Posted on 04/09/2016 5:41:48 PM PDT by nickcarraway
China recently made global headlines when many of its restaurants sacked robot waiters. Apparently, the machines did not ‘handle’ customers well. The owners had to wake up to the reality that the robots lacked human touch and cannot replace human staff.
Despite this setback, China continues to dream big in the robotics space. For the past two days, Chinese social media sites Weibo and WeChat were filled with images of Xian’er, a chubby monk who lives in Longquan Temple in Beijing. What’s interesting is that Xian’er is a robot. Like any other monk, he adorns a yellow robe.
Interestingly, he bears some semblance to Apple’s Siri and can engage in small talks — but with a tinge of spirituality. Xian’er is 60cm tall and was created by Master Xianfan, the chief of animation center at the temple.
“We are preparing for the second-generation robot research and development, which would be more intelligent. We do not intend to carry out batch production of robot monks,” Xianfan told People’s Daily.ommunicate with mainstream culture,” he told ECNS.
(Excerpt) Read more at atimes.com ...
Excellent, now Algore can get money from Buddhist robots too!
Or he can get his massages from them, saving a human woman.
If any American monks try using such a robot, they should realize it’s just a matter of time before someone tries to hack it, make it say something wildly inappropriate.
You mean like quoting Eddie Murphy movies about chosen ones?
Reminds me of a conversation in The Robots of Death, of the Tom Baker era, where one individual relates a tale about a robot tearing the arms off of the guy getting a massage.
So? If the world doesn’t exist, does it matter?
“It is central to our belief system that we have no desires. We want nothing. Except maybe big giant robots that can do cool stuff and help us pick up chicks.”
Yeah, I’m going to learn and practice a 2500 year old, intensely human philosophy of life from a robot and cartoon. Sorry, not everything adapts to modern technology.
ROTFL
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