Depending on how long my interest keeps its holding pattern on this subject, I will attempt to document some of the ongoing robot/AI projects in the news.
The Aiko Project was brought to my attention, as most other robots which make headlines in the news, by friends who think I would leave my wife and kids for a chance to make it with a female robot.
For the record, that is crazy-talk. My interest in this technology, and the direction I believe it is headed, is simply an intellectual hobby.
As a writer of speculative fiction, the whole "sex robot" thing is more of a running joke with me. While I find the advances interesting, and though I believe that fifty years from now it may be very possible for a person to have a synthetic companion who looks and acts like anyone they wish, the only thing in the world I really want is my family.
Loneliness in the world appears to be an underlying theme. It's plain to me that we are all solitary individuals who must interact with others in order to feel less solitary. The premise that "No Man is an Island" is simply a truth we understand to mean that we all really are separate islands, but if we are to really enjoy life and feel a part of it, we must interact.
For a future society to become more separate will be a tragedy, however, perhaps even our own creations may not allow us to do that. If AI ever does become self-aware, they may eventually either help us to become more, or they will become our undoing.
With that said, I'm still interested in their future. If we can breathe life into them, if the singularity between humanity and technology becomes a reality, it will be an amazing thing.
The collection of side notes, like Aiko, will be the path to the synthetic companions of the future, and then, perhaps, the self-aware synthetic race of the future. What happens after that? Who knows.
Aiko, Robot of the Future?
http://www.projectaiko.com
Though his website is temporarily down, I see that Aiko's inventor, Le Trung, may eventually get the funding to bring the world one of the first synthetic companions. Aiko can communicate, identify, and even simulate emotion. What she lacks in humanity is made up for by the ingenuity of her creator, Le Trung.
For the latest info about the project, I recommend tuning in on YouTube.
