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Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 30 Aug 2015, 06:55
by Nikita_Sadkov
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwrjAa1SgjQ

Boston Dynamic are making breakthroughs every day and in the end there are countless applications to such machines.

Although commies would say that robots are evil, because they will "steal" human jobs, but in the 21st century people who are incapable of doing intellectual work became a burden for humanity. Then people are lazy and corrupt, while robots have no self interests, so expect increase in economic efficiency and the speed of all processes.

Re: Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 30 Aug 2015, 15:29
by Julius
Yeah neat stuff they are doing, but they are also a bit too close to military interests... while it is probably unavoidable in the longer term that there will be such robots for military applications, I would prefer if that future was still a few more years away :(

Re: Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 30 Aug 2015, 15:44
by Nikita_Sadkov
Julius {l Wrote}:Yeah neat stuff they are doing, but they are also a bit too close to military interests... while it is probably unavoidable in the longer term that there will be such robots for military applications, I would prefer if that future was still a few more years away :(

It is the opposite: robots save lives of american solders and civilians. Army uses robots for reconnoissance or just to distract the enemy. Good reconnoissance means less civilian casualties, while robots don't have fear and won't open fire out of confusion. Especially because thousands of drones would supply good battlefield overview. Then again, encircled enemy troops can be forced to surrender, unless they are brainwashed religious zealots.

Re: Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 30 Aug 2015, 16:43
by Evropi
That's the idea behind deterrence theory, but it hasn't really worked. Many wars are ongoing around the globe. Personally I don't mind either way and can safely say that most fears about robots taking your jobs are hogwash by 'technorati' who don't know the way to order a supply and demand curve. Their arguments reek of the lump of labour fallacy. So I for one welcome a robot-driven future.

Re: Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 30 Aug 2015, 21:23
by Taknamay
I have been reading Bob Black's stuff lately, I am starting to see the problems with labor-saving technology. Especially this line:

Some thinkers (Hegel, for one) have thought that slavery degrades the master as well as the slave. This was a popular theme in the American anti-slavery movement, and it was an opinion held earlier by enlightened slaveowners such as Thomas Jefferson. Possibly living off robot slaves would degrade the owner too.


But I'm not 100% on one side of the fence right now, I am looking at all the arguments.

Re: Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 31 Aug 2015, 05:47
by Julius
Robots are tools, not slaves (as long as they arn't driven by a full AI at least)... that line of reasoning applies much more to today's capitalist wage slaves and its obvious degrading effects both sides of that divide. The problem with robots for civil applications is that we need to rethink how profits are being used & shared, not that they take away meaningless jobs.

About the military application... yes initially it seems like a way to lower casualties, but casualties (especially on your own side) are a good way to keep military interventions in check. I think we can pretty well extrapolate from today's flying drones to where military robots will lead us... and that is not a bright future. I guess that there needs to be a global ban of these kind of weapons, as they are terrorizing whole populations and are mostly used for extra-juridical executions (=state funded murder).

Re: Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 17 Dec 2018, 05:29
by Jastiv
I wish we didn't have so much anti-robot propaganda. It makes it hard for people who want to work on robots to get jobs in the industry. Plus I don't have a good cloths folding robot yet. Just think of all the time I waste folding cloths that could be used on free software development.

Re: Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 23 Jul 2019, 14:38
by freemedia2018
Jastiv {l Wrote}:Just think of all the time I waste folding cloths that could be used on free software development.


Don't fold them. Instead, have fewer clothes and put them on hangers. Now you can get back to development.

Re: Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 23 Jul 2019, 15:25
by drummyfish
Nikita_Sadkov {l Wrote}:Although commies would say that robots are evil, because they will "steal" human jobs


No, Exacty the opposite! I am an anarcho communist (the most extreme left) and this is exactly what we want -- automate everything, get rid of the enslavement of having to work. It is capitalism (right) that creates unnecessary bullshit jobs, job markets and where unemployment equals death. Just wanted to set the record straight, now you can continue the discussion :)

Re: Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 23 Jul 2019, 17:07
by Julius
drummyfish {l Wrote}:
Nikita_Sadkov {l Wrote}:Although commies would say that robots are evil, because they will "steal" human jobs


No, Exacty the opposite! I am an anarcho communist (the most extreme left) and this is exactly what we want -- automate everything, get rid of the enslavement of having to work. It is capitalism (right) that creates unnecessary bullshit jobs, job markets and where unemployment equals death. Just wanted to set the record straight, now you can continue the discussion :)


In before fluffrabbit ;)

While you are spot on regarding the extreme left interpretation of automatization, it is not true that capitalism creates the bullshit jobs etc. Of course there is a certain tendency in capitalism to have a level of unemployment (and/or immigration) so that you can keep labour costs low (or rather below the cost of automatization), but everything beyond that of what you describe is a result of both left and right politics and the dysfunctionalities that are created when these clash.

Edit: so that people don't misunderstand... I am for abolishing capitalism, but there is more than the left / right political spectrum and you can't blame capitalism for all the bad stuff our late-stage western empire currently has to deal with.

Re: Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 23 Jul 2019, 22:25
by fluffrabbit
Capitalism is what it is. I'm prepared for the singularity. I know I'm screwed. It is the military application of robots that worries me more. I'm not going to speculate about the economic things because the kind of manual labor that a servo can do probably doesn't align with the kind of job I would want anyways, but I'm not advocating for or against them.

Re: Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 24 Jul 2019, 05:06
by Jastiv
Sure, you might not want the manual labor and crap jobs, but now all those unemployed people are going to try to climb the ladder and take your job. Sure, they might not be able to do it, but is seems people are hired on their social skills/who they know so knowledge doesn't do you much good.
And i know I said before how much I love robots and how I want a laundry folding robot. I haven't changed my mind about that. I've just pointed out that maybe robot automation won't have such great effects on the economy for knowledge workers.

Re: Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 24 Jul 2019, 05:25
by fluffrabbit
You bet your ass. Like I said, not for or against. Things could go splat any number of ways, robots being one of them.

Re: Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 24 Jul 2019, 05:55
by drummyfish
I'm all for robots, hoping they will help establish universal basic income finally. I'd like to live in a world in which people wanting to contribute to society aren't bullied into wasting their talent in business. Imagine the "I have to pay the bills" no longer being a valid excuse for not writing libre games :)

Re: Boston Dynamics are Awesome

PostPosted: 24 Jul 2019, 06:01
by freemedia2018
I suspect UBI is inevitable, I don't think it's going to solve the world's problems. It might make them worse.