Thursday, January 13, 2005
Sudden IQ drop among the "tech-bloggers" when robots are mentioned...
Today I was looking over reactions at the major tech blogs (e.g. engadget, they of the loser reporter/heckler, slashdot, enquirer, register, etc) to yesterday's announcement that the HRP-2 Promet featured at Robodex 2004 had learned to reproduce a traditional (slow) Japanese dance. This was a major step forward for the HRP (one of the most dexterous robots around) - but you wouldn't know it from the tech-bloggers.
The fascinating part was looking through the blogs was seeing the sudden drop in IQ when the HRP - or any robot was mentioned. While descriptions of cellphones, PDAs and other gadgets feature informed commentary on the hardware and software, all these supposedly tech-aware bloggers can say when robots come along is something like
"....darrr, I think the robots are about to take over."
No commentary on hardware software, programming, behavior, uses, practicality - not a single thought in their pretty little heads beyond a idiotic comeback speaking of ignorance.
The awesomely lame reaction by the tech-blogs to the HRP becoming a true Robot That Jumps illustrates that the PC/Internet/cool gadget and robotic worlds are very far apart. While a typical tech blogger will know the intimate details of a handheld gadget they report, lovingly reporting clockspeed, chipsets, memory, keyboards, monitor depth, etc., they can't tell you a thing about robots. "Dar....it dances, it must be ready to enslave humanity."
So why is it that the typical tech blogger, reporting on robots cannot tell you any of the following:
1. Computer hardware used in the robot
2. Software programs running in the robot
3. Programming style - "top down" or behavior-based programming
4. Actuation - stepper motors, artificial muscles
5. Features like range of motion, walking speed, etc.
6. Degree of autonomy versus remote control or "remote brained" operation
Darrrrr.....what dat? Dar, funny robot take over world!
Why is the typical techno-digeratti fondoling their latest gadget so incredibly clueless about robots?
Two reasons. First, the hardware and software running robots is radically different from that running PCs, gadgets, the Internet, and other "passive" computer systems. I call them "passive" because they are sensor-free and are controlled by "configuration" - someone knows the right string of symbols to use to operate them. In contrast, robotic system are "active" because they use sensors and react to our environment - instead of creating a virtual "cyberspace" that must be configured. Many robots use a form of Linux, but somehow the champions of Linux on the desktop don't even know this.
Why not? "Darrrr....Bad robot take over world!"
This gap is so great that the techno-nerds literally don't understand what robots are - all they can dredge up is lame comparisions to half-remembered movie plots. They don't really see robots as technology. If they think of robots at all beyond some lame Hollywood fantasy (meaning they haven't fully realized that real robots actually exist yet) they think of them as a side-branch, an abberation to their glorious 24/7 always-on roaming world in which everything gets faster and better and has ever-smaller buttons forever. They can't see robotics as new technology - in the same way that the consumer electronics industry of the 1970s could not see PCs and game consoles as something different from the hi-fi stereos they were selling.
A subset of digeratti probably realizes at some deep level that the robots are tech, and very cool tech at that, and yes, they don't know a damm thing about them. Their typical reactions is then hostility - not because robots will "take over the world" but because the nerds realize, in their heart of hearts, that robotics may completely replace cyberspace as the dominant metaphor of computing during the next 20 years.
In short: the digeratti make fun of robots and accuse them of dark designs against humanity because they realize unconsciously that robots threaten a world where Linux, open source, wireless everywhere, 4GHz gaming engines, broadband, celestial jukebox, wearable computers, CGI in movies, bluetooth, The Matrix, smart mobs, VR helmets, and paintball are old and uninteresting 1990s stuff. At some level they may feel the passage of generations - the end of the wired generation in favor of a robotic one. Hence the sarcastic reporting.
I suggest that the typical clueless tech blogger (there are some who do a great job reporting robotics) go back to school and learn a little about robots beyond watching the latest DVD from Netflix. By doing so, they'll be doing what they're supposed to - providing informed commentary on advances in technology. It sure would be nicer than low-IQ babbling we get today.
Today I was looking over reactions at the major tech blogs (e.g. engadget, they of the loser reporter/heckler, slashdot, enquirer, register, etc) to yesterday's announcement that the HRP-2 Promet featured at Robodex 2004 had learned to reproduce a traditional (slow) Japanese dance. This was a major step forward for the HRP (one of the most dexterous robots around) - but you wouldn't know it from the tech-bloggers.
The fascinating part was looking through the blogs was seeing the sudden drop in IQ when the HRP - or any robot was mentioned. While descriptions of cellphones, PDAs and other gadgets feature informed commentary on the hardware and software, all these supposedly tech-aware bloggers can say when robots come along is something like
"....darrr, I think the robots are about to take over."
No commentary on hardware software, programming, behavior, uses, practicality - not a single thought in their pretty little heads beyond a idiotic comeback speaking of ignorance.
The awesomely lame reaction by the tech-blogs to the HRP becoming a true Robot That Jumps illustrates that the PC/Internet/cool gadget and robotic worlds are very far apart. While a typical tech blogger will know the intimate details of a handheld gadget they report, lovingly reporting clockspeed, chipsets, memory, keyboards, monitor depth, etc., they can't tell you a thing about robots. "Dar....it dances, it must be ready to enslave humanity."
So why is it that the typical tech blogger, reporting on robots cannot tell you any of the following:
1. Computer hardware used in the robot
2. Software programs running in the robot
3. Programming style - "top down" or behavior-based programming
4. Actuation - stepper motors, artificial muscles
5. Features like range of motion, walking speed, etc.
6. Degree of autonomy versus remote control or "remote brained" operation
Darrrrr.....what dat? Dar, funny robot take over world!
Why is the typical techno-digeratti fondoling their latest gadget so incredibly clueless about robots?
Two reasons. First, the hardware and software running robots is radically different from that running PCs, gadgets, the Internet, and other "passive" computer systems. I call them "passive" because they are sensor-free and are controlled by "configuration" - someone knows the right string of symbols to use to operate them. In contrast, robotic system are "active" because they use sensors and react to our environment - instead of creating a virtual "cyberspace" that must be configured. Many robots use a form of Linux, but somehow the champions of Linux on the desktop don't even know this.
Why not? "Darrrr....Bad robot take over world!"
This gap is so great that the techno-nerds literally don't understand what robots are - all they can dredge up is lame comparisions to half-remembered movie plots. They don't really see robots as technology. If they think of robots at all beyond some lame Hollywood fantasy (meaning they haven't fully realized that real robots actually exist yet) they think of them as a side-branch, an abberation to their glorious 24/7 always-on roaming world in which everything gets faster and better and has ever-smaller buttons forever. They can't see robotics as new technology - in the same way that the consumer electronics industry of the 1970s could not see PCs and game consoles as something different from the hi-fi stereos they were selling.
A subset of digeratti probably realizes at some deep level that the robots are tech, and very cool tech at that, and yes, they don't know a damm thing about them. Their typical reactions is then hostility - not because robots will "take over the world" but because the nerds realize, in their heart of hearts, that robotics may completely replace cyberspace as the dominant metaphor of computing during the next 20 years.
In short: the digeratti make fun of robots and accuse them of dark designs against humanity because they realize unconsciously that robots threaten a world where Linux, open source, wireless everywhere, 4GHz gaming engines, broadband, celestial jukebox, wearable computers, CGI in movies, bluetooth, The Matrix, smart mobs, VR helmets, and paintball are old and uninteresting 1990s stuff. At some level they may feel the passage of generations - the end of the wired generation in favor of a robotic one. Hence the sarcastic reporting.
I suggest that the typical clueless tech blogger (there are some who do a great job reporting robotics) go back to school and learn a little about robots beyond watching the latest DVD from Netflix. By doing so, they'll be doing what they're supposed to - providing informed commentary on advances in technology. It sure would be nicer than low-IQ babbling we get today.
