What If Robotic Dogs Do Indeed Wipe Off Humanity?
Just the other day, I saw an episode of Black Mirror titled “Metalhead” and it showed something that has been discussed quite a bit already and repeated so much in TV shows and movies that now, you just start rolling your eyes.
Yes, it’s about robots taking over. But trust me, there was something different about this particular episode of Black Mirror. Although the concept is the same, the way they portrayed it was so realistic that it felt to me that this could actually happen someday.
The episode also made me think quite a bit about the whole idea of robots taking over and wiping humanity off. For the first time, I measured this almost ridiculous sounding idea to the developments happening in real life.
In fact the episode itself was inspired by Boston Dynamics’ BigDog robot which looks eerily similar to what was shown in the show. It’s not too much of a stretch to think that robots like this could get so advanced that they might be a threat to humanity one day.
A Different Killer
Usually when we imagine robots taking over the world, we immediately think of these human looking robots or at least humanoid robots made of metals and what not, carrying guns or using their brute strength to stage a coup against their very creators.
But the Black Mirror episode was a wake up call, at least for me, that robots do not need to look like humans or be as intelligent (or even be conscious) for them to be a threat to our existence.
This will especially be the case when robots of one form or the other will be as common in our houses as smartphones are today, which is bound to happen in the coming decades.
Imagine a bunch or all of them being hacked by either an AI or a human to launch an attack against all of humanity. That doesn’t sound too sci-fi or futuristic or nonsensical now, does it? I mean computers get hacked all the time but at least they don’t have limbs to attack us physically!
A Potential Reality?
What was once an idea, existing purely in the fiction world is now being discussed with absolute seriousness. This says a lot about the pace of technology, that no doubt, we are all familiar with. I guess, even before we will be able to decide how to make them safe, they will already be here.
I mean look at the latest videos from Boston Dynamics of their robots doing seemingly simple task. Just a few years back, they couldn’t even stand still, and to come this far, this fast, only makes you wonder what they’ll do next, keeping in mind the exponential growth rate that technological progress usually enjoys.
The video above is about half an hour long and I suggest you watch the whole thing. But if you don’t have time, I implore you to watch from 10:44 to 13:24 at least so you can get a sense of how fast they are developing.
I am not saying that things will go down this way and that robots will have a hand in creating an apocalyptic world. What I’m saying is that we should be really careful. The hardware and software is really advancing fast and we should ensure that they stay in good hands.
I will leave you with the following video of a robot named Atlas. I am sure you will be impressed.
It's quite scary to see just how fast they're actually developing, especially when they're able to overcome everyday obstacles with such ease. Atlas looks so close to the image we have in our minds for a futuristic android servant.
The rate at which our technology is growing will either be humanity's greatest invention or our greatest doom. Only time will tell.
I agree with your last statement. Only time will tell.
why would robots want to take over?
why should robots be 'humanoid' or 'dogoid' (is that a word?)
Are you afraid that your car is going to take over?
Your washing machine?
(today's typical washing machine has more computing power than what NASA had to put man on the moon)
How can you stand to watch 'black mirror'?
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Thanks for this.
each episode of Black Mirror carries the theme of renewable technology that mostly brings a negative influence and eliminates our humanity.
When Looking at the Black Mirror, we will discover the dark side of modern technology in human life. Moreover, the theme of each episode, as if insinuating the phenomenon is indeed present in the middle of our society.
we know that some episodes in the life of Black Mirror's distopia are really or will happen in our lives..
Yeah, they do a great job of portraying the negatives if technology is not handled properly.
The Mechanical Hound slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live in its gently humming, gently vibrating, softly illuminated kennel back in a dark corner of the firehouse. The dim light of one in the morning, the moonlight from the open sky framed through the great window, touched here and there on the brass and the copper and the steel of the faintly trembling beast. Light flickered on bits of ruby glass and on sensitive capillary hairs in the nylon-brushed nostrils of the creature that quivered gently, gently, gently, its eight legs spidered under it on rubberpadded paws. Montag slid down the brass pole. He went out to look at the city and the clouds had cleared away completely, and he lit a cigarette and came back to bend down and look at the Hound. It was like a great bee come home from some field where the honey is full of poison wildness, of insanity and nightmare, its body crammed with that over-rich nectar and now it was sleeping the evil out of itself. "Hello," whispered Montag, fascinated as always with the dead beast, the living beast. At night when things got dull, which was every night, the men slid down the brass poles, and set the ticking combinations of the olfactory system of the Hound and let loose rats in the firehouse area-way, and sometimes chickens, and sometimes cats that would have to be drowned anyway, and there would be betting to see which the Hound would seize first. The animals were turned loose. Three seconds later the game was done, the rat, cat, or chicken caught half across the areaway, gripped in gentling paws while a four-inch hollow steel needle plunged down from the proboscis of the Hound to inject massive jolts of morphine or procaine. The pawn was then tossed in the incinerator. A new game began
http://www.secret-satire-society.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Ray-Bradbury-Fahrenheit-451.pdf
Wow, this was quite a good read!!
It's pretty great, I like the part where the wife installs a 4th TV wall. He predicted not only mechanical hounds but also Virtual Reality and Bravo, in 1953.
Yea I watched that episod to .... they have only one goal, find and destroy and are not especially supersmart.... only the basic...but are super hurtful... pretty eerie
That's exactly my point. Robots wouldn't need to be super smart to be a threat to us.
@sauravrungta robots is future of new technology.you think artificial intelligence help to grow robotic technology?..keep supporting.
Yeah, AI will be integral to that.
interesnate informacion gracias por compartir este novedoso invento tecnologico