Avid reader and well-known giant Chas sent me the following link:
Killer robot shoots man dead on driveway
AN 81-year-old man has shot himself dead with an elaborate suicide robot built using plans downloaded from the internet.
He spent hours searching the internet for a way to kill himself, downloaded what he needed and then built a complex [...]

The phenomenon can be explained by the notion that, if an entity is sufficiently non-humanlike, then the humanlike characteristics will tend to stand out and be noticed easily, generating empathy. On the other hand, if the entity is “almost human”, then the non-human characteristics will be the ones that stand out, leading to a feeling [...]

just words and so much skin

steal the souls of the free
In The Know: Are We Giving The Robots That Run Our Society Too Much Power?
via SuicideBots

he’s going to cause the system to fall

Asimo can now operate in an environment with people as well as other Asimos. Robots working together will wirelessly share data such as battery levels and the closest unit to a given task. Each works autonomously based on the networked information.
Another new AI function allows Asimo to estimate [...]

Happy New Year

Concerning the recent robot killing spree:
But contrary to some reports, the tragic accident was not the result of an automated or robotic weapon going out of control… the incident is more likely the result of a simple mechanical failure.
link via dc. more

This plus this brings the metaverse that much closer.
We are literally one technological convergence step away from a world entirely marked up by metadata. This basically means that we are one killer gadget away from a world where continuous, real-time access to that metadata is assumed as part of an individual’s basic equipment set, [...]

Love in the digital age @ blogs.NYT.com. Thanks, Michele! HTEC LIVES!
Communication has been streamlined by the Internet, and something essential to the process of falling in love has been lost. We can type up carefully crafted statements rather than go face-to-face and improvise from the heart, thereby risking embarrassment, vulnerability or Oscar-worthy dialogue. We can [...]