Here it is:
*quick update, to watch it big enough to actually see what the heck I am pointing to/shifting/highlighting click to the blip.tv link on the bottom and expand that sh**! *
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Outline is as follows:
This post is to look at the growing difference between AI as a source of social mythology versus a growing industry.
The sensationalized social concept of robots has permeated pop culture in almost every way. We tend to romanticize robots as well as have a fixation on their relationship to human authority. Generally, fiction robots are almost on equal intelligence levels with real humans, thus the basis of their potential threat and interest.
The actual field of robotics is actually less glamorous, mostly used by the military, and representing a gross industrial impact of $ 5 billion internationally. Advances in the field have been made more and more possible by ever higher accessibility to technology, collaboration between fields, availability of goods, and more. Basically there is a lot more to come.
The tension I see between these two is the relative failure of the “anthropomorphic market” thus far. Meaning that right now there is almost no money throw into the industry to make robots look more like people from either side. My theory on this is that it freaks people out due, in part, to the uncanny valley theory.
Here is an e bibliography of the sites I used in the video:
The two definitions page
The YouTube uncanny valley video, also posted previously by myself
Surveying pop culture
The robots on the rise page
I will leave any relevant shifts on them too if you guys want to check them out.
Possibly Relevant Posts:
- Conclusions-AI and Robotics (0) | Valerie
- The Web as configurable culture (3) | nayoung
- The Robotics Race? (3) | Angela
12 Comments
Interesting stuff. I love AI, it’s so fascinating. There’s an NYU student who just built a robot and is using it to study human interaction. Lily did an article about it on NYULocal:
http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2009/04/13/nyu-student-kacie-kinzer-builds-adorable-robots-shows-us-the-world-aint-so-bad-after-all/
I’m curious about the “uncanny valley”. since we haven’t reached the other side yet, where robots become so much like humans that they are indistinguishable, how do they know how people would react? It seems like this applies to animation more than robots, as these mediums have very different properties and purposes.
Bladerunner! Do you think it would ever be possible to reach that final point in the uncanny valley video where robots = humans?
Totally loved that video you posted on the uncanny valley and video games. Thought it really did a great job of using visuals and quick spurts of facts to get it’s point across — and definitely felt infographic. I definitely understand the argument about robots with a few human characteristics being endearing because we choose to ooh and awww at the elements that are reminiscent of human beings — like in WallE. And then I totally understand why we get freaked out when we see robots that get REALLY close, but fall short in some aspects, and thus we attend to those aspects and have trouble pushing past them. It’s the sharp uphill spike that comes after the uncanny valley that kind of screwed me up. I don’t think that we will suddenly leap back into a comfort zone once robots look and move exactly like us. I think we will be even more freaked out and cautious because this will prey on our fears that humans will become irrelevant if robots that look like humans and can be programmed to function in a specific way are able to take over. For example, that movie Simone where they create the perfect female movie star, but she’s only perfect because she’s a programmable robot, not an actual human. To me that’s even freakier than a kind-of fucked up robot.
Actually I loved your posts content I think its really interesting to study where robotics will go in the future. I wonder if we will push through the “uncanny valley” since it seems that the kind of robots which we dream of (the kind indistinguishable from humans) is not possible and we currently fear robotics. However, if we push through we will make it to the point where robotics will be like in the movies! Or so I believe. On that note, I did have a problem with the maybe the way you did your content. I couldn’t read the text you were scrolling through. I think it would have been more effective if you did an audio post and posted the youtube video separately. I couldn’t read any of the text you were scrolling through and it was a bit frustrating.
that “uncanny valley” video was so great… short and so true. I would love to hear more on that. Robots in the media could be a travelogue on it’s own. I’m looking forward to more.
someone at NYU created tweenbots, and its a little robot that is noticeably human-dependent.
http://www.geekologie.com/2009/04/stay_strong_gw_helpless_robot.php
I think that the student who created it adequately avoided that uncanny valley. I really think that making a robot “helpless” and cute really works to gain a human’s trust and affection.
Angela, that is actually really interesting and I completely agree. This robot looks so cute, and so far from human that it is more like one of those robo-pets.
Simulation and representation, how can we simulate human emotion we don’t understand
-one thing to animate a robot, show it as a representation to like or dislike,
-another example to have simulation
I am reading “The Rainbow of Desire” by Agusto Boal for another class on arts education. Boal is a political theater director and in this book he describes his theater techniques…but that’s beside the point. In his theory section, he describes the human being as a matrix of sensations, emotions and reasons, times the unconscious , the pre(or sub)conscious and the conscious(the verbalized). this quote made me think of your travelogue:
“that which was conscious can become pre- or un-conscious; and that which was unconscious can rise back up to the surface and become word. These are slender, fragile layers, one on top of another, darker towards the bottom, clearer towards the top. These sensations, emotions and ideas, whether exposed to the light of day or fled into the shadows, are always alive, always active, and all the more terrible the darker they are, all the more controllable for dwelling in darkness.” (34)
His discussion of human nature and the brain/body reveals why anything unknown is so essentially frightening to the human race. Within our own brains, our unconscious controls some of our actions, but since we cannot put it into words, we cannot control it. Since the system of our thought and existence is so bound up in language and expression, we cannot ever fully “see” or understand ourselves, what it means to be human, because there will always be unconscious forces in the back of our heads and hearts.
that we can’t express this part of our being into words causes fear about trying to “simulate” a human. How could we give a robot instincts, intuition and beliefs, when we can’t express them at all in any system of language or documentation? This would most definitely cause real problems in a robot. But maybe one day someone will figure out how to “see” the unseen parts of our beings, brains and bodies. I wonder what that technology would do to the existence of human beings….
Q: Are there actually robots out there yet who can walk your dog? Or water your flowers? http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/tech_today_SDR-4X.html
Nicely said by petra. I understand where your coming from. I Im really happy that you put that way.