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We have been hearing predictions for decades of a takeover of the world by artificial intelligence. In 1957, Herbert A. Simon predicted that within 10 years a digital computer would be the world’s chess champion. That didn’t happen until 1996. And despite Marvin Minsky’s 1970 prediction that “in from three to eight years we will have a machine with the general intelligence of an average human being,” we still consider that a feat of science fiction.

The pioneers of artificial intelligence were surely off on the timing, but they weren’t wrong; AI is coming. It is going to be in our TV sets and driving our cars; it will be our friend and personal assistant; it will take the role of our doctor. There have been more advances in AI over the past three years than there were in the previous three decades.

Even technology leaders such as Apple have been caught off guard by the rapid evolution of machine learning, the technology that powers AI. At its recent Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple opened up its AI systems so that independent developers could help it create technologies that rival what Google and Amazon have already built. Apple is way behind.

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Mass killings in US and Europe during 2015 & 2016: Pulse in Orlando — 49 killed; Brussels — 32 dead; Paris — 150 dead; San Bernardino 14 dead… With these numbers we have to assess could Robots equipped with sensors, communications, Tasers and other defenses be used for security guards to protect buildings and public areas and events as a defense to save lives. I believe getting robots equipped with sensor technology as well as other equipment could help towards combating terror. Also, drones should be looked at to be used in conjunction with these bots.


Gamma 2 Robotics introduced its new RAMSEE security patrol robot at Hexagon’s international conference HxGN LIVE, which is being held June 13–16 in Anaheim, California. The launch is part of a new partnership with Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure.

RAMSEE is a physical presence that patrols autonomously without supervision and provides real-time data on intruders, motion, heat, fire, smoke, gas and more. the company says in a news release.

“RAMSEE will change the world of security because it never rests and operates at a fraction of the cost paid for other security services,” says Lew Pincus, chief executive officer, Gamma 2 Robotics. “We built RAMSEE to be ideally suited for the overnight dull, dirty and dangerous patrols nobody wants to do. These are the jobs for which the security industry struggles to find staffing.”

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Provided the variants for intelligence can be figured out and the genetic editing tools sufficiently refined (no small matter, in either case), Hsu thinks there’s an incredible potential for improvement. He’s written for the science magazine Nautilus that his calculations from the work at BGI indicate a potential for “very roughly, about 100 standard deviations of improvement, corresponding to an IQ of over 1,000.”

That’s a level of intelligence beyond what we can comprehend right now.

At the same time, we’re not just working on improving biological intelligence. We’re also working on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Smarter humans might be better able to solve those problems, helping us create smarter machines. Smart machines capable of processing big data are already essential for efforts to understand millions of human genomes. These things work together.

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