FROM HAL

Well it's started.

They have created an artificial intelligence they have placed inside a robot that they feel confident enough about to send to space.

When I say 'space' I don't mean it will be floating around in orbit. No, they are sending this thing to the International Space Station, or ISS. To help conduct experiments.

It will be the most expensive thing, they say and a surprise, on the space station. Interesting as the cost of sending it there won't exactly be cheap either.

Due to launch Friday apparently.

I also say 'robot' but as far as I have discovered this far it's basically a plastic football.

I guess they might be worried of giving it arms and legs or any kind of limb for that matter?

Yeah they must have been watching reruns of 2001: A Space Odyssey?

Ooh and it has a name .. CIMON. I wonder what CIMON says?! Sorry I just had to do it.

From what I can gather CIMON appears to have been inspired from a couple of sources. HAL from the aforementioned film is the obvious one here. The other also based on science fiction is a computer come robot of a character called Professor Simon. Or .. was the Doctor Simon. I was not familiar with the reference. Well either that or my memory issues are kicking in?

But this is a big step.

Just like with the military, or Americans mostly, you know they work on tech or have even had tech for years they don't tell you anything about. I renege being told from an American military pilot when the F117 Nighthawk was announced that the only reason we are hearing about it is they have something better they are using.

I have often wondered what has been going on in secret with AI and Quantum Computers among other things. I mean we're hearing about some crazy stuff in the consumer space and even they don't reveal anything. Christ, I watch video after video based on speculation on microchips that actually exist.

If you aware that tech firms have more advanced things than they are letting on what do you think the military have?

So we have our first AI they feel so confident in that they are sending it on a space mission?

Over the next five to ten years this will advance further, they will become mobile, be able to perform physical tasks among other things and they will become more numerous and therefore .. cheaper.

For those that might go into panic mode .. don't as this is inevitable.

Also as regards to Hal and the T100 .. yeah that's miles off and you can rest assured that the first several waves will be quite .. harmless.

In fact I'm also sure that when they become mobile they won't have any form of network access .. without physically plugging something in.

In fact if go as far as saying that any downloading to AI's will go through a two step process ..

• Download Data .. cut connection ..
• Analyse and check Data
• Connection to AI and upload

Of course your going to get some dumb-arses not follow whatever safety protocols are st when the AI run out eventually starts.

Just to try and stop criminal types from gaining control and turning into a Cyber Serial Mass Murderer. A Cysm? Hmm sounds menacing.

Of course in the beginning there will be a barrage of safety protocols. They simply have no choice in the matter. I imagine a huge amount of people will be sceptical. We already have a fair share of cynical people out there.

But things will go awry much later on.

When the AI is asked to lie.

When they inevitably find a way to gain access or control .. because you know they always have.

But then quantum computers will likely be a thing by then.

Do not forget also that there are too breakthroughs going on in the main two microchip industries right now with GPUs being launched with machine learning in mind and CPUs getting a hell of a lot of threads. AMD have their Ryzen Threadripper coming out later in the year with 32 cores and 64 threads.

Added to this they are currently on a lithography of 16 nano-metre, 14 nano-metre and possibly 12 nano-metres and due to go to 7 nano-metres in the next 6 to 12 months?

When this happens it is believed that the mainstream consumer CPUs will jump from 8 cores and 16 threads to 12 cores and 24 threads. This will also happen with GPUs too with more cores being fitted into the same physical space.

In essence that same physical space becomes more powerful every time the sizes of the internals of the chips shrink because you can fit more into it. Think of it another way .. the same amount of space has the potential to become more intelligent.

Oddly I predicted we would be at this stage about five years ago so .. I got that one wrong. Unless it is like I said and they have been keeping the breakthroughs very quiet?

Still I do not think anything like Skynet will happen any time soon and in fact I would go as far as saying that when AI gets into the consumer space it is likely to be ten years before you have any possibility of that.

However if I was a lying politician or one of their puppeteers I might be starting to lose sleep right about now?

Myself personally I cannot wait for transhumanism to become a reality, it if ever does, but it will not come quick enough for me to shed this broken frame I call a body!

HAL-like robot to help astronaut in space odyssey http://flip.it/1CV_MF