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I'm getting
a big kick out of FOX Television's
Terminator: The Sarah Connor
Chronicles. The show follows John Conner in his teen
years, as John, his mother and a cast of characters try to
stop Terminator robots and Judgment day from ever happening in
the first place. One of the show's plot storylines concerns
John and band trying to stop the technology that will lead to
the creation of Terminator robots with human-like, artificial
intelligence. Certainly the stuff of science fiction, but
science fiction has a way of becoming realty. The US Army, for
one, is currently exploring the possibilities.
Dr. John
Parmentola, director of research and laboratory management,
Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for
Research and Technology, discusses what's up at the
26th Army Science Conference to be held December 1st through
the 4th. He states:
"And this year we've decided to showcase a number of very
important areas that we believe will give rise to disruptive
technologies in the future. I'll talk a bit about this. The
areas involve neuroscience, and there what we're after is
really trying to understand how the brain works and to use
that as a means of human-like qualities into autonomous
systems and computers as well as understanding who we are as
human beings. And the knowledge we gain there is potentially
far-reaching for a number of areas, including immersive
technology. One of the things that we're trying to realize in
the Army is realistic virtual humans. These are virtually
humans that recognize human speech but understand language,
also are capable of perception, thought, cognition,
incorporating emotions into them as well as cultural
attributes. So at the Army Science Conference we'll have the
state of the art in virtual humans."
(Source,
PDF)
If you've been watching The Sarah Connor Chronicles lately,
you'll certainly see the similarities between Dr. Parmentola's
statement and recent episodes.
Consider for a moment if the United States or another country
could develop Terminator-like robots that could replace human soldiers. It wouldn't take long for the technology to
spread to other countries. Suddenly, the nation with the
ability to produce the most or the best robots would be the
world's superpower. That doesn't necessarily bode well for the
United States, considering China's propensity to mass produce
just about anything.
FYI: How
to Stop a Terminator
Iraqi insurgents provided inspiration for a recent Sarah
Connor Chronicles scene. A member of the
Resistance uses an EFP IED (Explosively Formed Penetrator
- Improvised Explosive Device) to destroy a Skynet tank. |
