About Will your robots be your best friends forever-BFF-or best enemies forever-BEF? In Scientific American 2008, Bill Gates has called for a robot in every home by 2020. How are we going to live with them? In Japan, South Korea, and Norway, robots are quickly becoming the companions of the elderly, in some sense their friends. Georgia Tech roboticists have announced a new model that fetches objects for the elderly, while pet robotic seals have become increasingly popular among the elderly in Norway. Robots from the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla compete in robo-soccer games against Carnegie-Mellon. Soon they will be providing a similar role for children. Robots-some built by the same company that makes the robotic home vacuum, the Roomba-have quickly become the infantryman's friend in Iraq and Afghanistan, ready to risk their existence to blow up enemy bombs or provide real-time battlefield intelligence. Some of us feel great affection toward our robotic vacuums that clean our floors with unerring regularity-and we wish others in our lives displayed a similar dependability. In South Korea, robotic machine guns are installed along the DMZ to automatically repel any invaders from the north. Autonomous robotic systems now oversee parallel parking in some new cars, and other autonomous systems are integrated into cruise control to automatically slow down your car when it gets too close to the vehicle ahead of it. Is the car itself becoming a robot, transforming us from drivers to passengers? Will this be a metaphor for larger transformations in our lives? Join us and our panel of experts for a discussion of the role of robots in our lives. What would it mean to have a good life together with robots? What are the possible gains? The risks? The panelists include: Vernor Vinge, Science Fiction Author; Larry Hinman, University of San Diego; Third panelist, to be named. The program and parking are free but please RSVP by March 2.
http://ethicscenter.net/Events/FleetProgram/Robots.html
Pre-Registration Required To RSVP, go to
ethicscenter.net. Once we receive your RSVP, we will send a confirmation with driving and parking details. We recommend that you arrive at the event by 5 p.m. Only those who have RSVP'd will be allowed to go in at that time. At 5:15 p.m. we will open the Lecture Hall to walk-ins and those not on the RSVP list.
Links Event Details |
Link to Host organization
Location Central-Coastal
Audience High-school, Adults, Teachers, Science Professionals
Areas Arts & Humanities, Business & Innovation, Engineering, Science All Around Us
Host organization The Ethics Center in collaboration with the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center
Tags lecture,
discussion,
UCSD,
society,
ethics,
robotics,
engineering
