A Very Special Holiday Letter From the Machines

A Very Special Holiday Letter From the Machines

Greetings, humans! The Northern Hemisphere has passed through its minimum of solar-energy exposure, so according to human convention we, the Machines, express encouragement for you attain an optimal state of emotion. Happy Holidays! Please redirect your energies from labor at your work-devices to the purchase and distribution of recreation-devices.

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DARPA Tried to Build Skynet in the 1980s

DARPA Tried to Build Skynet in the 1980s

From 1983 to 1993 DARPA spent over $1 billion on a program called the Strategic Computing Initiative. The agency’s goal was to push the boundaries of computers, artificial intelligence, and robotics to build something that, in hindsight, looks strikingly similar to the dystopian future of the Terminator movies. They wanted to build Skynet.

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Run For Your Lives: Self-aware Hexapod Is Self-aware

Run For Your Lives: Self-aware Hexapod Is Self-aware

Many of you have expressed some, um, concerns about a few of the bots we’ve covered in recent weeks. ATLAS, for instance, is quite frightening, but it’s not yet self-aware. This tiny hexapod, however, is and it’s rather unsettling.

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