Recently, an unmanned Reaper drone, a top of the line military aerial vehicle, shot down a target drone with a missile. This is the first time in history that an unmanned craft has shot down another unmanned craft. It is only a matter of time before these move from “unmanned” to “AI controlled”. Keep in mind this was a military exercise, not something that happened on the battlefield, but it is a watershed moment.
1. A new walking battlefield mech prototype by those rascals over in Russia. This looks just like the machines you see on BattleTech, or in the movie Robocop. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, think a large (2-3 story) robot with a human pilot inside. The braintrust and I discuss them in the upcoming season of Fascinating Gadgets, Gizmos, and Gear-Based Technologies (click for link).
2. The race for AGI (Artifical General Intelligence) may be coming to a close! The team behind Deep Mind have developed a new AI that is basically like a baby brain, and instead of being able to learn one specific task (like mastering the game Go), it can learn a lot of different things via an already established basic learning algorithm. A very interesting read.
This is probably the scariest one-two punch I have ever posted!
And the Funk Freedom Press is back online! You know what else is online? Just about every robot in existence today. As a species, we are racing towards the event horizon known as The Robocalypse, AKA the apocalypse caused by robots! This is terrifying, yet I will be covering every step nonetheless. I used to be obsessed with the Zombie Apocalypse, but now I see it is us who are the zombies, and it is the robots who will soon rule the world.
If you want to QUICKLY catch up on the current state of things, check out my podcast on how to make the T1000 from terminator in real life: bit.ly/2AVq0aU
AND my interview with the amazing Linda Moulton Howe: bit.ly/2rD5Hdz
What do we have today? Three (3) scary stories:
1. Simple robots are working together to solve very complex puzzles! Once they start working together in unison and with deadly efficiency, its over.
Article here: bit.ly/2ODkpcJ
Video here: https://youtu.be/hkVc5uNE5Gw
2. Robots are learning how to use hands that are as dexterous as our own. If they refine their fine motor skills, there is no telling how many artisans will be put out of work.
Article here: bit.ly/2KnMDoG
Video here: https://youtu.be/c0mInqFb02s
3. And finally, AI is learning how to read lips! Nothing will ever be secret again!
Article here: http://bit.ly/2OH9RJQ
As I reported in my last post, there is a strange disease afflicting young people in California that is reminiscent of Polio. The latest to get it is a little boy names Lucian. This is the first case in Southern California. This poor kid had an ear infection at 11 months. It progressed to the point where now doctors say he won’t be able to use his legs. This is insane! Where are all these weird diseases coming from? How and why is this spreading? The sad part is that doctors are absolutely clueless.
In California, there has been an outbreak of some unknown disease, targeting children with polio like symptoms. No one is speculating on what this is, but it is definitely spreading. The first insane viral infection of 2014? The clock starts ticking.