Re:Cliff Stoll, the mad scientist who wrote the book on how ...
by ben_w on Thursday March 28, 2024 @07:47AM
(#39850005)
For now.
I've got no idea how far we are from useful bio-printing, as I've been seeing the same headlines for the last 30 years: here's some cartilage and by the way we're also working on internal organs.
Specifically, think about what The Thought Emporium is trying to do: make a living meat robot. Imagine they succeed. I have no idea how long this will take, so your imagination is all you have for now. Flesh on the outside, robot brain on the inside.
Done right, I doubt we could tell them apart from real humans.
Worse: I'm sure we'll falsely convince ourselves that there is a way distinguish nature from artifice, and many natural humans will be dehumanised and killed as a result. (And that's a separate question to "have we made a machine that has qualia?")
But for now, sure, it's easy to tell humans and robots apart when you get to meet them in person.
I've got no idea how far we are from useful bio-printing, as I've been seeing the same headlines for the last 30 years: here's some cartilage and by the way we're also working on internal organs.
The famous mouse — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacanti_mouse
History from a research lab — https://school.wakehealth.edu/research/institutes-and-center...
TED-Ed: Printing a human kidney - Anthony Atala — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX3C201O4MA
The Thought Emporium: This Machine Grows Living Flesh — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_ZGq8Tah0k
Matt Gray is Trying: biomedical research — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DvJauB0KyU
Specifically, think about what The Thought Emporium is trying to do: make a living meat robot. Imagine they succeed. I have no idea how long this will take, so your imagination is all you have for now. Flesh on the outside, robot brain on the inside.
Done right, I doubt we could tell them apart from real humans.
Worse: I'm sure we'll falsely convince ourselves that there is a way distinguish nature from artifice, and many natural humans will be dehumanised and killed as a result. (And that's a separate question to "have we made a machine that has qualia?")
But for now, sure, it's easy to tell humans and robots apart when you get to meet them in person.