"We did it, Patrick! We made a technological breakthrough!"
A place for all those who loathe AI to discuss things, post articles, and ridicule the AI hype. Proud supporter of working people. And proud booer of SXSW 2024.
AI, in this case, refers to LLMs, GPT technology, and anything listed as "AI" meant to increase market valuations.
The argument made in science fiction literature, notably Asimov's work, is these robots exist in a wold designed for humans, and often use tools and machinery designed for humans. Making them humanoid meant one model of robot could perform a wide variety of tasks.
Of course, in his work, the Positronic brain is an incredibly expensive thing, and represents a huge chunk of the cost of the robot, so this made more sense than making every vehicle, tractor etc autonomous.
these robots exist in a wold designed for humans, and often use tools and machinery designed for humans. Making them humanoid meant one model of robot could perform a wide variety of tasks.
She directly addresses that.
So what was your favorite part of the video?
I liked her argument about equating intelligence to adaptability and improvisation. A child doesn't need to operate in very precise conditions.
Oh my god, I love her Daria-meets-Sarah Silverman vibe.
She's an astrophysicist so a lot of her rants are about space
Counterpoint, Gundams are way fucking cooler than any robot you're thinking of. Checkmate
There is an Isekai where the protagonist is obsessed with mecha and he wakes up in a world where mecha suits are the dominant magic tool. He outright kills his rival at one point... but only because the dude was designing airships instead of mechas, and the protagonist knows how precarious the mecha domination is (cause humanoid robots are such a massive pain to work with/ use rather than specialized machines)
But they're suits maybe?
Personally I would like the robots from Interstellar. I'd be quietly working in the yard when I trip over a branch. A loud voice booms throughout the neighborhood: "Medical emergency! I am here to render assistance!" as an obsidian piece of abstract geometry rolls through the front of my house. As my house collapses I croak: "I'm fine really, no bother"
I love how hard she goes at the end of her videos recently. She's not afraid to say what we're all thinking.
Great video.
bUt hOw aBoUt tHe tOoLs, wHiCh aRe aLL mAdE fOr hUmAnS?
Yeah, thanks for pointing out the absurdity of that argument with the Roomba vs. Jetsons maid example.
I just want my Roomba to have the same sassy attitude.
I recently bought a vacuum / mop robot and have been impressed by how good it is. Not perfect, but 80% of the way there. Good enough to be actually useful. Human form factor robots, like AI, is not close to ready to be useful yet.
I have one of those lidar xiaomi robot vacuums with a mop. It would frequently jam and I would have to make sure to not leave chairs and stuff lying around to be able to make it run. But then new, creative ways of jamming would pop up every now and then. I HATED adapting my house for a stupid robot and used it less and less. When my daughter was born it was all over - forget about it, toys everywhere, I prefer having a dusty house.
All that prep work to clean off your floor for the bot is work you'd have to do anyway with a vacuum and mop. I have another Chinese bot, a MOVA, but it's similar. You have to do prep. You have to maintain the bot. It doesn't clean everything. But it does a lot more than I expected. It cuts the overall workload. Like a dishwasher does. So I consider it a win.
No, I agree, I guess my point was - I thought I wouldn't have to as much, which I guess most people think when buying a robot vacuum or any other robot. Hence the reaction of many people when they see a new robot is - we're cooked. Yes, in terms of sheer manual, automatable labour, we may be. But not for anything requiring some intelligence. The surprising thing is - turns out a lot of things can be automated and thus useful.