Machines are getting smarter all the time. This is the century when they will start to walk, talk, and maybe even think. ZDNet charts the road to sentience, examines the technologies that will take us from sci-fi to sci-fact, and asks should machines have rights? Q. Should we be worried? A. No, the droids will do that for us. Find out how.
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Special Features |
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Intelligent machines threaten humankind Science fiction has portrayed machines capable of thinking and acting for themselves with a mixture of anticipation and dread, but what was once the realm of fiction has now become the subject of serious debate for researchers and writers. Are we under threat of robot rage? |
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| The machine that wanted to be a mind |
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| Does man have the know how to do what evolution has taken billions of years to achieve? ZDNet examines the technical challenges facing AI researchers. |
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AI - the story so far |
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The path to AI is full of big name thinkers from Aristotle to Descartes, but still we cannot explain "consciousness" or "sentience". ZDNet explores the history behind AI. |
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| Can a human love a robot? |
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| Sociable humanoid robots could soon be intelligent enough to enter the household as pets or companions, but cybernetics experts dispute the prospect of meaningful relationships ever forming between humans and their artificial chums. |
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Getting under our skin |
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| Was the bionic man just a figment of Hollywood's imagination, or a precursor to a new computer assisted race of cyborgs? |
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| AI gets down to business |
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Artificial intelligence may pose fascinating questions for the scientific community, but out in the real world it has to be commercially viable. Learn how online gaming, e-commerce and online organisations can benefit from AI. |
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| AI: the here and now |
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Artificial Intelligence has a long way to go before it has a real impact on our lives, but there are some fascinating concepts around today. Take a look at some of the best. |
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| Android hall of Fame |
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Where would we be without Hollywood to show us the way? From the replicant menace in Blade Runner to those pert wives in Stepford, writers and directors have spent years trying to document the dawn of AI. |
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I think it would be great to live with a cyborg
or have a friend artificially created. people like me who are very lonely all the time would love to have a friend as such. ive been looking for a computer program to download if possible that was kind of a program with artificial intelligence so i could talk to some one and have a close friend im not a computer geek or any of that just mostly an outcast with very little friends.i want a friend who can learn and i can talk to directly and them talk back with oppinions about things. i want a friend i can count on for just about anything. im not asking for a cyborg or humaniod robot but for a friend mabey a computer assistant with human reason. it would be wonderful for everyone to have a special friend and be able to mabey design his or her looks and influence his or her outlooks on stuff.