From c64c0c3bf07c966e31106c216824d2978c8e0d5a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Julio Biason Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2020 12:15:45 -0300 Subject: [PATCH] Book review: 21st Century Robot --- content/reviews/books/21st-century-robot.md | 42 +++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 42 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/reviews/books/21st-century-robot.md diff --git a/content/reviews/books/21st-century-robot.md b/content/reviews/books/21st-century-robot.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2fd48d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/reviews/books/21st-century-robot.md @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ ++++ +title = "21st Century Robot: The Dr. Simon Egerton Stories - Brian David Johnson" +date = 2020-07-04 + +[taxonomies] +tags = ["books", "reviews", "david johnson", "robotics", "it", "2 stars"] ++++ + +[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16087659-21st-century-robot): +When companies develop a new technology, do they ask how it might affect the +people who will actually use it? That, more or less, sums up Brian David +Johnson's duties as Intel's futurist-in-residence. In this fascinating book, +Johnson provides a collection of science fiction prototyping stories that +attempt to answer the question. + + + +{{ stars(stars=2) }} + +This is a hard book to read. Not due its writing style or large paragraphs of +something of the kind, but because you have no idea what what is real and what +is not. + +There are some stories about the "21st Century Robot Foundation", which is a +foundation to give free, open source access to robot designs and code. Problem +is, some of those are interleaved with fiction stories that has a character of +the same name of someone in the foundation and then you never know if that's a +cool extended thingy, actual coincidence or just plain... laziness (although I +reckon that's a strong word for this). + +There are some things that pissed me off. For example, saying "the robot brain +is the hardware and software, what we call artificial intelligence, or AI". AI +is way more than just hardware and software, you have to _train_ something to +make it an AI, or it is just a bunch of reactive code with not actual +"intelligence". Maybe it was dumbed down to reach the general population +instead of going with proper terms, but it just annoys people that _do_ know. +And talking about "apps to extend the robot personality" also seems a bit +far-fetched in how AI works. + +So, maybe the idea is great and all, but ideas without backing facts are just +dreams. And for someone running a foundation, lacking the facts feels... +weird.