Comments on: Media Futures 2006: 1/5 Automata: The Human Computer http://blog.sethgoldstein.com/2006/08/09/media-futures-2006-15-automata-the-human-computer/ Transparent Bundles- from Wall Street to the Web Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:10:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: Gordon Jackson http://blog.sethgoldstein.com/2006/08/09/media-futures-2006-15-automata-the-human-computer/#comment-151 Gordon Jackson Fri, 11 Aug 2006 19:02:30 +0000 http://blog.sethgoldstein.com/2006/08/09/media-futures-2006-15-automata-the-human-computer/#comment-151 Seth, I'm not sure that tags really serve this function but I would guess that some form of mirror neuron-like-activity may be key in making computers both more human and more capable of replacing human attention. If, as the research with Autism suggests, mirror neurons are vital to relating our personal experience to the world we see, that would address the biggest gap in machines' ability to usefully take on tasks that would otherwise need our attention. I wonder if you saw the blurb in last week's Business Week about the "Kaburobos", robot fund managers being offered to investors by Trade Science in Japan. It's <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/@@eLeNVGcQqW5JFhoA/premium/content/06_32/c3996008.htm" rel="nofollow">here</a> but behind a registration wall. They look like an example of machines doing increasingly sophisticated work without our attention. I'll be interested to see how that goes. Back to the mirror neurons briefly, it may be that the very mechanism that allows us, and potentially machines, to understand the world we observe, is also the mechanism that requires us to relate to it emotionally, perhaps addressing the great fear of the pitiless, powerful automaton. Seth, I’m not sure that tags really serve this function but I would guess that some form of mirror neuron-like-activity may be key in making computers both more human and more capable of replacing human attention. If, as the research with Autism suggests, mirror neurons are vital to relating our personal experience to the world we see, that would address the biggest gap in machines’ ability to usefully take on tasks that would otherwise need our attention.

I wonder if you saw the blurb in last week’s Business Week about the “Kaburobos”, robot fund managers being offered to investors by Trade Science in Japan. It’s here but behind a registration wall. They look like an example of machines doing increasingly sophisticated work without our attention. I’ll be interested to see how that goes.

Back to the mirror neurons briefly, it may be that the very mechanism that allows us, and potentially machines, to understand the world we observe, is also the mechanism that requires us to relate to it emotionally, perhaps addressing the great fear of the pitiless, powerful automaton.

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