A few years ago your group, the Stupid Fun Club, a Berkeley, Calif.–based robotics workshop, seemed most interested in analyzing reactions to robots by taking your creations out on the street for people to see. What are you focusing on now? What's most relevant at this time?
There are a couple projects we're working on, but I can't really talk about them now. Hopefully, that won't be the case in a few months. We're still very interested in basically the way people choose to interact with intelligent machines.
What have you learned from your observations about people and technology?
We've found that it's hard to separate humans from their technology, which is developing so rapidly. Intelligence is embedded in the tools we surround ourselves with. Whether it's GPS (global positioning systems), cars or even automatic light dimmers in our homes, we're building a technological exoskeleton around us as a species and starting to off-load more and more autonomy into it. We're basically delegating more and more decisions to the technology around us.
Does that concern you?
It's more an area of interest than a concern. The technology that we build around ourselves is our reinterpretation of evolution, and we're privileged enough to live in a time where we're able to see this evolution occur. Between my generation and that of my parents and grandparents, the level of technology changed very little. Nowadays I look at the world I'm living in and at the world that my daughter's going to be living in, and the difference will be tremendous, which is kind of exciting.
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7 Comments
Add CommentInteresting interview - and good on Mr. Wright for emphasizing that consciousness is mostly about knowing what to ignore.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf Will Wright has had so much success in this domain, perhaps it is precisely because he is self-taught, learning from the complexities of the real world, rather than having been completely pre-programmed by robotics experts?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think it is worth asking what Will Wright's real agenda is here. Although his work to advance gaming has been well documented, many of us have good reason to suspect he is not in favor of further advancements in robot technology. Wright, with the help of the Minnesota League of Women Voters, has been doing everything in his power to slow critical development in human modeling in robotics. Why, Mr. Wright? Why?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisKudos to Will Wright for an insightful and innovative perspective on the nature of robots and AI, distilled from his own first-hand experiences. Hes right on that we wont truly understand the complexity of human life until we actually learn to mimic those processes mechanically. The ability to reverse engineer the human brain really will be the primary determinant for advancements in robotics and especially, humanoid robotics, in the next several decadesas it leads to the development of sophisticated machines with the ability to learn and acquire new information independently. Thoughts? "Synthetic Neural Circuits and the Humanoid Brain" at http://www.zygbotics.com/2009/03/15/biomimetic-neural-circuits-and-the-future-of-robotics/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisInterestingly enough, I am preparing concrete irrational documents for posterity along with a "Nouveau Mathematics" which is more relevant to the era of A.I. and the Android as it has its sources in the origins of the species... Symbolically an old man can never understand this but a child could easily absorb it and become a truer genius than any PHD. If I wanted to build the perfect Android I would have to do it in this way, leave the mecha blueprints to those who can read mecha and take on the impossible aspects of designing the internal weave structure of the Android Brane, my goal as a one of History's Painters is to provide the bloody irrational organic mimesis that will one day devour all A.I...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisConciousness is much more than filtering. This just happens to be an area that is being very focused on in robotics: what to pay attention to/spend more cpu cycles on. But conciousness is a complex thought and feedback process. The filtering seems to occur beforehand.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHe also briefly discusses whether a system can build a better system than itself. It seems unlikely since to understand "oneself" you'd have to have a meta-system for analysis/comprehension, which is not possible. Therefore, a truly "humanoid" robot would be beyond our understanding as to how it functions. Much like ourselves ;)
will make sims 3 for a console you will make more money and i bet a lot of people will buy it you rock will!!!!
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