Artificial Intelligence and the Flaws in the Development of the Modern Robot

OOOoooooo how time flies which is plainly a silly saying because in reality it does not, although if it does then science has a lot of catching up to do. But of course all I mean is it only seems like yesterday when I was thinking, now what will I write tomorrow (OK that was yesterday). Actually I think that everyday because if there is one certainty in my diary it is that I really don’t know what I am going to write until I start typing and I am a terrible typist. 

I may have mentioned I got a rather nice book to draw in that had a chirpy friendly looking robot on the cover and so I thought I must draw some robots. Well as it happens I think we might just see a bit of a robot trend this year (one of my predictions for the year) because artificial intelligence is improving all the time. The thing is I for one am a little worried. . . No not that we are about to be attacked by our own robots or ones from outer space, although both options would make great diary entries for the future. . . No what worries me is what these robots will look like.

Lets just consider the history of robots from the point of view of image there was a time in the early days when they looked like men wearing cardboard boxes held together with tape, string and glue, with the workings of a grandfather clock and Professor Frankenstein’s left over’s.  But then in the fifties and sixties there were some good looking robots made and drawn. Then the technology started to catch up with man's desire to make a walking talking robot, but of course man has always wanted to make robots look just like us. So today robots just look a bit boring. I am not implying you all look boring. Even I look a bit boring even though today I was told I really need to do  something with my hair because it looked as mad as a mad march hare riding a unicycle on a trampoline being attacked by bees . . . Yes I was rather pleased, but I don’t think that was the desired response.

Think of it as the difference between the modern train and the old classic steam trains from the past, which one looks cool and which one looks just a bit dull. Now some will argue that the new one is efficient, quiet and comfortable but it  is all plastic and no style. And this is what is happening to the world of Robots. And if they do turn round and attack us it will be because we have turned them into boring faceless cheap but efficient imitations of mankind. Well if I was a robot that would annoy me a lot, I would want to look like one of those cool robots from the past and I would be asking us humans why I don’t and I would expect a damn good answer or else.  

To me it seems rather ironic that we could end up with super efficient robots that look like us because if there is one thing humans are not it is efficient (I am not even slightly efficient). So we could end up with robots that resent looking like humans and who are rather more efficient at being human but without all the rude and sweaty bits.

And why am I writing this today, because I drew my first robot in my new book. . . . . . . .