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Science
Friday > Archives > 2002 > August > August 30, 2002:
Hour Two: Robots
and 'Mechanical Life'
What does it mean to 'be human?' What does it mean to 'think?' What
does it mean to 'be alive?' Those are some of the more philosophical
questions faced by researchers trying to construct machines that think
and behave as humans do -- in addition to the weighty technical problems
involved with making a believable mechanical life form. Those questions,
however, are not new. Inventors in the 1700's attempted to construct
automata that could draw, write, or even play chess (though the chess-playing
'Turk' was later found to be a hoax.)
In this hour of Science Friday, we'll talk about the past, present,
and future of artificial intelligence and mechanical life. Call in
with your comments and questions at 1-800-989-8255, and share your
opinions online in our Listeners'
Lounge (registration
required).
Guests:
Rodney Brooks
Author,
"Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us" (Pantheon, 2002) Chairman
and CTO, iRobot Corporation
Fujitsu Professor of Computer Science
Director, MIT Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Gaby Wood
Author,
"Edison's Eve: A Magical History of the Quest for Mechanical Life"
(Alfred A. Knopf, 2002)
London, England
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
Automata
Galleria
Maillardet's
Automaton
MIT
Humanoid Robotics Group
American
Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)
Alan
Turing
The Turk
New Scientist:
Artificial Intelligence and A-Life
ZDNet:
A.I.
This segment produced by Karin
Vergoth
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