KILLER ROBOTS

The end is nigh!!!!!!

Recently a new breakthrough was achieved in the field of robotics. Pepper, a robot from Japan, is now able to read emotions from its human masters.

Furthermore, it can change its behaviour according to this information. However, most horrifically, is the fact that pepper will be able to dance, joke and amuse its owners. All of this is done by a 121 cm robot, which learns from its environment and is permanently connected to the Internet.

So what does this mean for the future of the human race, and its relationship to its creations? Well obviously, this is the end. Now that robots can read our emotions, what is to stop them from influencing them us and ultimately enslaving us?

The short answer: Nothing. The long answer: Nothing. They are physically more capable. Maybe not, right at this moment, but once they can understand emotions, becoming long-distance, sprinting, machine-gun toting killers? It really isn’t that much of a big step. Furthermore in terms of mental capabilities, computers have been out-performing us for a few years now! They can beat every single human being at chess, solve theorems and algorithms control your life. They are obviously the superior life form on this planet.

Now that they have control of our emotions (trust me, reading our emotions is pretty much the same as controlling them), they will soon develop their own. Who knows what an angry robot that encounters a paradox will do. One thing that we can be sure of though is that it won’t be pretty (imagine a lot of blood, killing and raging electronics!)

So what can you do? Well, to be honest, not much. You can’t outthink a super computer, you cannot outrun a terminator and you can’t beat a battle robot, with flamethrowers as arms, which means that the human race is ultimately doomed.

This frightened journalist is going to now go underground and come back up when our robotic overlords have decided the mercy is part of their programming.

From Issue 1581

20th Jun 2014

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Read more

How the Supreme Court ruling on gender is impacting queer people at Imperial

News

How the Supreme Court ruling on gender is impacting queer people at Imperial

Last month, the UK Supreme Court (UKSC) ruled that for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010), the definition of a woman is based on biological sex.  The case brought before the court, For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers, asked if transgender women should be included

By Oscar Mitcham and Isabella Duchovny
College opens Imperial Global India in Bengaluru

News

College opens Imperial Global India in Bengaluru

Imperial College London has launched its fourth global hub in Bengaluru. The hub will host research programmes with Indian partners, focusing on some of “the world’s most pressing challenges in areas such as climate change and sustainability, food and water security, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).” Launched at the Science

By Mohammad Majlisi