Scooba

You may have heard of Roomba, the vacuuming robot by iRobot, but have you heard of Scooba yet? It "preps, washes, scrubs and dries" your floors, even wood. Personally I'd like a robot that can tidy up the house and scrub the toilets. I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

As robots and AI become more capable we'll probably see companies more interested in them. It's alot cheaper to have robots retrieve shopping carts and scrub toilets than to hire people. This will make it more difficult for kids to find a summer job though. And eventually it may put alot of the american work force out employment. It'll be interesting to see how it pans out.

Choices

Free Will. People have a hard time determining what it is let alone if we have it. The subject can get complicated quickly, but here we will focus on the pragmatic aspects of this subject, namely moral responsibility.

To talk about free will we must put forth a definition of it. In our case we will define free will as the capability of an individual to influence themselves and their enviroment. If a person's decisions are based solely on input from their enviroment, then they do not have free will.

Should people be able to plead insanity as a defense for their actions in a court of law? What person in their right mind would commit serial rape, murder etc anyway?

An increasing excuse people have been using for their actions is genetic predisposition. A person claims they cannot help being a murderer because they have a predisposition towards it.

While our genes do shape our desires and tendencies they do not control us. In the end we still make decisions using our brain. If the justifications above are true then we cannot take credit for anything, good or bad. A philanthropist is that way because his environment and genes made him that way. A rapist is so because his environment and genes made him that way.

People who are lazy and don't want to take responsibility for their actions use that type of reasoning. If you look at any interview or book by a successful person you'll find they always take responsibility for their actions.

People have been debating free will for thousands of years, and the debate will continue; but if you want to live well take responsibility for everything that you do. It will shape the way you look at things and change how you approach life.

Living Online

It seems we are increasingly living our lives in media. Some people spend nearly all their waking hours in media. It could even be you. Don't think so? Add up how much time you spent on the internet, watching tv, listening to the radio, talking on the phone, listening (or watching) your ipod, playing online games, etc...

The trend is so strong that it's even changing the way businesses operate. Check out this report of how businesses are increasingly orienting their marketing towards online avenues.

Second Life is a virtual online world where you can be nearly and do anything. People are spending and making thousands of dollars each day to spend life inside an online world.

Should we live life online? Or is that even a valid question? Perhaps it is just a matter of time before we are all pulled into a virtual life. Skeptical? Ten years ago (1995) did you even know what a cell phone was? Now can you imagine yourself without it? That's when it's just a phone, think about when it's your whole life.

What is Real?

Ah, the old brain in a vat problem. The most famous modern illustration of this scenario is a movie called the matrix.

By the year 2020 to 2030 we might see technology that allows computers to interact directly with our brains. We could 'download' knowledge, surf the web in a completely immersive environment with all our senses and interact with others.

Is what happens in a virtual world real? Are affairs in a virtual enviroment wrong? Is killing, stealing, or otherwise inapropriate behavior wrong in a virtual world? We already enjoy these things and more through video games, movies and books. In, fact we even prefer these things to be present lest the experience get boring.

What happens when the quality of experience is the same between the virtual and real world? Will people abandon 'real' life so they can have almost unlimited power in the virtual world? Imagine being able to fly, be invisible, teleport, change your appearance to what ever you want, create entire worlds. The possibilities are endless.

Who could resist such an offer? And if we all decided to live there would it be 'real'?

Robotic Nation

Check out Robotic Nation and its sequals by Marshall Brain.

As machines and AI become more adept we will see more jobs being automated. This will lead to massive unenployment in the near future (AD 2010 - 2015). However it could also lead to major improvements in quality of living. If we have robots do the work and share the products with each other we might revolutionize the economy.

Perhaps economy in the future will be somewhat like our circulatory system. Cells are supplied by the blood stream and freely take what they need. In return, each cell provides support to the body. Could this be the economy of the future?

Exponential Growth of Tech

Technology is growing at an exponential rate; both in capability and in growth. What does this mean? Technology will soon become the dominant force of society. Mathematical exptrapolation of this trend of accelerating technology shows there will come a time when technology changes so fast that humans will not be able to cope with it. Learn more here.

Ray Kurzweil has some radical views, but his analysis of the growth of technology is interesting. Be sure to check out his site.