The “Mark 1” Android. Image credit: Reuters.
The Particle Debris standout article of the week is from Wired. “The Scarlett Johansson Bot Is the Robotic Future of Objectifying Women.” For reference, here's the original article via Reuters Building a humanoid Hollywood star.
One might think the Wired piece is a overly sensational article, but it's based on a sober realization of the social implications. Here's a quote; the reference is to actress Scarlett Johansson.
News broke on Friday about a Hong Kong designer who made a robot that looks just like the award-winning actress—although Ricky Ma, the robot’s creator, wouldn’t name the actress he modeled the bot on, choosing instead to call it Mark 1. It took Ma eighteen months and over $50,000 to complete the project, which he constructed on his patio with a 3-D printer and software that he taught himself how to use.
Aside from the creepy factor, the legal aspects are explored next by Wired
But Ma made the robot in his house and may not necessarily profit. “So here Scarlett Johansson might face more First Amendment pushback,” said Calo. [a law professor at the University of Washington.] Still, according to Reuters, Ma does hope that an investor will buy his robot, which could give Scarlett Johansson clearer grounds to take legal action.
This article raises all kind of interesting issues.
- What if the commercial version of such an android looked like no other person on earth. There's no one to sue. Does that constitute a legal green light?
- Should laws be enacted to prevent the construction of what are, essentially, sophisticated sex toys in the form of a human being?
- More to the point, does the construction and use of such devices lead to a consumer mentality that's dangerous? Examples: By analogy, Twitter has created, in some cases, an overly abusive environment against innocent women. Here's another: Just as the occasional athlete, accustomed to professional violence, sometimes has a hard time controlling strong emotions with a partner, would the pervasive of use of such commercial devices unshackle/promote bad social impulses with real human beings?
- Would a major tech giant like Apple or Google ever consider such a project? (Some pieces are in moving into place, such as Siri, Atlas and Liam.)
Given enough exploration, one can probably think of other factors that come into play with this kind of technology.
From the movie Ex Machina.
The concept is not new. This fantasy, if you will, has been explored in science fiction for many years now. The most recent example is the movie Ex Machina” But it's quite another thing to confront the reality of the technology and explore the implications in real life (and the courts) than it is to explore the mere concept in a dramatic film or TV show.
Siri and Other AIs
In somewhat of an oblique fashion, the subject of Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents comes in here. I saw another, related article, that explored the use of female voices for Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana, and Amazon's Alexa. On The iPhone And The Women In Star Trek” The argument in this case goes like this:
But the default voice for all these digital assistants—Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft—comes from executives and engineers and employees who are decidedly male; roughly 80-percent, on average, and that percentage goes much higher when only engineering and executive jobs are considered.
Does Siri, in a female voice, objectify women?
Yes.
The author goes on to conclude, “Sex sells.” In this case, however, I believe the author's argument is weak. There are technical reasons why, say, Apple would select a female voice as the default for environments that would be expected to be noisy, such as restaurants. Just as many aircraft cockpits use a female voice in audible alerts for technical reasons, like Bitching Betty,” where formal testing has proven that certain frequencies and voices cut through noise and distraction in an emergency, the same applies to an AI assistant. Note that, in Settings, Apple's Siri can be changed to a male voice.
I don't know about the other AIs, but if there's no option to change the voice to male, then the PixoBebo author has a stronger case.
All in all, the emergence of specific technologies is getting a healthy discussion going about these matters. In time, and it will take some time, we'll move from science fiction fantasy/dramas to a collective and firm social and legal grasp of the situation. And how to deal with it.
Next page: The Tech News Debris for the Week of April 4th. Microsoft's Metamorphosis. The coming Tesla-Chevy war.
Page 2 – The Tech News Debris for the Week of April 4th
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
You've seen me write about the positive feelings I have for Microsoft under its new CEO, Satya Nadella. I can't think of a better article to punctuate all those thoughts than this interview by Business Insider's Matt Rosoff. To quote from the preamble:
Windows is still important, but it's no longer the only platform that matters: Microsoft is releasing software and supporting app development for Apple's iOS, Google's Android, and even its old enemy Linux. The infighting and aggressive dismissal of competitors is mostly gone.
Plus, Mr. Nadella provides some thoughts on Microsoft's AI agent, Cortana and the trade-off between security and convenience. Good stuff in: “Satya Nadella on why you'll love Cortana, how cars are like data centers, and what's spurring all these global startups.
Along those lines….
The first Windows 10 Developer Preview is out this week with support for Ubuntu Linux and the Bash shell. ars technica writes:
The first Windows 10 Insider Preview build that includes support for native Linux bash on Windows is now out. This was some of the biggest news to come out of [Microsoft's developer conference] Build last week, as Microsoft works to make Windows even more attractive to developers.
Last week in this column, I wrote about the major competitor to the Tesla Model 3, the Chevy Bolt due out this year. Later, I found this amazing, informative comparison between the two cars over at Mashable. It covers a lot of technical ground. Tesla Model 3 vs. Chevrolet Bolt: Battle of the long-range EVs The one thing it doesn't mention is that the Model 3 will have an option for all-wheel drive while the Chevy Bolt will be front-wheel drive only. This might make a difference to buyers in certain northern states.
Chevy Bolt with 200+ mile range. Image credit: Chevrolet.
I think it was Jim Dalrymple who pointed all of us to this helpful chart showing the Apple's iPhone service pricing.
As Apple works harder to expand the capabilities of the iPad and make it more of a workhorse, you'll see more and more articles like these:
- An intriguing account from someone who replaced his Mac with an iPad
- How-To: Take better photos, videos, and selfies with the 9.7-inch iPad Pro
- How Apple is grooming the iPad to take over the Mac
These three articles are food for thought and certainly worth reading. But my own opinion is that there won't be day when there's an explicit discontinuing of OS X and a formal transition to iOS. It'll be more complex, more nuanced, more high-tech, and more friendly to users, whatever happens.
Finally, a few weeks ago, I wrote a Cool Stuff Found article about the The Volocopter: A Different Approach to a Flying Car. Today, I was pointed to these two videos that you'll want to watch. Note the comment about getting the price of the Volocopter down to that of car. And it's probably the technology of electric cars that makes the electric Volocopter possible.
Volocopter (A manned drone, if you will.)
The first video stands on its own visually, but in the second one the speakers are German. However, excellent subtitles make it very watchable.
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Particle Debris is a generally a mix of John Martellaro's observations and opinions about a standout event or article of the week (preamble on page one) followed by a discussion of articles that didn't make the TMO headlines, the technical news debris. The column is published most every Friday except for holidays.