What is life - The Orange Mane

alkemical · 12-30-2004, 01:07 PM

I hope to create a thread where defining life can be discussed. From AI to cloning, et al.

alkemical · 12-30-2004, 01:08 PM

http://space.com/businesstechnology/...on_041229.html

Robots and Emotion: Tetchy the Turtle Meets Sonny and HAL
By Bill Christensen

posted: 29 December 2004
06:58 am ET

The most advanced robots in the very fine movie I, Robot had the ability to interpret the emotions of the human beings around them. They did it by analyzing the stress patterns in the voices they heard. In phrasing it just that way, the film pays homage to an earlier computer who did just the same thing - the HAL-9000 computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey .
Today, Affective Media Limited in Scotland is working to help computers better understand people in various stages of emotional stress. Affective Media even has an online demo with an animated character named Tetchy the Turtle, who accepts voice samples and analyzes them.

Tetchy, a touchy turtle who responds to emotion. Affective Media

Once you have given Tetchy a four-second voice sample, it works on processing your sample. Eventually, the turtle begins to imitate your emotions, feeding them back to you.

That fine line between cute and annoying. Affective Media

Dr Christian Jones, the chief executive of Affective Media, puts it this way:

"When you are depressed or sad, the pitch of your voice drops and your speech slows down. When you are angry, the pitch rises and the volume of your voice goes up. We betray our emotions as we talk in dozens of subtle ways. Our recognition system uses 40 of these. It ignores the words you use, and concentrates exclusively on the sound quality of speech. It can tell your emotional state the very first time it hears your voice."
Affective Media is planning for a future in which it will be important that machines are able to understand the different states of their human colleagues. "Soon we will talk to our cars. We will give them voice commands to turn on CD players, heaters and fans," said Jones. "Using emotion recognition, those commands would also show if we are angry, frustrated, or sleepy."

HAL-9000 was sophisticated enough to run all of the mechanical systems of a space ship. HAL was also able to tell whether or not the human astronauts were up to the task of making decisions. Here is the famous exchange between Dave Bowman and the HAL-9000 (as found in the novel) that may presage the future of human-computer interaction:

"Hal, switch to manual hibernation control."
"I can tell from your voice harmonics, Dave, that you're badly upset. Why don't you take a stress pill and get some rest?"

"Hal, I am in command of this ship. I order you to release the manual hibernation control."

"I'm sorry, Dave, but in accordance with special subroutine C1435-dash-4, quote, When the crew are dead or incapacitated, the onboard computer must assume control, unquote. I must, therefore, overrule your authority, since you are not in any condition to exercise it intelligently."

"Hal," said Bowman, now speaking with an icy calm. "I am not incapacitated. Unless you obey my instructions, I shall be forced to disconnect you." (Read more about HAL-9000.)

Just as Tetchy the Turtle is being designed to show emotion, science fiction robots have been written that way for years. Read about Marvin the depressed robot from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And you may also appreciate the comments of the robot cab driver from Philip K. Dick's classic short story A Present for Pat from 1952. Read more about Affective Media at Mind what you say - this robot will know how you feel.

(This Science Fiction in the News story used with permission from Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction.)

Hogan11 · 12-30-2004, 01:20 PM

What Is Life?

It's a song by George Harrison that can be found on All Things Must Pass plus a couple of compilations of his I believe. It used to kick off Side 2 of ATMP back in the days of vinyl.

Rock Chalk · 12-30-2004, 01:27 PM

Hard to define since science is constantly changing the meaning of life with each new discovery.

You might be better attempting to define what carbon based life is rather than just life in general. Its too vast, too blurry and far far beyond most people's comprehension.

There is no line on what life is. It has even been argued in scientific journals over the past few years that life can exist in a non-carbon state (that is, life that is created by some other means than carbon based organics). AI comes into this gray area. At what point does AI get to call itself life? When it becomes self-aware? Why? Other forms of life are not self-aware (in fact only a few great Apes and humans are self-aware), so why should that restriction be placed on AI?

Is it the ability to learn? Again, microbial life does not learn, it operates on hard wired instinct. Which begs the question of hard wired. Is instinct a basis for life?

I would imagine that in the conventional sense of the word life that there has to be some sort of cellular organic structure involved but not necessarily carbon based. Silicon based life (that is, life that evolved on a world where all the carbon was locked away or absent completely) would be stiff, rigid, slow to change, slow to grow, but nonetheless cellular based organic life. It is a theory of science decades old (even saw an episode of the original Star Trek once that had a silicon based lifeform).

We will either have to continuously redefine what we call life OR we will have to make new terms for things that are life-like (AI, clones, etc).

Clockwork Orange · 12-30-2004, 01:35 PM

alkemical · 12-30-2004, 01:37 PM

See alec,

I find it exciting in these times. So much is moving so fast.

12-30-2004, 01:07 PM	#1
alkemical Guerrilla Ontologist rorrim\|mirror Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Future Posts: 42,696 Adopt-a-Bronco: Prima Materia	What is life I hope to create a thread where defining life can be discussed. From AI to cloning, et al.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

12-30-2004, 01:08 PM	#2
alkemical Guerrilla Ontologist rorrim\|mirror Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Future Posts: 42,696 Adopt-a-Bronco: Prima Materia	http://space.com/businesstechnology/...on_041229.html Robots and Emotion: Tetchy the Turtle Meets Sonny and HAL By Bill Christensen posted: 29 December 2004 06:58 am ET The most advanced robots in the very fine movie I, Robot had the ability to interpret the emotions of the human beings around them. They did it by analyzing the stress patterns in the voices they heard. In phrasing it just that way, the film pays homage to an earlier computer who did just the same thing - the HAL-9000 computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey . Today, Affective Media Limited in Scotland is working to help computers better understand people in various stages of emotional stress. Affective Media even has an online demo with an animated character named Tetchy the Turtle, who accepts voice samples and analyzes them. Tetchy, a touchy turtle who responds to emotion. Affective Media Once you have given Tetchy a four-second voice sample, it works on processing your sample. Eventually, the turtle begins to imitate your emotions, feeding them back to you. That fine line between cute and annoying. Affective Media Dr Christian Jones, the chief executive of Affective Media, puts it this way: "When you are depressed or sad, the pitch of your voice drops and your speech slows down. When you are angry, the pitch rises and the volume of your voice goes up. We betray our emotions as we talk in dozens of subtle ways. Our recognition system uses 40 of these. It ignores the words you use, and concentrates exclusively on the sound quality of speech. It can tell your emotional state the very first time it hears your voice." Affective Media is planning for a future in which it will be important that machines are able to understand the different states of their human colleagues. "Soon we will talk to our cars. We will give them voice commands to turn on CD players, heaters and fans," said Jones. "Using emotion recognition, those commands would also show if we are angry, frustrated, or sleepy." HAL-9000 was sophisticated enough to run all of the mechanical systems of a space ship. HAL was also able to tell whether or not the human astronauts were up to the task of making decisions. Here is the famous exchange between Dave Bowman and the HAL-9000 (as found in the novel) that may presage the future of human-computer interaction: "Hal, switch to manual hibernation control." "I can tell from your voice harmonics, Dave, that you're badly upset. Why don't you take a stress pill and get some rest?" "Hal, I am in command of this ship. I order you to release the manual hibernation control." "I'm sorry, Dave, but in accordance with special subroutine C1435-dash-4, quote, When the crew are dead or incapacitated, the onboard computer must assume control, unquote. I must, therefore, overrule your authority, since you are not in any condition to exercise it intelligently." "Hal," said Bowman, now speaking with an icy calm. "I am not incapacitated. Unless you obey my instructions, I shall be forced to disconnect you." (Read more about HAL-9000.) Just as Tetchy the Turtle is being designed to show emotion, science fiction robots have been written that way for years. Read about Marvin the depressed robot from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And you may also appreciate the comments of the robot cab driver from Philip K. Dick's classic short story A Present for Pat from 1952. Read more about Affective Media at Mind what you say - this robot will know how you feel. (This Science Fiction in the News story used with permission from Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction.)

12-30-2004, 01:20 PM	#3
Hogan11 Rock-N-Roll Historian Let's take these SOB's out!!!!!! Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: W.NY.B.C. Posts: 21,300 Adopt-a-Bronco: Floyd Little	What Is Life? It's a song by George Harrison that can be found on All Things Must Pass plus a couple of compilations of his I believe. It used to kick off Side 2 of ATMP back in the days of vinyl.

12-30-2004, 01:27 PM	#4
Rock Chalk Cheeky Bastards Laus Deo Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: The Backside of the Internet Posts: 29,940 Adopt-a-Bronco: Chris Harris	Hard to define since science is constantly changing the meaning of life with each new discovery. You might be better attempting to define what carbon based life is rather than just life in general. Its too vast, too blurry and far far beyond most people's comprehension. There is no line on what life is. It has even been argued in scientific journals over the past few years that life can exist in a non-carbon state (that is, life that is created by some other means than carbon based organics). AI comes into this gray area. At what point does AI get to call itself life? When it becomes self-aware? Why? Other forms of life are not self-aware (in fact only a few great Apes and humans are self-aware), so why should that restriction be placed on AI? Is it the ability to learn? Again, microbial life does not learn, it operates on hard wired instinct. Which begs the question of hard wired. Is instinct a basis for life? I would imagine that in the conventional sense of the word life that there has to be some sort of cellular organic structure involved but not necessarily carbon based. Silicon based life (that is, life that evolved on a world where all the carbon was locked away or absent completely) would be stiff, rigid, slow to change, slow to grow, but nonetheless cellular based organic life. It is a theory of science decades old (even saw an episode of the original Star Trek once that had a silicon based lifeform). We will either have to continuously redefine what we call life OR we will have to make new terms for things that are life-like (AI, clones, etc).

12-30-2004, 01:35 PM	#5
Clockwork Orange Persona Non Grata I seen him! Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 21,438

12-30-2004, 01:37 PM	#6
alkemical Guerrilla Ontologist rorrim\|mirror Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Future Posts: 42,696 Adopt-a-Bronco: Prima Materia	See alec, I find it exciting in these times. So much is moving so fast.