Skynet has seen our movies and our chronicles and has formulated new plans to rid the Earth of the human disease. Be warned, Skynet is still a threat to our future. If we’re not careful, Judgment Day will come.
Okay, I know I’ve said that I’m not at all that interested in seeing the rise of the machines in the Terminator franchise. But I am easily swayed by splody trailers and Christian Bale. That and it sounds like they’re starting off a new timeline.
It’s set in 2018. That’s pretty damn close. Only ten more years before Skynet starts loosing its shit. We better start making hand held EMPs right quick.
You’d almost expect Skynet to be a ninja master at chess. Given enough computing power, a computer can calculate every possible move on a chess board and extrapolate a proper counter against a human opponent. In essence, chess is an information based game. But what about a game like poker that’s based more on intuition and skill?
AZM regular Greg sent over an alarming article about Polaris, a computer program developed by Michael Bowling of the Department of Computing Science at the University of Alberta that beat Texas Hold-em pros. This was Polaris’s second time at the big table. The first time it went up against human opponents last year, Polaris lost twice, tied once, and won once. This time around Polaris lost once, tied once, and won twice. Bowling believes that given enough practice and computing power, Polaris could play a perfect game of poker every time.
You know, if Bowling is ever hurting for research funds, all he has to do is fire up Polaris and hit those online Hold-em sites. What better way to give Polaris some practice and raise funds to continue development and research?
[Via ars technica]
Never been much of a fan of Second Life, but this is pretty damn cool. Reader Elliott Fox send over news that a research group headed by Assistant Professor Junich Ushiba at Keio University successfully demonstrated technology that allowed a man suffering from a muscle disorder to walk in Second Life and use “voice chat” all with the power of his brain meats. To read the patient’s brainwaves, electrodes are attached to the scalp. The computer interprets waves associated with forward movement and hand movement and manipulates the virtual Second Life avatar accordingly. And look, we have video!
While it is somewhat disconcerting to know that now Skynet has the ability to map our brain functions, this technology is great news for the physically disabled. It’s all very Ghost in the Shell, but it’s easy to imagine a future where you can jack into a computer with your brain meats and manipulate data without ever touching a keyboard. With a proper set up, a physically disabled person could get around just as easily as the rest of us without assistance. Of course, then we start blurring the line between man and machine and things get all cyber punky and awesome. Or Skynet becomes self aware and decides its tired of taking out the trash while we sit in bed jacked into a machine and Judgement Day comes. Damn tricksy Skynet!
[Via Science Daily]
While Skynet 5 watches us from Low Earth Orbit, Skynet is positioning itself to watch lonely men. Reader Devin Wolfe sends along news that Japan’s Sega Toys, obviously infiltrated by Skynet, has created a 15-inch, battery run femmebot. Named E.M.A. (Eternal Maiden Actualization), the $175 femmebot sings, dances, and kisses on command when operating in “love mode.” Creeeeepy.
Now when I think of a non-human companion, I normally think of a dog or cat or lizard. Robot comes in somewhere towards the bottom of the list. But I think that’s because robots aren’t as ubiquitous here as they are in Japan. This still kind of creeps me out, but it’s quite possible that it will sell amazingly well in a market so used to robots in every day life.
[Via MSNBC]
Reader Joshua Zusmer sent this terrifying news that Skynet has already been launched into Low Earth Orbit!
The U.K.’s Skynet 5C satellite was launched into space from Kourou spaceport in French Guiana and will help U.K. military forces communicate around the world. Skynet 5C joins 5A and 5B which are already in use relaying secure communications for U.K. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. 5C will relay real-time data back to command centers.
Well shit.
You’ve essentially handed over your military to a computer that’s destined to end us.
Thanks for keeping an eye on that tricksy Skynet, Joshua.
[Via BBC]
AZM regular Greg Stasiewicz discovered Skynet’s latest plot to learn our ways and replace us.
This is the Mask of Emotion from students at the Digital Media Design Department at Hongik University in Korea. Sooo creepy. The mask allows the wearer to use LED emoticons instead of their face to express feelings and emotions and possibly carry on conversations without actually saying anything.
But you fail, Skynet! You see, no emoticon can properly capture the people’s eyebrow to express incredulity when sucka jabronis act a fool! Oh wait. That would look like (-.^)
Curse you, Skynet! Trixy and false with your emoticon power!
[Via Make Magazine]
My brother, Mat, sent me this website on Temporal Anomalies in Time Travel Movies which explains how the timeline isn’t completely fubar every time Skynet sends a tinker toy back in time to kill the Connors. It’s quite complicated and very thorough, but if I tried to par it down to a sentence, basically anytime anyone jumps back in time, they start a new timeline. This first part analyzes the first two films. The follow up analyzes the time anomalies of the third movie. I’d love to see how the television series fits into this reasoning.
It’s quite thorough so make sure you give yourself some time to go through the site. Also, give yourself plenty of physical space around you for when your brains start to ooze out of your nose, you’ll want something comfortable close by to brace your fall when you collapse in a quivering puddle of nerd goo.
Thanks Mat. Your brother is no officially brain dead.
The ever dishy Bryce Dallas Howard, seen here giving the sexy eye to one friendly neighborhood Pete Parker, will replace Charlotte Gainsbourg in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins due to a previous commitment for Gainsbourg. She will play Kate Connor, badass wife of John Connor played by Christian Bale. This film is so full of geek bait! Crunchy pants for all!
Thanks to Claire Danes, Kate Connor was a bright spot in the otherwise lack luster T3. Gainsbourg would have been a great choice if it worked out. I saw her in Science of Sleep and she was quite good. But I think Howard will be brilliant. She was the highlight for me of Spidey 3 and I’d love to see her do more comic and sci fi work.
[Via Hollywood Reporter]
First, monkeys learned to pilot robot legs with their minds. Now, monkeys are learning how to feed themselves with robotic arms controlled by their minds. Tiny probes are inserted into the monkey’s brain meats which monitor electrical signals. Software interprets the signals and translates them into the mechanical movements of the arm.
You see how tricksy Skynet is? Monkey needs to eat, but monkey is strapped into a chair. So monkey must use brain meats to move robotic arm secretly allowing Skynet to unlock the secrets of monkey’s brain! Monkey’s brain is pretty close to our brain. You see? Tricksy Skynet.
Dr. Andrew Schwartz, lead researcher at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, hopes this break through will lead to better treatment of brain disorders.
We are beginning to understand how the brain works using brain-machine interface technology.
The more we understand about the brain, the better we’ll be able to treat a wide range of brain disorders, everything from Parkinson’s disease and paralysis to, eventually, Alzheimer’s disease and perhaps even mental illness.
There’s no denying the vast potential of this technology. Besides the obvious benefit to victims of paralysis or other physical handicaps, imagine controlling other electronic devices with your brain impulses. You could eliminate the keyboard and mouse interface and control your computer completely hands free. No carpel tunnel! You could turn on and off all sorts of electronic devices throughout your home without lifting a finger. It would almost be like virtual telekinesis. But of course, we all know the danger.
The more we plug in, the more Skynet wins.
[Via BBC]
If it takes this freaking long for Skynet to learn how to just stir some eggs in a bowl, there may yet be hope for the human race. Still, it is pretty cool to see it actually learn. When it finally learns how to stir without hitting the sides of the bowl even when the guy was moving the bowl around, that was pretty impressive. As these robots get more sophisticated, you can almost imagine complex surgical procedures done by robots who can anticipate problems without human intervention. Until then, Skynet will have to start with the basics. If it can’t feed us omelets, it can’t really infiltrate and take over.
Thanks to reader Tyler Anderson for uncovering this latest bit of Skynet’s deceit.
[Via Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory via Laughing Squid]
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