The Robots are Coming. Yesterday.

A couple of days ago I watched a new video, which I've embedded below, that has been posted by TEDtalksDirector to YouTube. It's a recording of a presentation given by Rodney Brooks at a conference in 2003. In his well organised presentation, Brooks begins with some general comments about the certainty that robots will become common place in our lives, and suggests that an explosion in the use of robots is beginning now. He then gives some examples to illustrate the recent past of the arrival of robots, with increasing attention to the role and abilities of robots in 2003. He explains some of the work his own research teams are working on, with discussions of such things as robotic awareness of and responsiveness to human visual activity and robotic "emotional spaces". His visual aids, both static and video, make his points very clearly in an entertaining way. Finally, he raises some deeper philosophical questions about the possible developments of robotic intelligence in the not so distant future, including the question of human-like rights for robots, which he relates to the role of scientific and technological progress over the last 500 years in removing our idea that human beings are something special and somehow different to, and superior to, the rest of nature and the universe. 

I enjoyed Brook's 20 minute presentation. He speaks well, with clarity and humour, his ideas are well organised, with interesting visual aids, and his topic and main ideas are relevant to what is likely to happen in our lifetimes. Some of the issues that Brooks addresses are also relevant to the ideas that some of you discussed in your essays on the meaning of person, so although it isn't a reading or writing activity, you might find Brook's presentation worth watching. And it is good practice for speaking and listening. 

TEDtalksDirector is one of the channels I subscribe to on YouTube. They present a range of presentations by leading academics, scientists, authors and others on a range of topical questions. Most are about twenty to thirty minutes in length. Some of my favourites include physicist Stephen Hawking, philosopher Daniel Dennett, psychologist Steven Pinker and evolutionary biologist raichard Dawkins, but there are a lot of other well known thinkers to choose from, some very controversial, such as the Harvard biologist E. O. Wilson. If you are looking for some challenging material to practise listening, you might like to have a look at TEDtalksDirector on YouTube. 

References

Brooks, R. (presenter). (2008, October 10). How robots will invade our lives. TEDtalksDirector on YouTube. Videoclip retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdyRmdv-KiY&sdig=1