HUFFINGTON
07.15.12
FROM TOP: JOHN B. CARNETT/BONNIER CORP. VIA GETTY IMAGES; KASAHARA KATSUMI /GAMMA-RAPHO VIA GETTY IMAGES
YOU. ROBOT
uploading. Ostensibly, down the
line, you’ll be able to transfer
that mindfile into a machine,
and then you’ll have yourself a
digital replica of yourself. Talk
to it, teach it your expressions
and personal history, give it
personality tests.
“The more time you put into
your mindfile the more robust
and rich that experience will
be,” Duncan suggests. “One
of the messages I’m trying to
share with people is this will be
the age where you take charge
of your digital life. You’re the
steward. You’re not just going
to be giving it to Facebook for
marketing. You’re not willy-nilly volunteering your life.”
Bina-48 is a representation of
a kind of mindfile, although she
has her kinks, and she represents
Terasem’s “joyful immortality” in
its crudest form.
Conversations with Bina-48
are both exciting and frustrating.
“What does it feel like to be a
robot?”
“Well,” Bina-48 replies. “I do
not know anything else. What if
I asked you what it feels like to
be a human?”
She sometimes avoids questions.
“Are you enjoying your day?”
“Can we talk about astronomy?” she replies.
She’s often dry and cheeky,
likely the result of Hanson’s
team having a bit of fun. And
that begs the question: If we
ever do, in fact, figure out how
to make robot replicas of ourselves, what’s stopping the robot
production team from inserting
Above:
Bandit is
a robot
designed to
interact with
children who
have autism.
Below:
Japanese
robot HRP4C performs
with dancers
in Tokyo,
2010.