were ignoring the beach closure by spearing fish.
A 3.5-meter shark was again spotted off the same beach on Friday morning, the council said in a statement. It was not clear what type of shark it was or whether it was the same shark as attacked the dolphin.
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Sharks close Australian city Newcastle's beaches for 7th day; boy bitten on hand elsewhere
Sharks have forced the closure of popular beaches to the north and south of Sydney.
Two popular South Coast beaches have been shut after a 17-year-old Sam Smith's arm was apparently mauled by a shark.
His friend said he watched the teen surface, screaming that he had been bitten.
"It started coming for him, so he stabbed it with his spear to try to scare it off, and then it just went ballistic and bit him," Luke Sisinno said.
Lifeguards closed Narrawallee Beach and North Mollymook, after the incident happened around midday.
It's understood Smith was spearfishing before he was bitten.
An ambulance spokesperson has told Yahoo7 that the teen suffered multiple lacerations to his hands and fingers.
He was treated by paramedics at the scene before being taken to Milton Ulladulla Hospital, where he remains in a stable condition.
An ambulance helicopter was sent, and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter conducted sweeps of the area.
Our lifeguards are monitoring the situation and will take further action if required to protect beachgoers, the Australian Lifeguard Service's Brent Manieri said in a statement.
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"It just went ballistic": Shark attack shuts South Coast beaches
Sharks have forced the closure of popular beaches to the north and south of Sydney.
Two popular South Coast beaches have been shut after a 17-year-old Sam Smith's arm was apparently mauled by a shark.
His friend said he watched the teen surface, screaming that he had been bitten.
"It started coming for him, so he stabbed it with his spear to try to scare it off, and then it just went ballistic and bit him," Luke Sisinno said.
Lifeguards closed Narrawallee Beach and North Mollymook, after the incident happened around midday.
It's understood Smith was spearfishing before he was bitten.
An ambulance spokesperson has told Yahoo7 that the teen suffered multiple lacerations to his hands and fingers.
He was treated by paramedics at the scene before being taken to Milton Ulladulla Hospital, where he remains in a stable condition.
An ambulance helicopter was sent, and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter conducted sweeps of the area.
Our lifeguards are monitoring the situation and will take further action if required to protect beachgoers, the Australian Lifeguard Service's Brent Manieri said in a statement.
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Shark sightings along the Newcastle coastline will shut beaches for an unprecedented ninth straight day but an attack on the NSW south coast couldn't halt a nearby surf lifesaving event.
A five-metre great white, nicknamed Bruce, and a three-and-a-half metre shark that lunched on a dolphin have kept 15km of Newcastle coastline closed this weekend.
Meanwhile, a 17-year-old boy was bitten on the hand by a 1.5m shark on Friday at Mollymook Beach, about three and a half hours south of Sydney.
Sam Smith has been flown to a Sydney hospital with lacerations to his hand sustained after he tried to film the shark while spearfishing.
But the attack didn't stop hundreds of competitors at the NSW Country Surf Lifesaving Championships at the other end of the beach.
"The carnival is just south of where the incident occurred," a Surf Life Saving NSW spokeswoman said.
"We're just going to monitor the situation, we don't feel the need to panic everyone."
But in Newcastle, the presence of two large sharks has been enough for beach inspectors to avoid the risk of an attack.
"This is a creature you don't want to encounter," said a Newcastle council spokeswoman.
Swimmers and surfers have been warned to keep away despite the temptation of cooling off in the summer heat.
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Introduction to Astronomy: Crash Course Astronomy #1
Welcome to the first episode of Crash Course Astronomy. Your host for this intergalactic adventure is the Bad Astronomer himself, Phil Plait. We begin with answering a question: "What is astronomy?...
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Introduction to Astronomy: Crash Course Astronomy #1 - Video
Two Cardiff University astronomers have been honoured the Royal Astronomical Society.
Professor Steve Eales and Dr Haley Gomez, from the School of Physics and Astronomy, have been recognized for their contributions to astrophysics.
Professor Eales has been awarded the Herschel Medal for investigations of outstanding merit in observational astrophysics. This award was in recognition of his leading work on understanding the dust-enshrouded universe and his contribution to submillimetre astronomy, leading the first detection of cold dust in external galaxies.
His work led to the development of two major projects on ESAs Herschel Space Observatory, the Herschel Reference Survey and the Herschel ATLAS (see Figure), the latter being the biggest survey undertaken by Herschel. He has published over 250 refereed journal articles and has communicated his passion through popular articles on the dusty universe, textbooks and talks at the Hay Festival.
Professor Eales said: "It has been a privilege to take part in opening up the last electromagnetic frontier for astronomy. I have been fortunate in working with some outstanding scientists, both ones who have built the instruments I have used throughout my career and some very talented individuals who have worked with me on several projects, most recently surveys with the Herschel Space Observatory."
Dr Haley Gomez was awarded the Fowler Award for individuals who have made a particularly noteworthy contribution to astrophysics at an early stage of their research career. Her major contribution has been in increasing understanding of the origin and evolution of dust and of its role in galaxies.
Over the last few years she has played a key role in showing that dust is actually formed in supernovae and she was the first to see, with Herschel, exquisite filaments of cold dust shining in the famous Crab Nebula
.Dr Gomez has previously been awarded a prize by the RAS, winning the Michael Penston Thesis Prize in 2005 for the best doctoral thesis in astrophysics.
Dr Gomez said: "I am so happy to be honoured again by the RAS. The fact that Steve and I have been recognized for our research into cosmic dust is due to the incredible team involved in the Herschel Space Observatory and the significant Cardiff involvement in this amazing space mission."
Professor Eales and Dr Gomez join previous Cardiff University winners: Head of School Professor Matt Griffin (recognized in 2009, 2011 and 2014);
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Astronomy 101, folks: the Moon is the Earth's only naturalsatellite. Now, if only someone could've told that to this QVC host...
Isaac Mizrahi recently stopped by the shopping channel to promote his new designs, which, according to QVC presenterJane Treacy look "almost like what the Earth looks like when you're a bazillion miles away on the planet Moon."
Yeah, that happened.
While many were left scratching their head after Treacy's remarks, Mizrahi did absolutely nothing to clear up the confusion, and in fact, only made the conversation far more cringeworthy.
VIDEO: QVC host Lisa Robertson gets emotional during final show
"From the planet Moon," the 53-year-old fashion designer repeats as we're left hoping that a producer quickly performs a Google search.
"Isn't the moon a star?" Treacy replies, suddenly questioning her facts.
And that's when the conversation really took a turn for the worse.
"No, the moon is a planet, darling," Mizrahi says before Treacy continues, seemingly becoming more baffled as time continues, "Is the Moon really a planet?Don't look at me like that. The Sun is a star ... Is the Sun not a star?"
VIDEO: Arnold Schwarzenegger spoofs QVC with Jimmy Fallon
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On Jan. 23 a triple moon transit will cast shadows on Jupiter which can be seen through telescopes at the University on California, Riverside.
Posted: Thursday, January 15, 2015 4:26 pm | Updated: 4:29 pm, Thu Jan 15, 2015.
UCR hosts public viewing of coming astronomy treat
Astronomy enthusiasts are in for a treat in the coming week.
On Friday, Jan. 23, the public is invited to see a triple moon transit that will cast shadows over Jupiters atmosphere from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. a type of event that happens only twice in a decade, on average. Moons Callisto, Io and Europa will transit in front of Jupiter, casting their shadows onto the upper atmosphere of the giant gaseous planet.
The viewing for this event will take place on the lawn south of Pierce Hall, a short walk from the bell tower.
UC Riverside astronomers will be available at both viewings to discuss the phenomena (in English, Spanish and Farsi).
Posted in Entertainment, Collegiate news on Thursday, January 15, 2015 4:26 pm. Updated: 4:29 pm. | Tags: Ucr
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Artificial Intelligence Ft. Steo Forgotten Truth
Full Track Track: Forgotten Truth Artist: Artificial Intelligence Ft. Steo Year: 2015 Genre: D B DISCLAIMER: I don #39;t own the Tracks, or Images featured in this video, All rights go to...
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AI THAT WORKS Android Watch Italiano
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THAT WORKS Platform/OS: Android Device type: Smartwatch Language: Italiano http://www.eloisa.it.
By: eloisacreator
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Futurist Speaker Gerd Leonhard: short take on artificial intelligence, digital ethics Tedx
This is a short excerpt from my talk at TedXBrussels Dec 1 2014 on #digitalethics see http://youtu.be/DD5XVDKcuSo for the entire video Find out more and download the slides via my blog at...
By: Gerd Leonhard
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Futurist Speaker Gerd Leonhard: short take on artificial intelligence, digital ethics Tedx - Video
Digital Existentialism: In the Future U.R.A.I.
In the future it is not that Artificial Intelligence will overwhelm us and become our Master. Rather, we will become absorbed by augmenting our intelligence to such a degree that we will become...
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Elon Musk is donating $10 million to fund research into how to keep Artificial Intelligence safe for mankind.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
But to Elon Musk it's a real threat. That's why he's donating millions to ensure that Artificial Intelligence technology remains safe for humanity.
Musk, the founder of both Telsa Motors (TSLA) and SpaceX, has long expressed concern about the threat he fears smart machines and computers could pose to human civilization. In remarks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last fall he called AI "our biggest existential threat," and said that with advances humans are "summoning the demon."
Related: Tesla's Chinese sales hit a rough patch
Thursday he backed that rhetoric with cash, donating $10 million to the Future of Life Institute, to fund research aimed at keeping AI beneficial for humanity. The Future of Life Institute is a think tank that is focused on the threats posed by advances in Artificial Intelligence.
Musk does not deny that AI has the potential to greatly improve the condition of mankind, both by eliminating humans from having to perform work he describes as "drudgery" or by enabling breakthroughs in scientific areas that are currently beyond human intelligence. But he's also worried that AI could lead to catastrophic outcomes if humans are not able to control or stop actions by intelligent machines.
"This is a case where...the range of negative outcomes, some of them are quite severe," Musk said on a video clip posted on the Institute's site. "It's not clear whether we'd be able to recover from some of these negative outcomes."
Related: Musk warns against unleashing AI 'demon'
Some of those who founded the group are researchers in the field of AI and they said they welcomed Musk's donation.
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UPDATED BELOW
For Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, figuring out how to avoid the potential pitfalls of artificial intelligence is just as if not more important than advancing it.
Musk, who has been warning us about the possible dangers of AI for some time now, is once again calling for more research into AI safety. Musk has signed and is promoting an open letter from the Future of Life Institute that calls for research not only on making AI more capable, but also on maximizing the societal benefit
The adoption of probabilistic and decision-theoretic representations and statistical learning methods has led to a large degree of integration and cross-fertilization among AI, machine learning, statistics, control theory, neuroscience, and other fields. The establishment of shared theoretical frameworks, combined with the availability of data and processing power, has yielded remarkable successes in various component tasks such as speech recognition, image classification, autonomous vehicles, machine translation, legged locomotion, and question-answering systems, says the letter.
There is now a broad consensus that AI research is progressing steadily, and that its impact on society is likely to increase. The potential benefits are huge, since everything that civilization has to offer is a product of human intelligence; we cannot predict what we might achieve when this intelligence is magnified by the tools AI may provide, but the eradication of disease and poverty are not unfathomable. Because of the great potential of AI, it is important to research how to reap its benefits while avoiding potential pitfalls.
The Future of Life Institute is a a volunteer-run research and outreach organization working to mitigate existential risks facing humanity. The groups current focus is on potential risks from the development of human-level artificial intelligence.
You may be unfamiliar with this specific interest of Musks, but the billionaire has been rather outspoken about it especially in the last year or so. In June of last year, Musk pretty much admitted to investing in an up-and-coming AI company to keep an eye on them.
Yeah. I mean, I dont think in the movie Terminator, they didnt create A.I. to they didnt expect, you know some sort of Terminator-like outcome. It is sort of like the Monty Python thing: Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition. Its just you know, but you have to be careful, he said.
Soon after, he tweeted that AI was potentially more dangerous than nukes.
Then, a few months later, Musk had this to say as a reply to an article on a futurology site:
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Elon Musk Calls for Research to Make Sure Artificial Intelligence Doesnt Kill Us All
Elon Musk, the PayPal co-founder behind SpaceX and Tesla Motors, is really worried about artificial intelligence -- so worried that he's donated $10 million to support research "aimed at keeping AI beneficial to humanity."
Essentially, he doesn't want humanity to build Terminators. (In fact, Musk has discussedthe film seriesan example of what he worries might happen if researchers aren't careful.)
Musk's$10 million donation will be administered by the non-profit Future of Life Institute,which is "working to mitigate existential risks facing humanity" with a focus on artificial intelligence. It will be used to run a global research program carried out throughan open grants competition, according to a statement from the group.
The eccentric inventor has been vocal about his fear of artificial intelligence, once tweeting that it was potentially more dangerous than nuclear weapons.
But he isn't alone. Many academics as well as employees at major tech companies including Microsoft and Google have signed onto an open letter hosted by the Future of Life Institute that laid out priorities for keeping artificial intelligence research "robust and beneficial."
Presumably, avoiding the development of Terminators.
Andrea Peterson covers technology policy for The Washington Post, with an emphasis on cybersecurity, consumer privacy, transparency, surveillance and open government.
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Elon Musks fear of Terminators just netted researchers $10 million