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Flotsam and Jetsam
I don't have an essay today. I have some ideas that I'd like to think about
more, and perhaps I'll have something interesting to write soon. So, rather than
wrack what little brains I have trying to write when I'm not inspired, I'll just
note some things that I've come across out on the Web.
Thanks
First of all, thanks to Donald
Sensing for the link to my blog. He's one of my favorite bloggers, and has
really been on a roll lately. Check out
this article on the difference between the rationale for the war in Iraq and
the casus belli. This
thought experiment on some of the history of World War I is fascinating, as
well. It might provoke you to learn a little more about WWI history. The little
bit of military history I know is primarily on WWII, so I found the article
particularly good. There's a bunch of other great stuff on his site. Go read it.
Now.
How Stupid Can Terrorists Be?
A few days ago, I wrote about
Chief Wiggles' toy drive for
Iraqi children, called Operation Give.
In the post, I argued that Operation Give (and, by the way, other
humanitarian efforts in Iraq) ought to supported, not least because it will help
"cure the disease" of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism in Iraq and elsewhere
in the Middle East. As it turns out, it seems that the terrorists see
humanitarian efforts in Iraq as a threat as well. True to their cowardly nature,
they're fighting back by
threatening to kill children that accept school supplies from UNESCO or that
wave to Americans. The information comes from an
Iraqi blogger, so it's pretty
credible.
This shows that the terrorists are either incredibly stupid or completely
insane. How can they think that threatening to kill Iraqi children will win the
favor of the Iraqi people? Dumb or crazy? I say - both!
Thanks to
Donald Sensing for the link to the article.
My Battle Cry
Start running!
I forgot where I got this from, but it's pretty funny!
Asimov's Laws of Robotics
Via Glenn Reynolds' Tech Central Station
article,
speculating on whether or not self-aware and thinking robots have "human" rights, I ran
across this
paper on the implications of Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics for
actual robots. Those
who have read science fiction for any length of time know Asimov's laws:
- A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human
being to come to harm.
- A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such
orders would conflict with the First Law.
- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not
conflict with the First or Second Law.
These laws were premised in Asimov's stories to be built in to the robot;
that is, they were part of the robot's "positronic" brain, and so the robot
couldn't disobey the laws, nor could they be deleted from the robot by any sort
of programming. Creating a robot that didn't obey the laws was essentially
impossible. Only robots that were in some sense defective would fail to obey the
laws.
Of course, the real robots of today don't have anywhere near the cognitive
capabilities of the robots in Asimov's stories. None that I am aware of exhibit
any significant level of self-awareness, and few, if any, are any more
intelligent (in terms of awareness of surroundings, pattern matching capability,
and so on) than an insect. There is also no requirement, from an engineering
standpoint, that any such laws must be designed into a robot. So at this point
in time, the laws are mostly a plot device for some interesting fiction and
perhaps a philosophical diversion. But what if such robots could be built?
The paper takes as its premise that actual robots could be built that are
fully self-aware, at least as smart as a human, and encoded with Asimov's laws.
What would happen? How would the robots behave? What are the logical
implications of the laws? The article (actually, a set of two articles)
discusses all of this from logical and philosophical points of view (they're
quite long and were published in IEEE Computer magazine, a major, influential
academic journal for electrical engineers and computer scientists).
Some researchers believe that the human race will someday be supplanted by
robots; that the next stage of evolution is "electronic" life. If the
considerable scientific and engineering challenges could be overcome, and we
knew how to build intelligent, self-aware robots, should we? Clearly, such a
creation has the potential to be exceedingly dangerous. A self-aware, autonomous
agent with no morals whatsoever would be a nightmare. How would we want our
electronic "children" to behave? Ask yourself that in light of being a parent of
real, human children. Ask yourself that in light of your religious beliefs, if
you have any. Then, go
read this
discussion thread. There's some really smart people that have been thinking
about these questions, and others. Thanks to Glenn
for the cool and interesting article. Apparently, he's a fellow robo-geek.
California Burning
Unless you've been under a rock for the past week or so, you've heard that
California is on fire. OK, not all of it, but lots of southern California,
especially
around San Diego and Los Angeles. (Note: the fire map that the link
points to is quite large, so it will take some time to load on a slow
connection). An area at least the size of the whole state of Rhode Island has
burned, with many (thousands) of houses burned and many deaths. My prayers go
out to all of those affected, and especially to those that have lost loved ones.
May God show special favor and give comfort to everyone in those areas impacted
by the fires. Thanks to Steven Den Beste
for the pointer to the fire maps.
Happy Halloween!
Finally, happy Halloween to everyone. Please, be safe and drive carefully. If
your local church is sponsoring or putting on an alternative to the traditional
trick-or-treating, consider supporting it or attending it with your kids. The
ones that I know of in our area are quite well done, much safer and more fun for
your kids, and an all-around much more wholesome environment. I'm not against
trick-or-treating (and I'll be home passing out candy while Mrs. Pete takes our
son to a local celebration), but I think there are better alternatives. In any
case, enjoy the day!
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