“Robotics in My Work and Life”
- In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination, 2011
- nothing more uncanny than the almost human
- we make real things we've already imagined; if we can't imagine it we'll never make it
- we make things to extend our range and power; we strive to give ourselves the power of gods
- grew up in the Northern woods of Quebec, no electricity, running water, etc; wintered in city; not scared of bugs, scared of vacuums and flush toilets; low tech environment
- little gender differentiation; if it breaks, must fix it; use sharp-edged tools
- imagined space and robots and wars – it was a war period; imagination driven by space-opera comics
- Uncle Fred – inventor; made robotic wooden toys
- created mechanical toys with Tinker Toys; took apart and sometimes reassembled mechanical things; like the head of a doll with closing eyes and sewing machine; Pinocchio; made paper and thread puppets
- influences: tin woodman in Oz; Pinocchio; RUR by Karl Capek; Bradbury's Farenheit 451; Galatea; Golem; Copelia ballet in 19th century; Metropolis in 1927; The Stepford Wives in 1975; Blade Runner in 1982; Neuromancer by William Gibson
- Prostibot launched in New Zealand recently; controversy on whether they will talk or not; used “The Heart Goes Last” by Atwood
- invented remote signature signing device in 2004 – sign on mobile device and remote robot physically signs the book; now accepted by collectors; author signing invented in Canada in 1960's because “Canada's really big”; take the authors to remote locations; Canadians always interested in communication technologies; replicating a human signature is very complicated; 3D with pressure and many muscles and brain power involved; ended up using a reversed haptic remote surgery device
- now called Syngraphii and used by banking and other business for physical signatures (formerly called LongPen); in some applications digital signatures are not acceptable; this produces a physical inscription along with other forms of proof; can now be used via mobile device and “digital paper”
- live demo of real device; mimics all timing and pressure, etc
- Q&A: How to keep robots from taking over? Design in an off switch, like the golem, to avoid The Matrix. Is there anything about technology that frightens you? As we expert our functions to technology, we lose our ability to do those things. Do we as a community need to try to foresee these problems to prevent them? We can't foresee the real problem; biggest issue is that it takes biology – our environment – to build these things and we're not paying attention to our use and destruction. We strive for godlike powers but we desire control; comments? All mad geniuses want power controlled only by themselves. Many superpowers have been physical, but we're moving to cognitive augmentation; comments? Inside your head would drive you crazy; use your computer to prevent that. Is it getting harder to write science fiction? It's always a feedback loop; SF writers read science and that creates literature then scientists read fiction and think of new directions, and so on; example the first tissue growth was and art project to create victimless leather coats; now we're growing organs, “including vaginas; we should hand them out to all Republicans so they can see for themselves what it's like to have one.”
