Posted on 08/23/2009 4:00:12 PM PDT by Flavius
One of the most captivating storylines in science fiction involves a nightmarish vision of the future in which autonomous killer robots turn on their creators and threaten the extinction of the human race. Hollywood blockbusters such as Terminator and The Matrix are versions of this cautionary tale, as was R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), the 1920 Czech play by Karel Capek that marked the first use of the word "robot."
(Excerpt) Read more at boiseweekly.com ...
I heard the secret of “Blade Runner” was that in the end, he, too, was in fact ARTIFICIAL, just like the robots he was paid to hunt.
Guy goes into a bar, there's a robot bartender. The robot says, "What will you have?" The guy says, "Martini." The robot brings back the best martini ever and says to the man, "What's your IQ?" The guy says, "168". The robot then proceeds to talk about physics, space exploration and medical technology.
The guy leaves, but he is curious, so he goes back into the bar. The robot bartender says,"What will you have?" The guy says, "Martini". Again, the robot makes a great martini, gives it to the man and says, "What's your IQ?" The guy says, "100." The robot then starts to talk about Nascar, Budweiser and John Deere tractors.
The guy leaves, but finds it very interesting, so he thinks he will try it one more time. He goes back into the bar. The robot says, "What will you have?" The guy says, "Martini", and the robot brings him another great martini. The robot then says, "What's your IQ?" The guy says, "Uh, about 50." The robot leans in real close and says, "So, you people still happy you voted for Obama?"
“I heard the secret of “Blade Runner” was that in the end, he, too, was in fact ARTIFICIAL, just like the robots he was paid to hunt.”
It’s kinda funny to me, in the original novel, Blade Runner, the Blade Runners were unlicensed EMT’s and Nurses who would smuggle Surgical Instruments to their Doctor’s so that the Doctors’s could do Unauthorized surgeries like Tonsillectomies.
In the world that was described, Universal Healthcare was available to anyone. But it came with a terrifying cost. Forced Sterilization. The object was to reduce the population by attrition as that was kinder than executions.
The Blade runner’s assisted the population that had opted out of the system so as to have children. Seems prescient to me considering what is happening in the halls of Congress today.
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman wrote in his 1996 book On Killing that despite the portrayal in our popular culture of violence being easy, "There is within most men an intense resistance to killing their fellow man. A resistance so strong that, in many circumstances, soldiers on the battlefield will die before they can overcome it.The author apparently thinks that soldiers dying before they can overcome this alleged "instinct" is preferable to using robots.
Utter pap. Take this line: Lt. Col. Dave Grossman wrote in his 1996 book On Killing that despite the portrayal in our popular culture of violence being easy, "There is within most men an intense resistance to killing their fellow man. A resistance so strong that, in many circumstances, soldiers on the battlefield will die before they can overcome it.
The author apparently thinks that soldiers dying before they can overcome this alleged "instinct" is preferable to using robots.
Utter pap. Take this line: Lt. Col. Dave Grossman wrote in his 1996 book On Killing that despite the portrayal in our popular culture of violence being easy, "There is within most men an intense resistance to killing their fellow man. A resistance so strong that, in many circumstances, soldiers on the battlefield will die before they can overcome it.
The author apparently thinks that soldiers dying before they can overcome this alleged "instinct" is preferable to using robots.
What! No spoiler alert?
So, who’s taking bets? Will these Robots be like the Cylons (aka “Toasters”) from Battlestar Galactica, or will they look more like the Terminators that tried to wipe out Sarah and John Conner? :-)
Sounds like the robot is remote controlled—like a predator drone. The real line to cross I think is when it just follows its own programming.
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