Althouse: Robot news.

February 4, 2013

Robot news.

1. "The Rise of the Robots Has an Upside." Adapt!

2. "British troops are using... state-of-the-art handheld tiny surveillance helicopters, which relay reliable full motion video and still images back to the devices' handlers...." Close your windows!

IN THE COMMENTS: Chef Mojo said:

3. Kia "Respect The Tech" Super Bowl commercial.

38 comments:

virgil xenophon said...: The inevitable logic of it all...coming soon to you compliments of Big Sis..; 2/4/13, 11:12 AM
Charlie Currie said...: Funny, we are incapable of adapting to climate change - which has always been - but we are now told to adapt to robots - which never were.

Cheers; 2/4/13, 11:16 AM
Chef Mojo said...: 3. Kia "Respect The Tech" Super Bowl commercial.; 2/4/13, 11:20 AM
Nonapod said...: Foxconn wants to replace most of their workers with robots.

I don't look at it as such a bad thing that robots are eventually going to free us of having to perform repetitive menial jobs. It's inevitable as we gradually transition into the post scarcity era.; 2/4/13, 11:23 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Yes, it's time for humans to find something better to do than define their lives by some crappy job.; 2/4/13, 11:25 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: I'm fascinated by this.

Release from the drudgery of work was seen over a hundreds years ago as the ultimate liberation of humanity.

Now, it's a tragedy because it leaves workers nothing to do, minus their stupid, useless chores and their S&M relationship with some idiot boss.; 2/4/13, 11:31 AM
Levi Starks said...: Soon each of us will have our own little mini survailance drone that big brother will use to track our every movement and activity.
Of course it was all just science fiction, until technology came alone and said "we can make that happen"
If we're lucky we will discover some little corner in our home where the monitor can't see us, and we might even decide to keep a journal to keep track of what goes down the memory hole. But in the end it won't end well. resistance is futile.
submit now.; 2/4/13, 11:34 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: "[M]y father was fired. He was technologically unemployed. My father had worked for the same firm for twelve years. They fired him.

"They replaced him with a tiny gadget, this big, that does everything my father does, only it does it much better.

"The depressing thing is, my mother ran out and bought one."

-- Woody Allen; 2/4/13, 11:36 AM
Known Unknown said...: Dear Kia fanboys, Kia hates you and would like to kick you in the crotch.

Worst commercial of the Super Bowl.; 2/4/13, 11:41 AM
Larry J said...: Levi Starks said...
Soon each of us will have our own little mini survailance drone that big brother will use to track our every movement and activity.

We're pretty close already. They're called smart phones. They track where you go via GPS. The photos you take are tagged in the metadata with where and when they were taken. The phones themselves record people's daily moves (something police departments have found very handy). To top it all off, we have millions of people posting just about every minute detail of their lives on social media like Facebook. If you go to the "The Onion", you can find a humor video of the CIA declaring Facebook as the best intelligence tool of all time.; 2/4/13, 11:43 AM
Chef Mojo said...: Althouse? A favor please? Change the tag from "Chief Mojo" to "Chef Mojo." Thank you. And I'm thrilled.; 2/4/13, 11:44 AM
Rusty said...: "The Rise of the Robots Has an Upside."

When labor becomes too expensive, industries look for ways to eliminate labor.; 2/4/13, 11:45 AM
Crunchy Frog said...: Worst commercial of the Super Bowl.

No, that would be the Calvin Klein ad.; 2/4/13, 11:51 AM
DADvocate said...: Worst commercial of the Super Bowl.

No, that would be the Calvin Klein ad.

As bad as the Kia commercial was, the Calvin Klein was worse. But, how in the world does Kia think that an innocent guy checking out a car getting his ass kicked by a female robot make men want to buy their cars? Or, are they specializing in the feminist man haters market?; 2/4/13, 11:54 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: More violence.; 2/4/13, 12:04 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: The go-daddy kissing commercial was gross. More rot and decline on display.; 2/4/13, 12:08 PM
Lauderdale Vet said...: Drone swarms, the future of warfare.

Micro UAV Swarms

Swarming and the Future of Warfare; 2/4/13, 12:08 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: ..How in the world does Kia think that an innocent guy checking out a car getting his ass kicked by a female robot make men want to buy their cars? Or, are they specializing in the feminist man haters market?

Exactly. If I were a guy, I would not be impressed.; 2/4/13, 12:10 PM
jacksonjay said...: I say we totally employ this Chickbot for combat!; 2/4/13, 12:31 PM
Chef Mojo said...: Kia understands that men - especially geeks - are seriously attracted to violent fembots. The characters of Zhora and Pris in Blade Runner come to mind. Sexy and deadly. The fact that Pris was a "pleasure model" made her all the more seductive in the minds of an entire generation of boomer geeks.

And it's not just fembots. A.I. featured Gigilo Joe, a male pleasure model played by Jude Law. I know a lot of girl geeks who thought that was a very hot concept.

I think Kia knows exactly what it's doing and who it's targeting.; 2/4/13, 12:34 PM
Known Unknown said...: I think Kia knows exactly what it's doing and who it's targeting.

As does Calvin Klein.

The problem is Kia breaks one of the biggest rules in advertising: Don't insult your customers.

Yeah, rules are meant to be broken, but then again there's a reason it's a rule in the first place.; 2/4/13, 12:58 PM
virgil xenophon said...: Chef Mojo and EMD are on to something, but I take a different slant. I'd opine that the msg here is that KIA wishes to sell these cars to FAR more up-scale sophisticated types than your typical obtuse, tech-enamored geek, and that's exactly the take-away here, i.e., it's not just a "geek car"...and the point is safely made because the geeks will still buy the car as well for all the reasons Chef Mojo spotlights..; 2/4/13, 1:23 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: That GoDaddy commercial was awful to watch, mostly because of the slurpy kissy sounds. Then again, I'm misophonic.; 2/4/13, 1:56 PM
Levi Starks said...: Well, I do consider myself somewhat of a geek, and I did like the commercial, But I can't imagine how it could possibly diminish my love for my Honda Element.; 2/4/13, 1:59 PM
Rick M said...: The cargo net is extra on the Kia, but the FemBot's victim might need one after that kick in the nuts.; 2/4/13, 2:05 PM
edutcher said...: Next time you swat a fly, you may get a visit from the Gestapo.; 2/4/13, 2:15 PM
Popville said...: Rise of the Robots indeed!

Then there's the software version: Bad news Hon. I got replaced by an app.; 2/4/13, 2:33 PM
Chip S. said...: I just made a pre-emptive strike by buying my own replacement robot.; 2/4/13, 2:39 PM
Known Unknown said...: Chef Mojo and EMD are on to something, but I take a different slant. I'd opine that the msg here is that KIA wishes to sell these cars to FAR more up-scale sophisticated types than your typical obtuse, tech-enamored geek, and that's exactly the take-away here, i.e., it's not just a "geek car"...and the point is safely made because the geeks will still buy the car as well for all the reasons Chef Mojo spotlights..

Then why show it in that cheap blue color?; 2/4/13, 2:42 PM
virgil xenophon said...: @EMD/

I never said they were targeting Jaguar owners...there are a lot of financial/cultural rungs on the ladder before you get there..lol; 2/4/13, 2:50 PM
Chip S. said...: I see this ad differently.

As long as the guy appears to be tech-savvy, the fembot smiles upon him. It's only when he reveals himself to be a moron (smearing the window, kicking the tire) who's not into tech at all that she attacks.

"Respect the Tech" -->the guy's a dweeb, not a techie.; 2/4/13, 2:55 PM
Known Unknown said...: Sign of the apocalypse was Mercedes advertising on PRICE.; 2/4/13, 3:41 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Althouse? A favor please? Change the tag from "Chief Mojo" to "Chef Mojo." Thank you. And I'm thrilled."

Done.; 2/4/13, 3:51 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I had to skip over that noisy kiss commercial too.; 2/4/13, 3:52 PM
Chef Mojo said...: EMD, that was pretty shocking to see in a Mercedes-Benz ad. I can't recall ever hearing a price mention before.

They must know that gens x & y and the millennials aren't hacking it, and they've got to become affordable to stay competitive.; 2/4/13, 5:00 PM
Methadras said...: All the laws of robotics have been violated!!!; 2/4/13, 7:30 PM
XRay said...: The thing I could find attractive about Fem robots is that, if you understood an inkling of their binary algorithms, then they might at least be somewhat more predictable than those of a real woman.

I think that jerk deserved every kick he received. Look, don't touch. Until I tell you, you can.

I don't have a problem with that.; 2/4/13, 8:09 PM
XRay said...: Methadras, you're right.; 2/4/13, 8:11 PM