Tag: Artificial Intelligence

ECONOGAL > Artificial Intelligence

The Robots are Coming

Posted on by Econogal

Another Travel Tech Surprise

Robotic wheelchairs parking in a line
Robotic wheelchairs parking at an airport gate.

While I enjoy rural life in a semi-remote area, travelling always brings technological surprises and it appears the robots are coming from what I saw on the latest trip. During a layover airport workout, I glimpsed for the first time automated wheelchairs.

I was rucking through the terminal when I first saw an individual being transported from a gate and it wasn’t too long before I spotted an empty one steadily rolling towards a gate with an incoming plane. They were equipped with a unique sound and blinking lights, but also with a very pleasant female voice politely asking those impeding their movement with a “Please step aside.”

Life in the boondocks certainly makes for discoveries when travelling.

Technological Advances and the Robots

Of course, flyover country witnesses’ technological advances as evidenced by last year’s post about the Vemeer SPX 25 trencher. While the machine still needed human help, it eliminated backbreaking manual labor to run new Internet line. However, travel really shows the large number of changes occurring in cities such as the first robot spotted a few years ago in Austin. Neither of these devices resembled Rosey from the old cartoon The Jetson’s.

What jobs will still be available for humans? If the robots can be fine-tuned to provide manual services such as pushing wheelchairs from point to point, what other tasks can be replaced?

Furthermore, the trencher was not programmed with voice protocols like the wheelchairs. One wonders how much and how soon communication between machines and humans will become standard. Will airport wheelchairs just have limited recordings? Or will the robots have answers like many chat bots? Will one be able to ask directions or other questions? Alexa comes to mind.

Artificial Intelligence

Just typing the first word prompted the second. AI is here to stay. So, I am starting to adapt. Recently, one of the offspring purchased a house and sent pictures of the back yard for landscaping ideas (and a commitment for physical help.) Using CoPilot, not Claude or any of the much-touted programs, I was able to come up with a plan complete with specific plants. Furthermore, the program provided a diagram. The drawing was not as fancy as one provided by a human landscape designer, but the cost was much less than the hundreds (or possibly more) a human would charge.

One can ask for specific answers or request suggested outcomes. Perhaps the second will allow the brain to continue growing. One fear is we will lose our thought processes including common sense. But my greatest fear revolves around intelligence. For now, these machines make plenty of mistakes, one’s humans can catch and acknowledge. But what happens when the robots are smarter than we are? Emotions, including compassion and even guilt, are what makes us human.

Wheelchair motoring through airport terminal
The Future is now.

 

Crucible Book Review

Posted on by Econogal

Crucible

The latest action adventure from James Rollins is Crucible. This complex tale stretches geographically from the United States to Europe, particularly but not exclusively, Portugal. But the time line begins in the era of the early 1600s.
The novel begins with a brief flashback to the Spanish Inquisition and the extermination of witches. A priest serving as an Inquisitor takes possession of an amulet. The significance of this prologue becomes evident in one of the many twists and turns of Crucible.

Out of necessity, the first part of Crucible contains quite a bit of action spanning the two continents. Rollins incorporates a large number of characters into the novel. Thus, turmoil is used to introduce many of the key players. Furthermore, I had trouble pinpointing a single protagonist.

Equal Opportunity

Both men and women characters are villains in Crucible. The same can be said of the heroes. The dual story line between a home invasion and kidnapping in the United States and an assassination of female scientists in Portugal merges relatively early in the story line.

Gray and Monk are government agents. They were absent during the home invasion but directly affected. Monk’s wife Kat is in a coma but his two girls along with a pregnant Seichan, Gray’s significant other, are missing. The men are directly involved in the action. So are the women. Science and medical advances play a significant part of this narrative.

Rollins is masterful at weaving the scenes involving neurological treatment alongside the chase for the kidnappers. But even more powerful is his approach to artificial intelligence. At times, the character of Eve gets the nod for protagonist. Eve is not human. Yet.

Artificial Intelligence

Mara Silviera is the creator of Eve. She is alive only because the preliminary test of Eve was at a remote location during the attack on the science lab. The two are on the run.

The race to develop artificial intelligence is the center of Crucible. Fiction is mirroring reality. James Rollins does an outstanding job of blending fact with fiction. Eve’s character is pure fiction. But, we are on the threshold of developing many Eves. In actuality, we may already be there. Rollins treats this subject matter with the seriousness it deserves all while spinning a thrilling tale.

Once again, an action adventure thriller provides food for thought as well as entertainment. The twists and turns keep the reader enthralled. The author ties up the many tangents. The bad guys meet their just rewards and the ending is happy for the good guys. What more can you ask for? Perhaps a sequel for Eve.