Beyond the Machines

Today, when one talks of robots, the image of automated metallic and blocky machines come to mind. Indeed, these automated machines will contribute largely to the construction of future megaprojects, and become more relevant to daily life. However, there is another form of robot that doesn't immediately spring to mind: artificial intelligence. Although still very primitive and far from human's capability, simple AIs exist today and available to public, such as the chat robots Cleverbot and SimSimi, Apple's newest feature Siri, and chess-playing computers that are capable of defeating humans. The overall reasoning capability of these AIs are far from comparable to humans, but there are areas where robots can perform a task much better than humans can. To assert that claim, these CubeStormers do the job very nicely

With the rate technology is expanding, we might witness as-close-to-perfection-as-possible AIs before the turn of the century. As of now, AI-driven cars are becoming a reality, already a legal presence in Nevada. My wish is, however, for the existence of SAIs like those in sci-fis. Two novels that I find excellently portray those are:

In Red Mars, John Boone's SAI Pauline is very much like Apple's Siri, but her reasoning level is higher than Siri's.

Fans of the sci-fi genre should be familiar with Orson Scott Card's works: the Ender's Game Series. Introduced in Speaker for the Dead is Jane, an artificial sentience that assists the characters in ways very similar to Pauline, albeit the way Jane is depicted puts her many levels above Pauline.










The helpful aid of automated machines combining with the reasoning prowess of AIs will no doubt change lifestyles. As with any technology, there will be both well and ill intents for the inventions, but the future they promise is worth looking forward to.