Technology – Page 11 – David Bradley

Is it okay to kick a robot?

UPDATE: One of their robots can now dance, which is the way forward, please don’t weaponise them, just let them twerk and moonwalk

These robots can now open doors for each other and let themselves out…just sayin’

By now, you’ve probably seen the astounding quadruped robots that have been built and demonstrated by Boston Dynamics. These machines run like four-legged animals and don’t seem to mind when their human companions give them a kick…hold on…give them a kick? Is that really the best example to set impressionable people watching the videos?

One could argue that it’s a machine, it doesn’t “mind” being kicked, if that demonstrates just how robust the software and servos are to disturbances in the forces around them. But, it is still quite a disconcerting thing to see. The next generation might be togged up with heads and fur, for instance, to make them look even more like animals, that would make for even more uncomfortable viewing, I reckon. And, then, of course, ultimately, such a robot might be endowed with artificial intelligence, sentience, even. Would kicking a bot that knows what you’re doing be moral?

This also raises another question. If we build sentient robots, would it be sensible to give them pain receptors? Would we want them to know to avoid things that might hurt. And, Asimov aside, might a robot in pain having been kicked feel that retaliation was the ethical thing to do from its perspective?

What if Greg House MD were on twitter?

What if Dr Gregory House were on twitter?

Hungardian doctor Berci Mesko MD PhD knows his medical communities and uses the internet like a pro in his practice: “We must include digital literacy in the medical curriculum,” he tells TEDxNijmegen ;-)

Asimov on the three laws of robotics

Laws of Robotics are essentially the rules by which autonomous robots should operate. Such robots do not yet exist but have been widely anticipated by futurists, novels, in science fiction movies and for those working in or simply interested in research and development in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence are important pointers to the future…if we are to avoid a Terminator or Matrix type apocalypse (apparently). The most famous proponent of laws for robots was Isaac Asimov.

He introduced them in 1942 in a short story called “Runaround”, although others had alluded to such rules before this. The Three Laws are:

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders given by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Here’s the man himself discussing the three laws:

Grant a pardon to Alan Turing

UPDATE: Finally getting around to updating this page, it is ten years since Alan Turing was granted a posthumous pardon (2013)

A new petition is now online seeking a pardon from the UK government for mathematician Alan Turing. In 1952, he was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ with another man, under an archaic law that no longer exists. He was given so-called “organo-therapy” (chemical castration) and two years later, killed himself with cyanide-laced apple, aged just 41.

Turing invented the concept of the modern computer, devised the first real test for artificial intelligence and cracked the German codes to help bring WWII to an end.

Turing also figured out how the leopard got its spots and what makes zebras stripy. Seriously, he figured out that the diffusion of cyclical chemical patterns in the growing embryo, particularly in pigment cells would give rise to waves or rings of different pigment across the skin.

The 5 Ws (and How) of writing for the Web

Steve Buttry presents the five six questions that should guide your reporting as you interview, observe and research to gather the facts for a story, whether that’s live tweeting from a conference, a facebook update, a blog post or your first long-form feature for an online magazine.

They can, he says, also raise ethical issues you should consider as well as helping you home in on links, graphics and people with which to build your article.

The 5 W’s (and How) of writing for the Web Â« The Buttry Diary.

New Facebook friends and blogging advice

If you’ve been on Facebook for any length of time you will have had friend requests from people you don’t know. That’s fine. Often they’re just spammers. Sometimes, they’re users with whom you might have a few friends in common. If paths haven’t crossed I usually redirect requests to the Sciencebase Facebook page instead of automatically accepting the request. Occasionally, the new wouldbe friend turns out already to “like” the page, says so and starts a conversation. Also fine. Half proves they’re not some kind of bot. Virtual friendships can spring from such occurrences. It’s what this social media lark is all about, right?

Indian medical blogger Pranab Chatterjee who runs Scepticemia, sent me a friend request and I went through the process described above and he pointed out that he already liked the fan page, was surprised to learn I also run Sciencetext and wondered how I manage to juggle so many words at once. He also thought that I might be able to offer him some advice on boosting visitors to his blog as he felt like it had reached a plateau. He wanted the recipe for my secret sauce of success…well I don’t have one, I just work (probably too) hard and hope for the best. So, I turned the tables on Pranab and asked him what I could do to improve my blog.

He was a little taken aback, but offered some encouraging words about the liking the clean look of the blogs and putting in a request for more hardcore medical posts, he’s a doctor, hence the interest. I do write about medical matters, but I will probably leave the hardcore stuff to the hardcore medical bloggers (and I don’t mean Dr G)

Anyway, if there is a recipe for blogging success, other than going black hat it has to be plenty of persistence a wadge of hard work, and perhaps a very strong background in the subject on which you’re blogging coupled with experience in the wider journalism industry and/or experience in science (or other field) and the conference circuit. I think enjoying writing probably helps as does have an analytical approach. Being active in social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter seems to help raise one’s profile although is not really reflected in traffic, in my experience (a few hundred to a thousands new visits extra each week, perhaps) and the occasional spike. Others might perceive that differently, but more than 80% of Sciencebase traffic is still search engine derived. Nevertheless, make sure every new blog post is as perfect and precise as you can, and then tell your Facebook followers, twitter crowd about it. It’s also always worth doing a spot of whitehat SEO, just to improve search traffic benefit.

That’s just a few, almost random thoughts. Bottom line is: if you enjoy writing, you probably should have a blog. If you enjoy people you probably should make friends.

Scientists and social media

Science and social media – It may seem counterproductive for scientists to air their dirty laundry in public, but in a world where the media is dominated by manufactured pseudo-debates over the reality of anthropogenic climate change, the safety of vaccines and evolution, the value of giving the public a window into what a real scientific debate looks like cannot be overestimated.

The latest science stories to hit DB’s virtual desktop @sciencebase.

New Sciencebase element

I’ve updated the Sciencebase tumblr account, for those of you who would like an alternative one-stop shop for science and technology news and views from David Bradley. The site aggregates the Sciencebase, Sciencetext, SciScoop, and Reactive Reports newsfeeds as well as my “likes” in Google Reader.

To celebrate, I’ve created a new element icon and based it, this time, on an actual chemical element mashed with the tumblr floral logo.

sciencebase delicious bookmarks In case you missed it there’s also a sciencebase elemental delicious icon floating around on the site somewhere. The links I bookmark in delicious usually include science and technology posts and news items that catch my eye at random times throughout the week.

13 of the best Facebook fans ever

In the spirit of exploiting the three principles of uber-link bait titles mentioned over on sciencetext, I wanted to express my thanks to a few people who are fans, or “likers”, of the Sciencebase Facebook page. These diamond people have all been particularly active recently on the fan page, liking, commenting, debating on wall posts. I hope I’ve caught the most active of you, if not let me know.

So, in no particular order:

Jones Murphy – Caltech
Hamada Shingo – STFC
Jacob Cox – Green Science Research Foundation
Robert Slinn – University of Liverpool
Eur van Andel – Fiwihex
Alan Crooks – Visiting chemistry lecturer in the UK
Arpit Dave – Gujarat University
Lisa Shaw – Maine librarian
Paul Shin – CSU Northridge
Jacqueline Limpens – Medical librarian
Chris King – Lodi, California
Linda Wilton – Oxoid, Thermofisher scientific
Richard Grant – f1000

If any of those links don’t seem to work, you will probably need to be logged into Facebook. Meanwhile, if you’ve been a fan for a while and haven’t commented, then why not have a go? HINT: List #2 coming soon…