The Singularity of technology and robotics

Thanks to Michael for this:

Here's the link: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2048138,00.html

This article is very interesting because it talks about the Singularity, which is the point in the future when robots and artificial intelligence will surpass the combined intelligence of all humans on earth. The article makes an interesting point that because the speed of the processor that costs $1000 is increasing exponentially, until 2045 which is when the processing speed of all silicon will exceed human intelligence. At this point, speculators say, that humans may merge with their robot counterparts and potentially become immortal and ridiculously intelligent. or, the robots will go Terminator on the human race and try to wipe us out because they see us as a threat to the continuation of the earth's ecosystem.
Either way, the Singularity is becoming less of a theory and more of an inevitable reality.

How far will Robots go? The Future and Robotics

Thanks to Fiona for this:

I chose a video for my blog post that shows Ray Kurzweil officially introducing the new university for singularity. For people who don't know what singularity is (probably most of class) my understanding of it is that technology has been growing exponentially and Kurzweil thinks that in 2045, robots will surpass the "brainpower equivalent to that of all human brains combined," and this is called the point of singularity. After technology gets to this point, Kurzweil thinks they will take over their own development and basically, the sky is the limit. I think this is a very interesting topic because the whole "robots taking over the world" idea has generally been left to science fiction, but this is evidence that it might actually end up happening.

Robotic Prosthetic Arms

Thanks to Margaret O. for this one:

I started out on Popular Science's website and found an article on this same topic, but the original article is from the LA Times, so that's the one I provided. I found this topic really fascinating and exciting. It's so cool to think that a robotic prosthetic arm like this could be available within the next five years! Often, it's hard to get medical innovations out in the market because it takes a long time for them to be tested by the FDA, so it's pretty exciting to see that this one is going to be fast tracked. I think it has the potential to help a lot of people in need, especially all of our wounded soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will be interesting to see how they figure out how to make the brain chip efficient and safe for patients. I think that this is such a cool, futuristic idea, and it's exciting to think that soon it may not be merely a concept of science fiction! I will definitely be following their progress in the next few years.

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-na-prosthetic-arms-20110209,0,3164096.story