I was always taught that what separates us humans from animals and birds and bugs and machines is our ability to think. Consider the fly who keeps jettisoning itself headfirst into a plate glass window because she doesn’t learn from the first 6000 takes. We don’t do that (except in the case of reality TV, which feels somewhat the same as banging your head against a wall repeatedly).
But at least in the case of machines, this distinction may not exist for much longer.
As covered in The Week and Time magazines last February, robots will be able to think like humans; merge with humans; and conquer the universe – by the year 2045. Whoa!
But according to our latest research, we Americans aren’t quite ready for that – yet.
- Only 39% of us feel that scientists should be proactively trying to build robots and machines that can think for themselves, and
- Only 28% of us believe that scientists should practice the cloning of animals and humans.
What do you think? Are you ready for a cyborg who acts just like you? I’m not sure I am, but maybe I would be if it could figure out how clean the kitchen after one of our late night poker games.
And in your free time, check out this article from The Week for dog-walking robots, soccer-playing robots, robots that can reverse baldness, and my personal favorite, the robot masquerading as a beer can.
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