A Robot Has Passed The Self-Awareness Test

[Drache]

A robot in New York has passed the classic 'wise men puzzle' used to test whether a machine is 'self-aware'.

The logic puzzle involves a fictional king who is set the task of choosing a new advisor and gathers the three wisest people in the kingdom. He tells them the test will be fair to all of them and then places either a blue or white hat on the head of each and tells them that the first to stand up and announce the colour of their own hat will become his advisor.

According to TechRadar, Roboticists at the Ransselaer Polytechnic Institute adapted the riddle for a trio of robots where two were prevented from speaking. All three were asked which one of them was able to speak.

Initially, all three attempted to answer 'I don't know' but when one heard that it was the only one with a voice it added 'Sorry, I know now!".

While the puzzle may be simple for a human to solve, the process is far more complex for a robot as it requires an element of self-awareness.

While the robot passing this particular test is unlikely to lead to an army of self-aware cyborgs executing a robot uprising, it does have important implications for the future of robotkind.

By passing logic tests like this, robots are able to build up human-like reasoning skills that will prove useful in future technology such as driverless cars.

In 2014, a computer became the first to pass the famous Turing Test, which is passed if a computer is mistaken for a human more than 30% of the time during a series of five-minute keyboard-based conversations.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/robot-passed-self-awareness-test-113733911.html

[Old Moparz]

Well this is a good start in moving this right along.  

Robots to replace lawyers.

[DeltaV]

http://despair.com/products/innovation

http://despair.com/products/adaptation

[68X426]

I just assume everyone is a robot.   

Especially around here on the forum.

[69rtse4spd]

Jonny Cab right around the corner. .

[myk]

Ok so when can I put a deposit on a Jessica Alba robot/clone with the self aware sex kitten Plus option? 

[Daytona R/T SE]

Ok so when can I put a deposit on a Jessica Alba robot/clone with the self aware sex kitten Plus option?  

myk,

I just bought the prototype.

Here it is recharging it's solar batteries on my back porch. 

Now, if I can just get the damned thing to cut the grass.  

[polywideblock]

oh yeh "westworld " here we come              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcL3eP0Hfy4

[ws23rt]

I'm kinda surprised that this test hasn't been replicated already.

The real bottom line of this line of discussion is at what point to we finally agree that we have fabricated a new life form.

The question of what exactly the definition of life is needs to be set to begin with. That -as I see it is the choke point that needs to be resolved before we even start to talk about having created a new one.

Good grief---It was many years ago when a robot was able to find it's power outlet to plug in and feed.  

Is the requisite to reproduce needed to be considered a life form?

I do like this sort of conversation---It gets to a very basic and very human question. One that most other creatures don't have time to consider. (they are going about spending their life in a different way with different needs than us).

The most basic types of life only seem to feed and reproduce. To me this meets the requirement as a life form and therefore perhaps a bench mark as to what constitutes life.-----At this point I chose to sit back and listen as I have been doing on this topic for 50 years or so.

[Drache]

The real bottom line of this line of discussion is at what point to we finally agree that we have fabricated a new life form.

Granted there is a good distance between "Self Aware" and "Sentience"

[ws23rt]

The real bottom line of this line of discussion is at what point to we finally agree that we have fabricated a new life form.

Granted there is a good distance between "Self Aware" and "Sentience"

There is not only distance between the two. Their is a question of the meaning of the word sentient? If a machine reacts to a temperature for example. Is that not responding to a sense? The same goes for vibrations/ inertia/etc.

When I was pondering these things with my friends in my teen years all we ended up with was some unknown force or spark if you will that made something alive vs not alive. That was the wall we came to in our discussions. Of course that is not a resolution it was only as far as we got. I have yet to see something more than that 50+ years on.

It's sorta like "dark matter" Something we know that must be there but we can't see it and we don't know what it is.

Gravity is another mystery on par with these.  We know it's there and can count on it's value but why and how it works is a question.

[draftingmonkey]

""We are the Borg. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

[skip68]

So many unanswered questions.   The biggest question I've got is just because we can, should we?   We all know that the earth is round but do we know why?     
I'm going to breakfast, be back later for discussion.   

[ws23rt]

Hmm the earth is round?  Spherical?  It's still just a rumor to some

Gravity made the earth round.  So why does stuff tend to clump together?  It's not magnetism.  That's a vastly greater force and is apparently unrelated to gravity.

About robots being alive or not is a great question.  Another question in the same area ---are ants an bees for examples considered independent life forms?  They only survive as a group of individuals with different tasks. Should that group be considered a single life form?

We are made of individual "living" cells that have specific tasks and also can only survive as a group.

So if we made a robot that could make copy's of it's self.  Would that be enough to qualify them as a life form?  If so than we could be considered that life form's creator.---God---

[draftingmonkey]

We all know that the earth is round but do we know why?

Hmm the earth is round? Spherical?  It's still just a rumor to some.  Gravity made the earth round.  So why does stuff tend to clump together?  It's not magnetism.  That's a vastly greater force and is apparently unrelated to gravity.

Are your sure the earth is round? It just might be flat.
http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/cms/

[DeltaV]

Ok so when can I put a deposit on a Jessica Alba robot/clone with the self aware sex kitten Plus option?  

myk,

I just bought the prototype.

Here it is recharging it's solar batteries on my back porch. 

Now, if I can just get the damned thing to cut the grass.  

I want one of THOSE prototypes for washing and waxing my cars!

[ws23rt]

We all know that the earth is round but do we know why?

Hmm the earth is round? Spherical?  It's still just a rumor to some.  Gravity made the earth round.  So why does stuff tend to clump together?  It's not magnetism.  That's a vastly greater force and is apparently unrelated to gravity.

Are your sure the earth is round? It just might be flat.
http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/cms/

I'm pretty sure the earth is round.   Them flat earther's seem to think it is too.   Their world is flat so their must be an edge?  How do they know their are not corners on it?---If no corners have been found then it must be round.

We must use care when asking questions of these folks. They may have an aneurysm.--or worse

I would ask them ---How thick is the flat earth?--How far can one dig until one is standing on the other side?

[Chad L. Magee]

Hmm the earth is round?  Spherical?  It's still just a rumor to some

Gravity made the earth round.  So why does stuff tend to clump together?  It's not magnetism.  That's a vastly greater force and is apparently unrelated to gravity.

About robots being alive or not is a great question.  Another question in the same area ---are ants an bees for examples considered independent life forms?  They only survive as a group of individuals with different tasks. Should that group be considered a single life form?

We are made of individual "living" cells that have specific tasks and also can only survive as a group.

So if we made a robot that could make copy's of it's self.  Would that be enough to qualify them as a life form?  If so than we could be considered that life form's creator.---God---

I have a few theories on what causes gravity (below the sub atomic level), but no way of experimentally testing them at this point in time.  (If only I had the means...)  Neither string theory nor loop quantum gravity theory has it correct right now is all I will say.  My own overall quantum theory is similar to a combination of the two theories in parts, but with a major difference in something important (that potentially leads to properties in matter, including gravity and magnetism forces).  I like to think of the gravity/magnetism relationship as some puzzle pieces that were left by Albert Einstein for our generation to solve.  He was limited in the technology of his time which prevented him from progressing further than he did.  I have a 39 page theoretical research paper that I have been working on for some time now, but it may end up becoming a book by the time I get fully done with it.  It seems to keep growing all the time as I question more and more things known about matter/energy....

Dark matter/energy is likely in a higher dimensional form than what we can currently perceive.  We will likely never get to fully understand it in our short lifetimes, which is sad....

As for the topic at hand (self aware robots), I am not surprised that we have finally made one.  It will only be a matter of time before they become an evolutionary link towards something much, much greater....

[DeltaV]

Just don't allow self aware robotic drivers in our Dodge Chargers!

[68charger440]

Some of the greatest science and technology minds of our time I.e Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and many more have all warned of the possibilities of humans being surpassed by artificial intelligence to the point where we could become irrelevant at best and a pest needing to be exterminated at worst.  We already can create robots that can surpass us in many ways.  Once we have a truly sentient robot that has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly then watchout!  We may become their pets in a zoo.  It may start out with them helping us with the menial tasks, but if they become better than us at everything which is pretty much inevitable then we will be at their mercy.  When they see us destroying each other and the world around us will they step in and stop it "for our own good"?

[ws23rt]

Some of the greatest science and technology minds of our time I.e Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and many more have all warned of the possibilities of humans being surpassed by artificial intelligence to the point where we could become irrelevant at best and a pest needing to be exterminated at worst.  We already can create robots that can surpass us in many ways.  Once we have a truly sentient robot that has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly then watchout!  We may become their pets in a zoo.  It may start out with them helping us with the menial tasks, but if they become better than us at everything which is pretty much inevitable then we will be at their mercy.  When they see us destroying each other and the world around us will they step in and stop it "for our own good"?

When a robot tells us that the word "robot" is derogatory and we should use a more politically correct word we are in very big trouble

It not only would be a clear indication that they have awakened and are present--- it would show that they are corrupted in that they are making a judgment about where they find themselves. (making that judgment and not liking it is the corruption)

If they find others behavior not to their liking it could become a mess like we have now but worse by an order of magnitude.

So when will we elect the first robot--oops---biologically challenged president?

[tan top]

Jonny Cab right around the corner. .

yep 

[68charger440]

When a robot tells us that the word "robot" is derogatory and we should use a more politically correct word we are in very big trouble

you' will know the robots time is here when 'robot' is called the 'R' word, and the robots are asking for reparations!

[ws23rt]

When a robot tells us that the word "robot" is derogatory and we should use a more politically correct word we are in very big trouble

you' will know the robots time is here when 'robot' is called the 'R' word, and the robots are asking for reparations!

Asking for reparations?--yikes ------After all the years of controlling and manipulating machines to do our bidding we are in for a big bill to pay.

If our cell phones were to become considered pets than we may have to deal with the--?---ASPCR--???

[Mike DC]

 


Eventually scientists will quit trying to make metal & plastic act like life, and start manipulating life itself.  

They will probably discover that it's the only way it ever could be done.