Moya, ‘the World’s First Biomimetic Robot’ Emulates Human Features Down to Body Temperature

Why TF does an android (even one designed for elderly care etc) need human body temperature? Is it trying to infiltrate the human resistance?

(Yes, I know why, there’s only one reason, but it’s still gross.)

Whizbang Dustyboots said:

People get weird when I try to taste test everything.

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I think Moyà will get even weirder when she starts tasting human. Which she probably will in due course, again for the obvious reason.

Bohandas said:

While I agree that the concern is overblown I see where they're coming from. I think the issue is less that there's such a big potential for misuse and more that there aren't any positive uses for this technology. The only possible non-sexual use for a humanoid robot is to impersonate someone.

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at this point i'm just going to ask : Should we just stop with the development of future tech till we have laws in place or untill we can all agree what we mean by "positive use"?


EDIT: Moya isn't even the frist humanoid, Sophia - Hanson Robotics

trappedslider said:

Should we just stop with the development of future tech till we have laws in place

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Yes.

Reynard said:

Yes.

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forever stuck in stasis of the current tech level then...

trappedslider said:

forever stuck in stasis of the current tech level then...

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I would prefer if human civilization lasted another 10,000 years. It can't if we let corporations build and market whatever they want.

Bohandas said:

While I agree that the concern is overblown I see where they're coming from. I think the issue is less that there's such a big potential for misuse and more that there aren't any positive uses for this technology. The only possible non-sexual use for a humanoid robot is to impersonate someone. The design simply isn't any good for anything else; it's top-heavy, it's slow, it's overengineered, and it's limited in the number and scope of its manipulators. (And even for sexual uses it's overengineered and overexpensive compared to technologies that have existed since 1995; so that really just limits it to espionage)

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As I said at the beginning...Assassination Droids!!!!

trappedslider said:

forever stuck in stasis of the current tech level then...

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Like the Imperium of Man!

Actually, being more serious on the topic...

I can think of several real reasons to have Robots developing in the direction of Moya.

#1 - As so many in the thread have already pointed out, it could be utilized for certain purposes. However, I think it's more than just that type of self-indulgement purpose of exploitation. Have you seen Serenity (Firefly Movie). In it you have an isolated individual who's only real comfort (and who they consider as a real person) is their humanlike Robot. In today's society there is a growing number of people that will not find a companion and many that don't have a friend. Even if it's a Robot there are those that this may actually help them with companionship, friendship and having someone (or something) there that they can have to talk to and simply be around.

#2 - As ugly as it could be, unless we could prove that Robots with AI become self aware (in which case, in this type of instance we may have a SkyNet or Geth (Mass Effect) situation), I expect we would use them as slaves. There is a segment of humanity that, in all it's ugly truth, wants to have a lower class that they can command and boss around. They don't want some "robot" that doesn't look human, but something that actually is human (or humanlike in appearance). They would use these for all our menial jobs, all the servant (housekeeping) jobs, etc.

They want something that would look like us, but that does the work.

#3 - Just as sinister, once you buy a robot (see slavery in #2) you only have to pay for upkeep. You don't have to pay it. We already use robots in factories (that don't look human) but people want to see a person if they go into an office. If we could replace those hospitality workers (for example, restuarants), those cashiers (and I think Amazon already tried something like this with automatic checkout, others are trying something similar with self-checkout but would prefer something where people cannot sneakily shoplift past the cameras), and maybe even doctors and nurses if the AI gets advanced enough with robots a bunch of rich people would be very happy with that result.

I can think of a lot of scenarios where people would prefer a Robot that looks like them to something that doesn't.

Reynard said:

You legitimately see no danger in perfectly human androids? You can't imagine how bad actors would use those to cause real harm in any number of spheres?

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Humans have been doing that to each other for 300 millennia, without human looking androids, androids won't make matters worse. How long have there been unmanned flying vehicles (look it up), and how often have they been used by bad actors? The worst offenders tend to be vehicles with actual people in them, be they aircraft or cars/trucks...

It's just blind fear of the unknown were people want to ban everything they don't understand.

Sidenote: $173k for essentially a prototype, I wonder how much the yearly upkeep is of such a thing, repairs, replacement parts, cleaning, etc... For most it's cheaper to find a girlfriend and get married...

Cergorach said:

How long have there been unmanned flying vehicles (look it up), and how often have they been used by bad actors? T

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First, there ARE laws governing UAVs. Second, there are LOTS of bad actors using them. I mean, are you actually serious? Do you not know that drug cartels, terrorists, paparrazi, and others use drones for illegal and evil purposes?

Cergorach said:

It's just blind fear of the unknown were people want to ban everything they don't understand.

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This is typical technophile nonsense. Having guard rails does not mean an end to progress. it means actively consideirng the potential for harm done and trying to mitigate it.

Or do you think anyone should be able to have access to any technology without qualification?

Reynard said:

First, there ARE laws governing UAV

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Did they exist before or after widespread use of UAVs?

Imagine if we stopped the development of the car before we had all the laws (some of which are rewritten often) and safety features put in place.

EDIT: Or the computer