Robots of Doom.
Simon Laub
Just think about the Robosaurus that stands in
front of a Las Vegas casino. It breaths fire and
crush cars in its big claws.
Come to think of it. There has never been
a time when we (humans) have felt completely safe
with the concept of robots.
It started with Czech writer Karel Capek, who coined
the term "robot" in a 1920 play called R.U.R.
--- Rossums universal robots.
Here a factory populates the world with artificial slaves,
meant to relieve humans of the drudgery of work.
The robots soon outnumber the humans. And the robots are
immediately used as soldiers. But eventually the robots wipe out the humans.
So much for being freed from the drudgery of work.
And it is interesting that the person who invented the concept
of robots imagined they would destroy us all.
Later visions aren't that much better. And still today
optimistic visions seems to be much further
apart than the visions that spell doom.
You wonder why that is so?
- Simon
sila...@mail.tele.dk
Simon Laub
Tim Shoppa
> The robots soon outnumber the humans. And the robots are
> immediately used as soldiers. But eventually the robots wipe out the humans.
> Later visions aren't that much better. And still today
> optimistic visions seems to be much further
> apart than the visions that spell doom.
I'm surprised that none of the "visionaries" saw a world where
workers spend half their day rebooting/re-installing software and
tweaking drivers and DLL settings just so they can stay late trying to
get their real work done.
Tim.
Johnny1A
Because humans instinctively see robots as potential competitors for
our 'niche' in the system. The assumption, based on experience with
human intelligence, is that artificial intelligence will necessarily
act primarily in its _own_ self-interest, rather than ours.
Psychologically, matters are made worse if the robot is human-shaped,
thus making it harder to avoid anthropomorphizing it.
Shermanlee
Rupert Pigott
news:3D27F9E8...@trailing-edge.com...
There's an obvious two part answer to that :
1) People think that they are clever.
2) That's a stupid waste of life.
Cheers,
Rupert
Dorothy J Heydt
Simon Laub <sila...@mail.tele.dk> wrote:
> It started with Czech writer Karel Capek, who coined
>the term "robot" in a 1920 play called R.U.R.....
The word comes from a Slavic root meaning "worker" or,
frequently, "slave."
Keep in mind, though, that Capek's robots were not metal
but flesh: they were synthetic humans whom in the 1950s
we would've called "androids" and nowadays would
probably call clones. Or azi.
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djh...@kithrup.com
http://www.kithrup.com/~djheydt
Travers Naran
where I read this article.]
I thought that's what the workers were doing in Fritz Lang's
"Metropolis". :-)
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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New Westminster, British Columbia, |
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"Stand Back! I'm a programmer!" | ** UPDATED 9-Apr-2002 **
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Patrick James
(in message <3D27F9E8...@trailing-edge.com>):
well... the people who use Macs don't do any of that. What's a DLL, he asked
innocently...
--
Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes
Mike Schilling
news:Gyvxo...@kithrup.com...
> Keep in mind, though, that Capek's robots were not metal
> but flesh: they were synthetic humans whom in the 1950s
> we would've called "androids" and nowadays would
> probably call clones. Or azi.
While Lucas's "droids" are robots, whether humaniform or not.
Serg
> of robots imagined they would destroy us all.
Well, remember Golem of ben Bezalel. But in that case creator of the robot won.
David Cowie
>
> Keep in mind, though, that Capek's robots were not metal
> but flesh: they were synthetic humans whom in the 1950s
> we would've called "androids" and nowadays would
> probably call clones. Or azi.
^^^
azi?
--
David Cowie david_cowie at lineone dot net
So high, so low, so many things to know.
Dorothy J Heydt
Also true.
"Language drifts down time in a current of its own
making." --Edward Sapir
Kristopher
>
> Tim Shoppa wrote:
>> Simon Laub wrote:
>>
>>> The robots soon outnumber the humans. And the robots are
>>> immediately used as soldiers. But eventually the robots
>>> wipe out the humans.
>>> ...
>>> Later visions aren't that much better. And still today
>>> optimistic visions seems to be much further
>>> apart than the visions that spell doom.
>>
>> I'm surprised that none of the "visionaries" saw a world
>> where workers spend half their day rebooting/re-installing
>> software and tweaking drivers and DLL settings just so
>> they can stay late trying to get their real work done.
>>
>
> a DLL, he asked innocently...
I've never had that much trouble with a PC. On the other
hand, the year I spent working in the Mac-based GIS lab
was utter hell, because more stuff went wrong with the Macs,
and because of the design philosophy, they're far harder to
get into and fix.
--
Kristopher
"I'd like to trade in this shovel for what's behind Door #2.
Oh, look, a backhoe."
David Silberstein
I thought that was Rabbi Loew? <Google> Silly me; it's the same
person: Rabbi Yehuda Loew ben Bezalel.
uray
news:S_ZV8.1607$M57.19...@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com...
In _Attack of the Clones_ Obi Wan makes a comment that starts something
like "If drones could think". That certainly indicates that they are just
mindless robots, although very sophisticated mindless robots. It has
caused some debate among the Star Wars fans though. Many have pointed out
how many times droids (especially C3P0) use phrases like "I think", "I have
half a mind" and similar phrases. It's not hard to attribute that to
programming though. They are definitely not biological in origin.
uray
Joseph Hertzlinger
wrote:
> Not everything about Robots are entirely nice.
>Just think about the Robosaurus that stands in
>front of a Las Vegas casino. It breaths fire and
>crush cars in its big claws.
>
> Come to think of it. There has never been
>a time when we (humans) have felt completely safe
>with the concept of robots.
> It started with Czech writer Karel Capek, who coined
>the term "robot" in a 1920 play called R.U.R.
>--- Rossums universal robots.
Actually, it started with Thomas Hobbes who wrote (in "Leviathan"):
|Nature, the art whereby God hath made and governs the world, is by
|the art of man, as in many other things, so in this also imitated,
|that it can make an artificial animal. For seeing life is but a
|motion of limbs, the beginning whereof is in some principal part
|within; why may we not say, that all automata (engines that move
|themselves by springs and wheels as doth a watch) have an artificial
|life? For what is the heart but a spring; and the nerves but so many
|strings; and the joints but so many wheels, giving motion to the
|whole body, such as was intended by the artificer?
We can see why some people might object to robots when we see where
Hobbes took the idea:
|Art goes yet further, imitating that rational and most excellent work
|of Nature, man. For by art is created that great LEVIATHAN called a
|COMMONWEALTH, or STATE (in Latin, CIVITAS), which is but an
|artificial man, though of greater stature and strength than the
|natural, for whose protection and defence it was intended; and in
|which the sovereignty is an artificial soul, as giving life and
|motion to the whole body; the magistrates and other officers of
|judicature and execution, artificial joints; reward and punishment
|(by which fastened to the seat of the sovereignty, every joint and
|member is moved to perform his duty) are the nerves, that do the same
|in the body natural; the wealth and riches of all the particular
|members are the strength; salus populi (the people's safety) its
|business; counsellors, by whom all things needful for it to know are
|suggested unto it, are the memory; equity and laws, an artificial
|reason and will; concord, health; sedition, sickness; and civil war,
|death. Lastly, the pacts and covenants, by which the parts of this
|body politic were at first made, set together, and united, resemble
|that fiat, or the Let us make man, pronounced by God in the Creation.
Hobbes is not merely describing a government; he is describing a
totalitarian government in which all parts are acting with a single
will. When we look at all the horrible things such governments have
done...
Robert Carnegie
The last time I heard the exclamation "I've created a monster!"
was from Eminem. But Hobbes's government is a "machine" consisting
of ordinary human beings, and (AIUI at second hand, having not read
much of that very dense prose myself) he considered it to be either
inevitable, or the best alternative to other even worse conditions
of humankind. Civitas keeps your neighbour from murdering you in
your sleep to steal your property.
I go for "inevitable"; I consider a nation-state to be a territory
held by armed force, essentially, and if you have no such armed
force then someone else will send /their/ armed force over to add
you to /their/ state.
I don't think that this has much to do with robots, though.
I don't think that humans really dislike their real mechanical
servants, despite a bunch of horror stories and movies; the
automobile, the PDA...the worst thing that machines ever do to
most persons is to do the person's job more cheaply and leave
the person unemployed. The alien entity with unknown abilities
and strange thoughts that stimulates xenophobia, the creature
that imitates a human being but is not human - these are horrible,
but they are not yet real.
Robots and other artificial beings are made acceptable in fiction
when they are granted the same sort of emotional and even social
lives that we have ourselves. C-3PO and R2-D2 bicker and diss
each other; Frankenstein's monster is lonely; in a recent commercial,
an assembly line paint-robot practises abstract art on automobiles
when the supervisor isn't looking, then hastily paints it over,
still leaving the impression that the automobile in question
incorporates spirit as well as mechanical excellence...
Elf Sternberg
"uray" <ur...@remove-att.net> writes:
>In _Attack of the Clones_ Obi Wan makes a comment that starts something
>like "If drones could think". That certainly indicates that they are just
>mindless robots, although very sophisticated mindless robots.
So writes one carbon-chauvanist of another.
Elf
--
Elf M. Sternberg
Disproportionately Popular Among Homosexuals.
http://www.drizzle.com/~elf/ (under construction)
Johnny1A
> In article <g48W8.13360$Iu6.7...@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>
> "uray" <ur...@remove-att.net> writes:
>
> >In _Attack of the Clones_ Obi Wan makes a comment that starts something
> >like "If drones could think". That certainly indicates that they are just
> >mindless robots, although very sophisticated mindless robots.
>
> So writes one carbon-chauvanist of another.
>
> Elf
Obviously some droids were sentient, or close enough that they could
pass the Turing test or any other you want to devise. They may not be
as capable as bio intellects, but they are clearly sentient in some
cases. Given that the Force exists in the Star Wars universe, it may
be inherently impossible to duplicate all aspects of bio-sentience
cybernetically in the SW universe.
I suspect that the average droid, periodically memory wiped and
probably with built-in programming restraints on how complex its
personality can become, might reasonably be considered dumb metal.
Other droids develop minds over time, with R2-D2 being the classic
example.
Also, in TPM and AofC, the R2 series is new. In TPM R2-D2 is
literally brand new. It's possible that droids capable of full
sentience are relatively recent developments, and most people just
haven't gotten used to thinking of them as 'people' yet.
Shermanlee
Robert Carnegie
> "uray" <ur...@remove-att.net> writes:
>
> >In _Attack of the Clones_ Obi Wan makes a comment that starts something
> >like "If drones could think". That certainly indicates that they are just
> >mindless robots, although very sophisticated mindless robots.
>
> So writes one carbon-chauvanist of another.
>
> Elf
Ouch! Are you not a little quick to accuse Ray of chauvinism?
Having said that, we are overlooking that Obi-Wan apparently
is referring to drones and not to droids as a whole.
"Drone" is an English word, with from m-w.com the relevant
definition "an unmanned airplane, helicopter, or ship guided
by remote control", here presumably extended to robots which
have some freedom of action as well as outside control.
(For that matter, AIUI present-day fighter planes basically can't
fly because they're unstable in the air - except that they have
a computer which is smart enough to keep them flying without
flipping over, while the pilot inside points the joystick to
tell the thing where to go. But really the computer's driving it.)
I propose that drones are robots with little or, to save young
Obi-Wan's blushes, no abstract thinking capabilities, controlled
by a very small computer that doesn't qualify as a brain -
say if they just detect heat sources, home in on them, and
chop them to pieces with the rotating knives, then you have a
killer robot without giving it the power to think.
Droids, androids, are robots with reasoning abilities approaching
human or other biological species'. Even so, not many of them have
speaking parts ;-)
David Johnston
>
> e...@drizzle.com (Elf Sternberg) wrote in message news:<1026149895.851423@yasure>...
> > In article <g48W8.13360$Iu6.7...@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>
> > "uray" <ur...@remove-att.net> writes:
> >
> > >In _Attack of the Clones_ Obi Wan makes a comment that starts something
> > >like "If drones could think". That certainly indicates that they are just
> > >mindless robots, although very sophisticated mindless robots.
> >
> > So writes one carbon-chauvanist of another.
> >
> > Elf
>
> Ouch! Are you not a little quick to accuse Ray of chauvinism?
> Having said that, we are overlooking that Obi-Wan apparently
> is referring to drones and not to droids as a whole.
No, he was just misquoted.
jex
> front of a Las Vegas casino. It breaths fire and
> crush cars in its big claws.
At least it doesn't gamble. :]
> Come to think of it. There has never been
> a time when we (humans) have felt completely safe
> with the concept of robots.
Yes, but couldn't you say that humans have never felt completely safe
in the company of other, thinking humans?
> It started with Czech writer Karel Capek, who coined
> the term "robot" in a 1920 play called R.U.R.
> --- Rossums universal robots.
Popular movies often depict robots as capable of mass-distruction,
with the same meanspirit of their human creators. Look at "The
Matrix", "The Terminator", "RoboCop" (he he)...
The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
too. Any others?
> And it is interesting that the person who invented the concept
> of robots imagined they would destroy us all.
> You wonder why that is so?
Yes, it is very interesting. It tells us a lot more about humans than
it predicts about robots.
-DS
Stan Barr
>
>The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
>of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
>too. Any others?
Huey, Dewey and Louie in "Silent Running"??
--
Cheers,
Stan Barr st...@dial.pipex.com
The future was never like this!
Stan Barr
>of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
>too. Any others?
Huey, Dewie and Louie in "Silent Running"??
Larry__Weiss
> The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
> of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
> too. Any others?
>
Movies:
Data - StarTrek
Tin Man - Wizard of Oz
David - A.I.
V.I.N.CENT and Old B.O.B. - Black Hole
TV:
Tom Servo and Crow - Mystery Science Theater 3000
Robot - Lost In Space
James Nicoll
Piro in _Metropolis_. Strictly a 3 Laws type robot.
Jonathan Hendry
"James Nicoll" <jdni...@panix.com> wrote in message
news:agklmf$7g6$1...@panix2.panix.com...
Twiki on Buck Rogers
The robot dog thing on Battlestar Galactica
Doctor Who's K-9
A.C.
news:742596FC902F4C7B.E033D9BF...@lp.airnews.net...
> jex wrote:
> > The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
> > of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
> > too. Any others?
> >
> David - A.I.
Hmm, I got the feeling that he wasn't completely good, as witnessed by
..
..
..
..
..
..
spoiler
..
..
..
..
..
his ultraviolent reaction to the identical-appearing robot he met. A good
example of what I think scares us most about robots; their implacable drive
to fulfill their programming.
--
nomadi...@hotmail.com | http://nomadic.simspace.net
"Thus let me live, unheard, unknown/thus unlamented let me dye;/Steal from
the world, and not a stone/Tell where I lye." -- Alexander Pope
Paul Hanks
--
Paul Hanks
SSG Unix Administration
206-650-6830 pager 206-797-7891
Chris Hedley
> The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
> of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
> too. Any others?
Probably a few. Kryten off Red Dwarf was painfully good natured,
at least until Lister removed his inhibition device; Data off Star
Trek, excepting the numerous occasions when he was taken over by
something; Marvin off THHGttG, miserable but not malicious; Zen
from Blake's 7, took care of its owners and was only rarely less
than forthcoming...
Chris.
Charlie Gibbs
sa...@jexnet.com (jex) writes:
>> Come to think of it. There has never been
>> a time when we (humans) have felt completely safe
>> with the concept of robots.
>
>Yes, but couldn't you say that humans have never felt completely safe
>in the company of other, thinking humans?
Indeed you can. So why are robots so much worse?
>> It started with Czech writer Karel Capek, who coined
>> the term "robot" in a 1920 play called R.U.R.
>> --- Rossums universal robots.
>
>Popular movies often depict robots as capable of mass-distruction,
>with the same meanspirit of their human creators. Look at "The
>Matrix", "The Terminator", "RoboCop" (he he)...
Robocop? Give him a break. Remember the scene where he was first
booted up, with that quick reference to COMMAND.COM? No wonder the
poor guy was so messed up - he was running MS-DOS. But he was one
of the good guys. "Dick, you're fired!"
>The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
>of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
>too. Any others?
Disney's "Black Hole" had one that was typical Disney cute.
Anyone who hasn't read Isaac Asimov's robot stories (anthologized in
"I, Robot" and "The Rest of the Robots") is missing some good stuff.
--
cgi...@sky.bus.com (Charlie Gibbs)
Remove the first period after the "at" sign to reply.
I don't read top-posted messages. If you want me to see your reply,
appropriately trim the quoted text and put your reply below it.
Charlie Gibbs
j_he...@whamo.snet.net (Jonathan Hendry) writes:
"Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Hello, I'm Rags." -- Sleeper
Charlie Gibbs
nomadi...@removethistomailmehotmail.com (A.C.) writes:
>A good example of what I think scares us most about robots; their
>implacable drive to fulfill their programming.
Sort of like fundamentalist extremists.
Larry__Weiss
> j_he...@whamo.snet.net (Jonathan Hendry) writes:
> >"James Nicoll" <jdni...@panix.com> wrote in message
> >news:agklmf$7g6$1...@panix2.panix.com...
> >>> jex wrote:
> >>>> The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can
> >>>> think of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star
> >>>> Wars" too. Any others?
> >>>
> >>> Tin Man - Wizard of Oz
> >>> David - A.I.
> >>> V.I.N.CENT and Old B.O.B. - Black Hole
> >>> Robot - Lost In Space
> >>
> >> Piro in _Metropolis_. Strictly a 3 Laws type robot.
> >
> >Twiki on Buck Rogers
> >
> >The robot dog thing on Battlestar Galactica
> >
> >Doctor Who's K-9
>
> "Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Hello, I'm Rags." -- Sleeper
>
Rosie - The Jetson's
the U.F.R.s in Batteries Not Included (I think some of them were robots)
Bubo - Clash of the Titans
Rachael - Blade Runner
Bill_Leary
> Rachael - Blade Runner
Rachael was biological*. A living** organism.
The thread seemed to be dealing with mechanical robotic systems. Extensions
(logical or not) of what we have today.
I see Rachel (and all the replicants) as an end result of genetic design.
"Clones" which are not duplicates of their donors. Genetically engineered
creatures.
- Bill
---------------------
* Yes, I'm assuming by "robot" we mean something mechanized.
** Yes, it can be argued that it need not be biological to be living.
And the related arguments as well... why can't a robotic system be biological?
Steve O'Hara-Smith
J> The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
J> of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
J> too. Any others?
Alpha and Circuit - Power Rangers.
Creighton - Red Dwarf.
The thing in the box (Orac ??) - Blakes Seven
--
C:>WIN | Directable Mirrors
The computer obeys and wins. |A Better Way To Focus The Sun
You lose and Bill collects. | licenses available - see:
| http://www.sohara.org/
Richard Steiner
Larry__Weiss <l...@airmail.net> spake unto us, saying:
> Rachael - Blade Runner
Rachel was a living, breathing replicant, not a "robot" according to
the classic definition.
I want one! :-)
--
-Rich Steiner >>>---> http://www.visi.com/~rsteiner >>>---> Eden Prairie, MN
OS/2 + BeOS + Linux + Win95 + DOS + PC/GEOS = PC Hobbyist Heaven! :-)
Applications analyst/designer/developer (13 yrs) seeking employment.
See web site in my signature for current resume and background.
Erik Max Francis
> Creighton - Red Dwarf.
That's Kryten, by the way.
--
Erik Max Francis / m...@alcyone.com / http://www.alcyone.com/max/
__ San Jose, CA, US / 37 20 N 121 53 W / ICQ16063900 / &tSftDotIotE
/ \ See the son in your bad day / Smell the flowers in the valley
\__/ Chante Moore
Bosskey.net: Aliens vs. Predator 2 / http://www.bosskey.net/avp2/
A personal guide to Aliens vs. Predator 2.
Chris Hedley
> The thing in the box (Orac ??) - Blakes Seven
Orac was never malicious[1] but it was a fairly constantly bad-tempered
and condescending machine hell-bent on being irritated by those around it.
[1] Except on one occasion where it inadvertently built a communication
bridge with some other universe and frightened Cally.
Chris.
Jens Kilian
> Disney's "Black Hole" had one that was typical Disney cute.
*Two*, actually. But they were offset by Maximilian, who is just about the
most evil robot I ever encountered in SF. Scary, too - the scene in which he
<SPOILER>xvyyf Nagubal Crexvaf' punenpgre</SPOILER> gave me nightmares.
--
mailto:j...@acm.org phone:+49-7031-464-7698 (TELNET 778-7698)
http://www.bawue.de/~jjk/ fax:+49-7031-464-7351
PGP: 06 04 1C 35 7B DC 1F 26 As the air to a bird, or the sea to a fish,
0x555DA8B5 BB A2 F0 66 77 75 E1 08 so is contempt to the contemptible. [Blake]
Sean Case
Steve O'Hara-Smith <ste...@eircom.net> wrote:
> On 11 Jul 2002 10:14:43 -0700
> sa...@jexnet.com (jex) wrote:
> J> The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
> J> of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
> J> too. Any others?
> The thing in the box (Orac ??) - Blakes Seven
Orac? Good natured? You have _got_ to be joking.
Sean Case
--
Sean Case g...@zip.com.au
Code is an illusion. Only assertions are real.
Robert Carnegie
> On 11 Jul 2002 10:14:43 -0700
> sa...@jexnet.com (jex) wrote:
>
> J> The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
> J> of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
> J> too. Any others?
>
> Alpha and Circuit - Power Rangers.
>
> Creighton - Red Dwarf.
Holly in Red Dwarf. Sim Nice-But-Dim - both versions (was a girl
for one or two series).
> The thing in the box (Orac ??) - Blakes Seven
Orac, "The thing in the box in Blake's Seven" was /not/ good-natured.
It was very bad-tempered indeed, even more so than C-3PO to R2-D2.
I'm not sure it ever said a kind word to anyone. It considered that
just holding a conversation with a human being was an insult to its
intelligence. Kind of like the computer minds in the Star Trek novel
_Memory Prime_ whose private mental life is much richer than the
paid work that they perform on behalf of humans. Unfortunately (for it)
I don't think Orac could stop itself from being carried around by stupid
human beings.
TV show _Time Trax_ had the feminine PDA "Selma", although I think
she was sometimes critical of or disrespectful to her owner.
Eddie Your Shipboard Computer in _The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy_,
except when his/her alternate personality was connected up. Often
intensely annoying but quite good-natured.
Albert Einstein in Frederik Pohl's Heechee books - psychically
tormented at one point and even angry and downright rude then,
but still good-natured underneath, I'd say.
Have we brought in _Andromeda_?
Remember _Automan_, and _Tron_, and _Max Headroom_.
Of those, since films were asked for, Red Dwarf and Hitch Hiker
/might/ get filmed...and they /did/ film _The Bicentennial Man_.
Twiki and Dr. Theophilus in _Buck Rogers In The 25th Century_ -
or were those guys only in the TV show?
Obviously, some of these are pure AI without control of a physical
body - but I think Orac once took over the Liberator and/or Scorpio
without authorisation, thus effectively becoming a robot spaceship
itself.
I think the problem with a good-guy robot is that to the extent that
they're a robot they can't be a human character, and vice versa,
and not being a human character makes it harder for them to play
a significant part in the drama...particularly as bad-guy characters
are more interesting, anyway. On the other hand, with evil robots it
is almost compulsory to blow them up or switch them off at the end
of the story, so they tend not to be recurring characters.
Robert Carnegie
> Here in alt.folklore.computers,
> Larry__Weiss <l...@airmail.net> spake unto us, saying:
>
> > Rachael - Blade Runner
>
> Rachel was a living, breathing replicant, not a "robot" according to
> the classic definition.
>
> I want one! :-)
Be sure to buy the extended warranty. You don't want it to break down
just after the guarantee runs out.
Chris Hedley
> Obviously, some of these are pure AI without control of a physical
> body - but I think Orac once took over the Liberator and/or Scorpio
> without authorisation, thus effectively becoming a robot spaceship
> itself.
Can't remember any incidents on Scorpio, but I recall Orac and Zen
coming to some sort of arrangement regarding control of the Liberator
in the absence of any human crew. Orac did have some degree of ESP-
type ability, for example when he temporarily shrunk himself to help
Vila cheat when he was playing the Klute at speed chess (Orac's
absence would've resulted in Vila being fried) but mostly it got
other people/things/computers/etc to do any physical work.
Chris.
Larry__Weiss
Maybe "Cherry 2000" would be a more OT example of that genre.
- LarryW
Eugene Miya
>> > >> The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
>> > >> of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
>> > >> too. Any others?
>> > >Movies:
>> > > Data - StarTrek
>> > > Tin Man - Wizard of Oz
>> > > David - A.I.
>> > > V.I.N.CENT and Old B.O.B. - Black Hole
>> > >TV:
>> > > Tom Servo and Crow - Mystery Science Theater 3000
>> > > Robot - Lost In Space
>> > Piro in _Metropolis_. Strictly a 3 Laws type robot.
>> Twiki on Buck Rogers
>> The robot dog thing on Battlestar Galactica
>> Doctor Who's K-9
>Andrew from The Bicentennial Man
Eighth Man (8th man)
Astroboy
Robbie
Possibly some number of Jerry Anderson puppet characters I can't remember.
Terrafamilia
jex wrote:
> The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
> of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
> too. Any others?
Well, Robbie from _Forbidden Planet_ was efficient and pleasant even if he
wasn't exactly "good-natured." Except maybe towards Anne Francis.
Ciao,
Terrafamilia
Sean O'Hara
>
> Piro in _Metropolis_. Strictly a 3 Laws type robot.
>
Tima, the girl android wasn't exactly bad either.
--
Sean O辿ara
"Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original
Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist."
-- http://www.vineyard.net/vineyard/history/pledge.htm
James Nicoll
Sean O'Hara <darkerthenightth...@myrealbox.com> wrote:
>James Nicoll wrote:
>>
>> Piro in _Metropolis_. Strictly a 3 Laws type robot.
>>
>That would be the anime pseudo-remake, of course, not the original.
Yes, sorry.
>Tima, the girl android wasn't exactly bad either.
I thought the end, where
HUGE SPOILERS
Tima tries to wipe out the entire human race (first law)
while people are pleading with her to stop (second) and eventually
fails to grasp wossnames hand, resulting in her fatal fall (third
law) pretty much eliminated her from the running as an Asimovian
robot. Not that her actions were in any way her fault.
You have to wonder what was going through Duke Red's head
when after years of financing a robot-lynching organization he decided
to make a weapon able to destablize the sun and then built a robot
to run it. Yeah, that should turn out well.
Default User
>
> "Larry__Weiss" <l...@airmail.net> wrote in message ns
> > Rachael - Blade Runner
>
> Rachael was biological*. A living** organism.
Actually, so were the robots in RUR.
Brian Rodenborn
Larry__Weiss
So far we've listed robots from fictional materials.
I'm trying to recall any instances of real robots that had
any sort of personality. I studied A.I. in university courses
in the mid 1970's and surely by now someone had made a buck
somewhere from all those grand plans that were to come to fruition
since then.
Is that simple Dog-like toy that I see in Radio Shack all that's
been able to come from it? I suspect there's all sorts of smarter
and quicker than a man robot welders, but I'm talking more of a
personal-assistant role. What's really out there?
- LarryW
H. E. Taylor
I'll let somebody else worry about the dividing line(s)
between machine and bio-machine and suggest Max from
Android. The wine glass full of ball bearings was classic.
<salut>
-het
--
"Language drifts down time in a current of its own making." -Edward Sapir
Name your Poison: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/catastrophes.html
H.E. Taylor http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/
Erik Max Francis
There are quite a few, special-case research applications that have come
up now and again. There's nothing, of course, like a Turing complete
robot that can walk around and interact with people, but there are some
interesting branches. Do some Web searches for SHRDLU, for instance, or
Herbert, the robot which collects empty soda cans.
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Erik Max Francis <m...@alcyone.com> wrote:
EMF>
EMF> > Creighton - Red Dwarf.
EMF>
EMF> That's Kryten, by the way.
So I remember - too late :(
Now whereinhell did I get the other spelling from :)
Brian Inglis
<ste...@eircom.net> wrote:
>On Fri, 12 Jul 2002 01:58:09 -0700
>Erik Max Francis <m...@alcyone.com> wrote:
>
>EMF>
>EMF> > Creighton - Red Dwarf.
>EMF>
>EMF> That's Kryten, by the way.
>
> So I remember - too late :(
>
> Now whereinhell did I get the other spelling from :)
The Admirable ~ ?
--
Thanks. Take care, Brian Inglis Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Brian....@CSi.com (Brian dot Inglis at SystematicSw dot ab dot ca)
fake address use address above to reply
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spam traps
Larry__Weiss
> Larry__Weiss wrote:
> > So far we've listed robots from fictional materials.
> > I'm trying to recall any instances of real robots that had
> > any sort of personality. I studied A.I. in university courses
> > in the mid 1970's and surely by now someone had made a buck
> > somewhere from all those grand plans that were to come to fruition
> > since then.
> > Is that simple Dog-like toy that I see in Radio Shack all that's
> > been able to come from it? I suspect there's all sorts of smarter
> > and quicker than a man robot welders, but I'm talking more of a
> > personal-assistant role. What's really out there?
>
> There are quite a few, special-case research applications that have come
> up now and again. There's nothing, of course, like a Turing complete
> robot that can walk around and interact with people, but there are some
> interesting branches. Do some Web searches for SHRDLU, for instance, or
> Herbert, the robot which collects empty soda cans.
>
SHRDLU was in fact one of the examples we studied in the '70's. Both
http://hci.stanford.edu/cs147/examples/shrdlu/
http://www.semaphorecorp.com/misc/shrdlu.html
say it has not progressed any since then.
Remarkable that they acknowledge the same observations that I
just asked (and that you recalled that project as one that may
have shown progress in the last thirty years).
Are we waiting for the physical side of robotics to progress enough
so that the software side will have something more interesting upon
which to be demonstratable?
- LarryW
Coridon Henshaw <(chenshaw<RE<MOVE>@(T
news:369497F98F666EA0.77F48AC6...@lp.airnews.net:
> Are we waiting for the physical side of robotics to progress enough
> so that the software side will have something more interesting upon
> which to be demonstratable?
AFIAK what AI research is 'waiting for' are computers with enough
processing power to simulate neural networks large enough to be taught
intelligent behavior.
Followups limited to rass.
--
Buy Microsoft(R) products. It's not as if you really needed those rights
or that money anyway.
Coridon Henshaw / http://www3.sympatico.ca/gcircle/csbh
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Coridon Henshaw <(chenshaw<RE<MOVE>@(T<H+ESE)sympatico.ca)> wrote:
CH> Larry__Weiss <l...@airmail.net> wrote in
CH> news:369497F98F666EA0.77F48AC6...@lp.airnews.net:
CH>
CH> > Are we waiting for the physical side of robotics to progress enough
CH> > so that the software side will have something more interesting upon
CH> > which to be demonstratable?
CH>
CH> AFIAK what AI research is 'waiting for' are computers with enough
CH> processing power to simulate neural networks large enough to be taught
CH> intelligent behavior.
That we probably have - what is really needed is some insight into
how to train such a large network to develop 'intelligent' behaviour,
whatever that is.
The backprop approaches to training a neural network require you
to be able to define the desired responses at the level of the network.
The evolve and compete approach seems promising but it is really
hard to get the selection pressure to do anything other than make the
nets sidestep the goal and solve the system.
I *think* a co-evolved layered approach may get somewhere but
the details are not yet clear enough for me to try it out - apart from
anything else I haven't thought of a suitable proof of concept problem.
CH> Followups limited to rass.
a.f.c restored - this is one of my hobbies :)
Steve O'Hara-Smith
c...@ieya.co.REMOVE_THIS.uk (Chris Hedley) wrote:
CH> Orac was never malicious[1] but it was a fairly constantly bad-tempered
CH> and condescending machine hell-bent on being irritated by those around it.
Pretty good considering the company it kept, I think I might be
closer to homicidal if I spent that much time around Avon :)
Robert Carnegie
I'd wager that the majority of us here, and of course the whole of the
cast of the movie, would be very good-natured towards Anne Francis.
Gary Forbis
Robbie didn't have demons of the mind.
His good nature didn't have to do with Anne Francis.
Dav Vandenbroucke
<Brian....@SystematicSw.ab.ca> wrote:
>The Admirable ~ ?
Presumably. But AFAIK it was never mentioned on Red Dwarf.
Dav Vandenbroucke
dav_and_france...@compuserve.com
Brian Inglis
<Dav_and_France...@compuserve.com> wrote:
>On Sat, 13 Jul 2002 02:09:50 GMT, Brian Inglis
><Brian....@SystematicSw.ab.ca> wrote:
>
>>The Admirable ~ ?
>
>Presumably. But AFAIK it was never mentioned on Red Dwarf.
We must have missed that episode ;^>
Ross Simpson
> >Popular movies often depict robots as capable of mass-distruction,
> >with the same meanspirit of their human creators. Look at "The
> >Matrix", "The Terminator", "RoboCop" (he he)...
I don't know if anyone popped this movie up in this thread but there
was a pretty nasty Robot in "Saturn 3".
> >The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can
think
> >of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
> >too. Any others?
>
> Disney's "Black Hole" had one that was typical Disney cute.
Don't forget "Forbidden Planet!"
Regards,
Ross.
Larry__Weiss
> I'm trying to recall any instances of real robots that had
> any sort of personality.
>
Just in the news: Cindy Smart
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.08/cindy.html
Maybe it's just smoke and mirrors, but if it sells well
then maybe it'll cause some real innovations.
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Larry__Weiss <l...@airmail.net> wrote:
L> > I'm trying to recall any instances of real robots that had
L> > any sort of personality.
L>
L> Just in the news: Cindy Smart
I wouldn't call it personality - but there does seem to be a lot
in there. I have a feeling that my four year old daughter is going to want
one - insistently!
Jerry Brown
<rosssimpson@my_spammers_address(optusnet).com.au> wrote:
>"Charlie Gibbs" <cgi...@sky.bus.com> wrote in message...
>> >Popular movies often depict robots as capable of mass-distruction,
>> >with the same meanspirit of their human creators. Look at "The
>> >Matrix", "The Terminator", "RoboCop" (he he)...
>
>I don't know if anyone popped this movie up in this thread but there
>was a pretty nasty Robot in "Saturn 3".
Hector only turned out bad because he got his online mentoring from a
psychopath (played by Harvey Keitel). The real Captain James seemed to
be a fairly mild type, given that his reaction to being spaced through
a large cheese grater was to say 'Holy House!'.
Jerry Brown
--
A cat may look at a king
(but probably won't bother)
Ian Stirling
>
> Steve O'Hara-Smith <ste...@eircom.net> wrote in message news:<20020712075042.444
> be07f....@eircom.net>...
>> On 11 Jul 2002 10:14:43 -0700
>> sa...@jexnet.com (jex) wrote:
>>
>> J> The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
>> J> of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
>> J> too. Any others?
>>
>> Alpha and Circuit - Power Rangers.
>>
>> Creighton - Red Dwarf.
>
> Holly in Red Dwarf. Sim Nice-But-Dim - both versions (was a girl
> for one or two series).
Holly/Hilly were not completely good-natured.
Consider the episode "Queeg", where "for a laugh" he pretends to be taken
over by an alternate personality, who (for example) makes rimmer run laps
until he passes out.
--
http://inquisitor.i.am/ | mailto:inqui...@i.am | Ian Stirling.
---------------------------+-------------------------+--------------------------
"An enemy will usually have three courses open to him. Of these he will
select the fourth." -- Helmuth von Moltke
Adam Canning
rja.ca...@excite.com says...
> Steve O'Hara-Smith <ste...@eircom.net> wrote in message news:<20020712075042....@eircom.net>...
> > On 11 Jul 2002 10:14:43 -0700
> > sa...@jexnet.com (jex) wrote:
> >
> > J> The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
> > J> of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
> > J> too. Any others?
> >
> > Alpha and Circuit - Power Rangers.
> >
> > Creighton - Red Dwarf.
>
> Holly in Red Dwarf. Sim Nice-But-Dim - both versions (was a girl
> for one or two series).
Except possibly when Queeg.
> Have we brought in _Andromeda_?
Andromeda likes shooting certain classes of people.
I seem to remember a scene where she suggests killing an entire planetary
population as being an alternative to delivering relief supplies and
evacuating a space station.
She's only nice when Dylan is around. She gets stroppy when he's not.
--
Adam
Once you have pulled the pin, Mr Nova Bomb is no longer your friend.
Adam Canning
Brian....@SystematicSw.ab.ca says...
> On Fri, 12 Jul 2002 19:17:51 +0200, Steve O'Hara-Smith
> <ste...@eircom.net> wrote:
>
> >On Fri, 12 Jul 2002 01:58:09 -0700
> >Erik Max Francis <m...@alcyone.com> wrote:
> >
> >EMF>
> >EMF> > Creighton - Red Dwarf.
> >EMF>
> >EMF> That's Kryten, by the way.
> >
> > So I remember - too late :(
> >
> > Now whereinhell did I get the other spelling from :)
>
> The Admirable ~ ?
Farscape.
Ross Simpson
message...
>
> >"Charlie Gibbs" <cgi...@sky.bus.com> wrote in message...
> >> >Popular movies often depict robots as capable of
mass-distruction,
> >> >with the same meanspirit of their human creators. Look at "The
> >> >Matrix", "The Terminator", "RoboCop" (he he)...
> >
> >I don't know if anyone popped this movie up in this thread but
there
> >was a pretty nasty Robot in "Saturn 3".
>
> Hector only turned out bad because he got his online mentoring from
a
> psychopath (played by Harvey Keitel). The real Captain James seemed
to
> be a fairly mild type, given that his reaction to being spaced
through
> a large cheese grater was to say 'Holy House!'.
Ah okay, I vaguely remember it being like that now, it's been a while
since I've seen the movie. Still Hector did some nasty things.
Regards,
Ross.
Charlie Gibbs
(Steve O'Hara-Smith) writes:
>On Fri, 12 Jul 2002 01:58:09 -0700
>Erik Max Francis <m...@alcyone.com> wrote:
>
>>> Creighton - Red Dwarf.
>>
>> That's Kryten, by the way.
>
> So I remember - too late :(
>
> Now whereinhell did I get the other spelling from :)
The way so many people seem to like to pronounce Michael Crichton's
last name?
--
cgi...@sky.bus.com (Charlie Gibbs)
Remove the first period after the "at" sign to reply.
I don't read top-posted messages. If you want me to see your reply,
appropriately trim the quoted text and put your reply below it.
Jeff Walther
<rosssimpson@my_spammers_address(optusnet).com.au> wrote:
> "Jerry Brown" <je...@jwbrown.co.uk.RemoveThisBitToReply> wrote in
> message...
> >
> > >"Charlie Gibbs" <cgi...@sky.bus.com> wrote in message...
> > >was a pretty nasty Robot in "Saturn 3".
> >
> > Hector only turned out bad because he got his online mentoring from a
> > psychopath (played by Harvey Keitel). The real Captain James seemed to
> > be a fairly mild type, given that his reaction to being spaced through
> > a large cheese grater was to say 'Holy House!'.
>
> Ah okay, I vaguely remember it being like that now, it's been a while
> since I've seen the movie. Still Hector did some nasty things.
IIRC, Hector was actually made of cultured (biologically speaking, not
socially) brain tissue. The tissue needed to be
impressed/trained/programmed by a human to become operational. Arguably,
Saturn 3 did not have a robot AI, because the control system was made of
human bits, though grown and quite a bit more than would be found in a
human.
--
A friend will help you move. A real friend will help you move a body.
Charles Shannon Hendrix
> James Nicoll wrote:
>>
>> Piro in _Metropolis_. Strictly a 3 Laws type robot.
>>
> That would be the anime pseudo-remake, of course, not the original.
>
Let's not leave out Battle Angel Alita...
Charles Shannon Hendrix
> On 11 Jul 2002 10:14:43 -0700
> sa...@jexnet.com (jex) wrote:
>
> J> The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
> J> of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
> J> too. Any others?
>
> Alpha and Circuit - Power Rangers.
>
> Creighton - Red Dwarf.
>
The DRDs in Farscape.
Marvin in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was basically good I think,
or perhaps to depressed to be either one.
Ross Simpson
> > >
> > > Hector only turned out bad because he got his online mentoring
from a
> > > psychopath (played by Harvey Keitel). The real Captain James
seemed to
> > > be a fairly mild type, given that his reaction to being spaced
through
> > > a large cheese grater was to say 'Holy House!'.
> >
> > Ah okay, I vaguely remember it being like that now, it's been a
while
> > since I've seen the movie. Still Hector did some nasty things.
>
> IIRC, Hector was actually made of cultured (biologically speaking,
not
> socially) brain tissue. The tissue needed to be
> impressed/trained/programmed by a human to become operational.
Arguably,
> Saturn 3 did not have a robot AI, because the control system was
made of
> human bits, though grown and quite a bit more than would be found in
a
> human.
Well I thought it was convincing enough to be some sort of Robot! :-)
I'll just leave everybody else who's seen the movie (or goes to the
trouble of seeing it) to draw up their own conclusions about Hector.
BTW, anyone know the difference between a Robot & an Android? I always
thought that Android's were more of a machine which takes the more
humanised appearance where's Robots take some other mechanical
approach (in looks).
If that's the case then isn't Red Dwarf's 'Kryten' more of a Android?
Regards,
Ross.
Robert Carnegie
> In alt.folklore.computers Robert Carnegie <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote:
> >
> > Steve O'Hara-Smith <ste...@eircom.net> wrote in message news:<20020712075042.444
> > be07f....@eircom.net>...
> >> On 11 Jul 2002 10:14:43 -0700
> >> sa...@jexnet.com (jex) wrote:
> >>
> >> J> The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
> >> J> of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
> >> J> too. Any others?
> >>
> >> Alpha and Circuit - Power Rangers.
> >>
> >> Creighton - Red Dwarf.
> >
> > Holly in Red Dwarf. Sim Nice-But-Dim - both versions (was a girl
> > for one or two series).
>
> Holly/Hilly were not completely good-natured.
> Consider the episode "Queeg", where "for a laugh" he pretends to be taken
> over by an alternate personality, who (for example) makes rimmer run laps
> until he passes out.
He was fed up with getting no respect from the crew; I don't
think that the practical joke was unreasonable. The moment where
he reveals that it was all a huge ploy is hilarious when you don't
know it's coming - well, I guess if anyone didn't see it you'll have
to take my word that it's hilarious now that we've spoiled the
ending ;-)
And to pull it off successfully, he really can't be as stupid as
he's made out to be. He suckered them all but good.
Chris Hedley
> Nah, it was sarcastic and self-satisfied, but so was everyone in
> Blake's Seven.
>
> It was a TERRIBLE programme. I first saw it as repeats on UK Gold, and
> I came to believe that thing about rose-tinted glasses.
It lost its way a bit by the 3rd series. Prior to that, I quite liked
it; made a refreshing change to the usual images of the future where
everything is shiny, clean and reliable and people always behave
reasonably to one another and speak in heroic monologues and there's
always a fairy-tale happy ending. I *like* the sarcastic, self-
satisfied tone.
It's a shame that the BBC has always been pretty strongly opposed to
science-fiction in most quarters as a half-decent effects (or even
just props) budget would've made it a lot better.
Chris.
Elf Sternberg
>James Nicoll wrote:
>> Piro in _Metropolis_. Strictly a 3 Laws type robot.
>Tima, the girl android wasn't exactly bad either.
If we're going to get that obscure, then "Linear" from the
somehow massively disappointing[1] anime' hentai[2], "Stainless Night"
qualifies as, *ahem*, "good natured." Very, very good natured. :-)
Elf
[1] ... because the scriptwriter set up an unusually well-done tangle of
relationships in the first half of the story, opting for a very badly done
deus-ex-machina in the second, making all of the tension he created
completely irrelevant.
[2] "porn"
--
Elf M. Sternberg
Disproportionately Popular Among Homosexuals.
http://www.drizzle.com/~elf/ (under construction)
Robert Carnegie
> In article <20020712075042....@eircom.net>, Steve O'Hara-Smith wrote:
> > On 11 Jul 2002 10:14:43 -0700
> > sa...@jexnet.com (jex) wrote:
> >
> > J> The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
> > J> of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
> > J> too. Any others?
> >
> > Alpha and Circuit - Power Rangers.
> >
> > Creighton - Red Dwarf.
> >
> > The thing in the box (Orac ??) - Blakes Seven
>
> The DRDs in Farscape.
Red Dwarf has the Skutters, repair robots that scutter around fixing
things and sometimes goofing off. Come to think, Andromeda has dumb
drones as well.
> Marvin in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was basically good I think,
> or perhaps to depressed to be either one.
Waiting around until the end of the universe in order to catch up
with your old friends (or vice versa) and help them to steal a
spaceship which, in either version of that part of the story,
is liable to get them killed or even married, is not an obvious
act of goodness...
Steve O'Hara-Smith
gree...@BOLLOCKSyahoo.co.uk wrote:
GCU> On Fri, 12 Jul 2002 19:17:51 +0200, Steve O'Hara-Smith
GCU> <ste...@eircom.net> sprachen:
GCU>
GCU> > Now whereinhell did I get the other spelling from :)
GCU>
GCU> The chap who wrote Jurassic Park. BTW Kryten is from Greek mythology
Nope that's Crighton - I've known how to spell his name since
The Terminal Man and The Andromeda Strain. His recent stuff is poor by
comparison IMHO.
Steve O'Hara-Smith
"Charlie Gibbs" <cgi...@sky.bus.com> wrote:
CG> > Now whereinhell did I get the other spelling from :)
CG>
CG> The way so many people seem to like to pronounce Michael Crichton's
CG> last name?
Michael Crichton - Born to frighten, Is that what you are thinking
of ? ISTR He dreamt that one up himself.
Erik Max Francis
> Nope that's Crighton - I've known how to spell his name since
> The Terminal Man and The Andromeda Strain. His recent stuff is poor by
> comparison IMHO.
Actually, it's Crichton.
--
Erik Max Francis / m...@alcyone.com / http://www.alcyone.com/max/
__ San Jose, CA, US / 37 20 N 121 53 W / ICQ16063900 / &tSftDotIotE
/ \ See the son in your bad day / Smell the flowers in the valley
\__/ Chante Moore
Bosskey.net: Aliens vs. Predator 2 / http://www.bosskey.net/avp2/
A personal guide to Aliens vs. Predator 2.
Adam Canning
rja.ca...@excite.com says...
> Charles Shannon Hendrix <sha...@news.widomaker.com> wrote in message news:<slrnaj4g0h....@news.widomaker.com>...
> > In article <20020712075042....@eircom.net>, Steve O'Hara-Smith wrote:
> > > On 11 Jul 2002 10:14:43 -0700
> > > sa...@jexnet.com (jex) wrote:
> > >
> > > J> The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can think
> > > J> of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
> > > J> too. Any others?
> > >
> > > Alpha and Circuit - Power Rangers.
> > >
> > > Creighton - Red Dwarf.
> > >
> > > The thing in the box (Orac ??) - Blakes Seven
> >
> > The DRDs in Farscape.
>
> Red Dwarf has the Skutters, repair robots that scutter around fixing
> things and sometimes goofing off. Come to think, Andromeda has dumb
> drones as well.
The toaster was better natured. The Scutters make rude gestures at
Rimmer.
> > Marvin in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was basically good I think,
> > or perhaps to depressed to be either one.
>
> Waiting around until the end of the universe in order to catch up
> with your old friends (or vice versa) and help them to steal a
> spaceship which, in either version of that part of the story,
> is liable to get them killed or even married, is not an obvious
> act of goodness...
The Doors were entirely good natured.
I'm not sure the impressive amount of military hardware Marvin disabled
by telling his lifestory too counts for goodness either. Even if it did
save the galaxy.
Jerry Brown
That reminds me... I'm convinced that Sirius Cybernetics have opened
an Earth branch, as the main lifts in the building I work in have
recently staged a go-slow; all four descend to the basement (whether
or not anyone has requested them to go there), wait until a sizeable
crowd has gathered on the ground floor, then travel up in pairs until
all of them are empty at the top floor, where they wait, biding their
time, until they're ready to repeat the performance going down. They
even have little signs that say 'DO NOT ENTER' that they turn on when
they're feeling particularly depressed. The engineers claim that
they're waiting for a new circuit board, but I KNOW THE TRUTH!
Larry__Weiss
> That reminds me... I'm convinced that Sirius Cybernetics have opened
>
Elevator: "Down's very nice....May I ask you if you've considered
all the possibilities that down might offer you?"
(definitely a synthetic sentience with our best (and their own)
welfare in mind...)
Zaphod: "Afraid? Of what? Heights? An elevator that's afraid of heights?"
Elevator: "No, of the future ..."
Zaphod: "The future? What does the wretched thing want, a pension scheme?"
...
(Makes me want to go reread the books again for about the twelvth time!)
Bill Marcum
>"Charlie Gibbs" <cgi...@sky.bus.com> wrote in message...
>
>think
>> >of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star Wars"
>> >too. Any others?
>>
>> Disney's "Black Hole" had one that was typical Disney cute.
>
>Don't forget "Forbidden Planet!"
>
or Huey and Dewey from "Silent Running"?
(Data is an android, does he count?)
Dowe Keller
> The Doors were entirely good natured.
Yes, but to a point to where it was actually a bad thing, not only
were they anoying, but one of them nearly got Zaphod killed when the
Krikkit robots were dismantling the heart of gold for its
improbability drive/The Golden Bail.
> I'm not sure the impressive amount of military hardware Marvin disabled
> by telling his lifestory too counts for goodness either. Even if it did
> save the galaxy.
I'd prefer to be stuck with Marvin than I would on a ship with a lot
of those doors.
--
do...@sierratel.com <http://www.sierratel.com/dowe>
"But what we need to know is, do people want nasally-insertable computers?"
Robert Carnegie
> > Red Dwarf has the Skutters, repair robots that scutter around fixing
> > things and sometimes goofing off. Come to think, Andromeda has dumb
> > drones as well.
>
> The toaster was better natured. The Scutters make rude gestures at
> Rimmer.
So do I; what of it?
Ross Simpson
> >
> >> >The only movie with a completely good natured robot-- that I can
> >think
> >> >of, was the "Short Circuit" series. There were some in "Star
Wars"
> >> >too. Any others?
> >>
> >> Disney's "Black Hole" had one that was typical Disney cute.
> >
> >Don't forget "Forbidden Planet!"
> >
> What about the Lost In Space robot (Danger, Will Robinson!)
> or Huey and Dewey from "Silent Running"?
> (Data is an android, does he count?)
I think the notorious Dr. Smith was nastier than everyone else in Lost
In Space! :-)
Star Trek TNG's 'Data' has had his brush of nastiness, his brother
(who's name escapes me for the minute) is even nastier.
However as you pointed out they are android's so they may not count!
Also in one of the original Star Trek's episode's there was a
contraption (which may of been a robot) which turned against the
Enterprise (which couldn't be removed, it also had some sort of blast
shield too) by taking over the engineering section.
Regards,
Ross.
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Erik Max Francis <m...@alcyone.com> wrote:
EMF> Steve O'Hara-Smith wrote:
EMF>
EMF> > Nope that's Crighton - I've known how to spell his name since
EMF> > The Terminal Man and The Andromeda Strain. His recent stuff is poor by
EMF> > comparison IMHO.
EMF>
EMF> Actually, it's Crichton.
Oh crap what a time for a trypo - see other posts in thread.
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Jerry Brown <je...@jwbrown.co.uk.RemoveThisBitToReply> wrote:
JB> That reminds me... I'm convinced that Sirius Cybernetics have opened
JB> an Earth branch, as the main lifts in the building I work in have
You could be right I've encountered a few talkative lifts recently,
nothing with a GPP yet though.
Mike Swaim
"Ross Simpson" <rosssimpson@my_spammers_address(optusnet).com.au> wrote in
message news:3d33dc05$0$11270$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...
> Star Trek TNG's 'Data' has had his brush of nastiness, his brother
> (who's name escapes me for the minute) is even nastier.
> However as you pointed out they are android's so they may not count!
> Also in one of the original Star Trek's episode's there was a
> contraption (which may of been a robot) which turned against the
> Enterprise (which couldn't be removed, it also had some sort of blast
> shield too) by taking over the engineering section.
Daystrom's M5?
--
Mike Swaim Michae...@ubswenergy.com
Disclaimer: Yeah, like I speak for UBS Warburg Energy.
Quote: "Allison, where's daddy?"
"Phphphphhphhphphphhphhh."
Sean O'Hara
>
> Charles Shannon Hendrix <sha...@news.widomaker.com> wrote in message news:<slrnaj4g0h....@news.widomaker.com>...
> >
>
> Red Dwarf has the Skutters, repair robots that scutter around fixing
> things and sometimes goofing off. Come to think, Andromeda has dumb
> drones as well.
>
too disgusting even for Rimmer and Lister.
--
Sean O辿ara
"Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original
Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist."
-- http://www.vineyard.net/vineyard/history/pledge.htm
Bill_Leary
news:ah1mrr$1oo2$1...@news.hal-pc.org...
> > Also in one of the original Star Trek's episode's there was a
> > contraption (which may of been a robot) which turned against the
> > Enterprise (which couldn't be removed, it also had some sort of blast
> > shield too) by taking over the engineering section.
> Daystrom's M5?
Good call.
I was thinking he meant "Norman" from "I, Mudd," but couldn't fit in the part
about shielding.
- Bill
Tyson Patterson
"Ross Simpson" <rosssimpson@my_spammers_address(optusnet).com.au> wrote in
message news:3d33dc05$0$11270$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...
>
> contraption (which may of been a robot) which turned against the
> Enterprise (which couldn't be removed, it also had some sort of blast
> shield too) by taking over the engineering section.
Are you thinking of V'ger? (sp?) I can't remember if V'ger had a shield or
not though.
Tyson Patterson
machf
Andy the Robot from "Quark"...
--
__________ ____---____ Marco Antonio Checa Funcke
\_________D /-/---_----' Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru
_H__/_/ http://machf.tripod.com
'-_____|(
remove the "no_me_j." and "sons.of." parts before replying
MSCHAEF.COM
V'ger was a 20th century Voyager probe that returned after being
discovered by an machine-based race. Upon returning, it had developed some
semblence of sentinence, and wanted to connect with its creator. The hitch
was that it didn't believe that humanity (carbon based) units were who it
was looking for, and in an effort to expedite the process wanted to
cleanse the planet Earth of its infestation (humanity).
Ross might have been referring to Nomad.
http://www.ericweisstein.com/fun/startrek/TheChangeling.html
It's a similar sounding kind of deal, but I've never seen the episode.
-Mike
--
http://www.mschaef.com
Ross Simpson
> >
> >
> >>
> >> Also in one of the original Star Trek's episode's there was a
> >> contraption (which may of been a robot) which turned against the
> >> Enterprise (which couldn't be removed, it also had some sort of
blast
> >> shield too) by taking over the engineering section.
> >
> >Are you thinking of V'ger? (sp?) I can't remember if V'ger had a
shield or
> >not though.
>
> V'ger was a 20th century Voyager probe that returned after being
> discovered by an machine-based race. Upon returning, it had
developed some
> semblence of sentinence, and wanted to connect with its creator. The
hitch
> was that it didn't believe that humanity (carbon based) units were
who it
> was looking for, and in an effort to expedite the process wanted to
> cleanse the planet Earth of its infestation (humanity).
Yes, I wasn't actually talking about any of the movies either! :-)
> Ross might have been referring to Nomad.
>
> http://www.ericweisstein.com/fun/startrek/TheChangeling.html
Yes I believe that's was that episode (I remember the name) because I
remember Kirk successfully confusing it & beaming it off the ship
where it explodes in space!
I might of been wrong about it having shielding of it's own, but it
had some sort of defensive system.
> It's a similar sounding kind of deal, but I've never seen the
episode.
I'm convinced! :-)
Regards,
Ross.
Ross Simpson
> Andy the Robot from "Quark"...
Wonder where the name "Quark" really comes from?
At the beginning of Season Six of Dr. Who in the story "The
Dominators" there were some nasty little Robot like creatures called
"Quarks" which went around Destroying anyone or anything from the
"Dominators" orders! :-)
Regards,
Ross.
Bill_Leary
> > Ross might have been referring to Nomad.
>
> remember Kirk successfully confusing it & beaming it off the ship
> where it explodes in space!
Definitely "The Changeling." One of the best Spock/Kirk exchanges.
After Kirk has convinced Nomad that it must destroy itself because it's made
mistakes:
Spock: "Congratulations on a dazzling display of logic. We are in grave
danger."
Kirk: "Didn't think I had it in me, did you?"
Spock: "No, sir."
- Bill