Robotic Revolutions

Image Credit: April Allen

Good morning faithful readers. Today I’m going to take a step back and let a close friend of mine step up to the plate. Michael Biscone is a graduate of Boston University and a certified EMT. I have to credit Michael for introducing me to the concept of the singularity, which ultimately spawned this Web site. I hope you all enjoy what he has to say.

A Review of Joel Garreau’s Radical Evolution

By Michael Biscone
I used to think it would behoove me to earn as much money as possible the next few years solely for the purpose of constructing a bomb shelter in the mountains of rural Maine. I mean, it seemed to me that at some point in my lifetime, some earth shattering human caused disaster would rage around the planet and only those few wise people with the provisions for such a catastrophe would survive. After reading Joel Garreau’s Radical Evolution I am convinced that it wouldn’t matter anyway. Exactly how is one supposed to prepare for something like the entire planet being transformed into grey goo? Or ultra evolved races of humans inheriting the planet?

Garreau is talented at taking the big ideas about the future impact of technology and making it completely readable. Admittedly, most of the profound concepts in the book were previously put forth from revolutionary thinkers like Vernor Vinge, Ray Kurzweil, and Bill Joy to name a few. However, it was not the author’s intention to put forth any profound, information based theories on the future of technology or the likelihood of the singularity coming to pass.

Essentially, Garreau takes us on an organized journey of the past, present and future of technology and what it means to be a human. His knowledge of the subject is extensive to say the least and his book provides many interesting facts that I was previously unaware of. For instance, I had no knowledge of the United States DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), an organization that basically funds mad scientists to research and develop things I only thought existed in science fiction. If all of their projects are successful, we could have soldiers who don’t need sleep, food, and who never tire. Sporting exoskeletons, the soldiers would be much stronger and tougher, and the pain vaccine would eliminate any discomfort. On the off chance that an injury to one of these super soldiers did occur, it would be no big deal because the injured tissue would just be regenerated by any number of technological innovations.

Chiefly, Garreau uses scenarios to align the major ideas for the future. In the hell scenario, the world as we know it is destroyed or ruined. In one example, a mad scientist funded by DARPA invents a self replicating piece of dust and then the world quickly is devoured, or a super intelligent machine is created and casts our species aside as useless, looking at us the way we look at the family dog. In the heaven scenario, technology allows us to transcend our human biology with great benefit and happiness for the planet. Robots do all the work, while humanity and technology become intertwined resulting in complete perfection or something of the like. In the prevail scenario, humanity walks the line between destroying the planet and enjoying the complete benefits of a singularity resulting in a heaven scenario.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, that is ok. The book is not written specifically for the geek and explains everything clearly and concisely. Even if you already know a good deal of this subject matter, the style and ease at which the information and ideas are conveyed makes it a worthwhile read. Furthermore, Garreau is gifted at taking these scenarios that sound absurd and, frankly, sci-fi and adding the human cultural aspect to them. What results is an interesting interplay between the future of technology, biology and humanity that is hard to stop contemplating even after there are no more words to read.

“Five and Five and One” is a science fiction rock opera suggested to Isaac Asimov by Paul McCartney, but as Asimov noted on the first page of his treatment, “nothing ever came of it because McCartney couldn’t recognize good stuff.”

Robotic Revolutions recently had the opportunity to view the Isaac Asimov Collection at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University, where we unearthed Asimov’s original treatment.

“Five and Five and One” is the story of six extra-terrestrial, parasitic, energy beings that crash land their space ship on Earth and are forced to take drastic measures to survive: copying the identity of a rock band, with the goal of brainwashing the entire world. (more…)

Isaac Asimov’s “The Last Question” is not about robots, but it was admittedly his favorite story.

Why is it my favorite? For one thing I got the idea all at once and didn’t have to fiddle with it; and I wrote it in white-heat and scarcely had to change a word. This sort of thing endears any story to any writer. Then, too, it has had the strangest effect on my readers. Frequently someone writes to ask me if I can give them the name of a story, which they think I may have written, and tell them where to find it. They don’t remember the title but when they describe the story it is invariably “The Last Question”. This has reached the point where I recently received a long-distance phone call from a desperate man who began, “Dr. Asimov, there’s a story I think you wrote, whose title I can’t remember—” at which point I interrupted to tell him it was “The Last Question” and when I described the plot it proved to be indeed the story he was after. I left him convinced I could read minds at a distance of a thousand miles.

-Isaac Asimov, 1973

“The Last Question” is a story of a computer with exceptional intelligence, the Multivac, presented with a recurring question through many stages of history, “Can entropy ever be reversed?”

Without spoiling the story, “The Last Question” is a wonderful glimpse into the technological singularity towards which we are accelerating.

Robotic Revolutions firmly believes the singularity is near. Perhaps nearer than most of us realize.

Isaac Asimov believed that we will live in a future with robots, but tempered his opinion by warning of side-effects. “Will there be difficulties?” he asked. “Undoubtedly. Will there be things we don’t like? Undoubtedly.”

His point was not to steer us away from the impending robotic revolution, but rather to have us think about the ways our lives will change, to prepare our world for a radical paradigm shift. Not just a revolution, but an evolution. (more…)

“It would mark the most important advance in robotics in decades, if we knew how it happened.”

-Isaac Asimov, “Liar!” (1941)

In 1951, Isaac Asimov collected nine of his earliest and most influential stories from Super Science Stories and Astonishing Science Fiction to publish “I, Robot.” This anthology claims its position in the annals of science fiction history for two stories in particular - “Liar!” (1941) and “Runaround” (1942).

“Liar!” is notable for two reasons: it contains the first written use of the word robotics and it foreshadows Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics.”

The “Three Laws of Robotics” are first delineated in “Runaround:”

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Each of Asimov’s robots functions through the assistance of a positronic brain.

In “Reason” the positronic brain is described as “the most complicated mechanism ever created by man…in whose delicately unstable structure were enforced calculated neuronic paths, which imbued each robot with what amounted to a pre-natal education.”

According to a passage in “Runaround,” the positronic brain is hardwired with the “Three Laws of Robotics.” As far as science fiction goes, this is very influential work.

What is interesting to me is that these fictional elements - the positronic brain and the “Three Laws of Robotics” are essentially precursors to the computer chip and software programs.

Today, robots are being massed produced, not ironically, by iRobot.

By the way, the movie “I, Robot” has very, very little to do with Asimov’s writing. The producers bought the rights to the book and forced the “Three Laws” into a hacked-out, derivative script.

If you’ve seen the movie “I, Robot” and you haven’t read Asimov’s stories, do yourself a favor and pick up the book. Better yet, you can read it right here. Let me know which story you like the most:

Rowena Morrill captures the essence of Isaac Asimov

Welcome to Robotic Revolutions! This week will examine the father of robotics, Isaac Asimov. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Isaac Asimov first penned the word robotics in his 1941 short story “Liar!” Since robotics originated from Asimov, it’s only fair that Robotic Revolutions originates with Asimov.

Isaac Asimov was a prolific author that wrote books in every subject of the Dewey Decimal System except Philosophy. He made lasting contributions to the science fiction community through his Foundation, Galactic Empire and Robot series, but also wrote non-fiction books about popular science, history, humor and more.

Asimov had the goal of writing 500 books during his life, which he nearly achieved with over 463 titles; however, some bibliographies consider science fiction anthologies including Asimov short stories or books Asimov edited in the total, bringing him well past his goal. According to Asimov, “When asked what I would do if my doctor told me I had only six months to live, I answered, ‘I’ll just type faster.’” (more…)