Words fail to express my unbridled delight that global civil servants actually spend their time collating this information. According a Wired News story on the census, there are now 607,000 "automated domestic robots" out there, mostly robot lawnmowers and Roombatic vacuum cleaners. The UN predicts that by the end of 2007, there'll be a remarkable 4.1 million domestic robots.
I think we should herd 'em all into one part of the US and make it an official state. If you want more info, you can check out the UN's official robot-census site, which includes such superb dinner-conversation trivia as:
Posted by Clive Thompson at October 22, 2004 02:04 AM
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So, what constitues a robot. Mobility?
Posted by: Joel at October 26, 2004 6:36 PM
i just bought a painting by el rey... :)
Posted by: April at October 27, 2004 9:26 AM
I missread the heading of this piece as The Robot Consensus, and thought to myself "uh-oh".
Posted by: daniel luke at October 28, 2004 8:19 AM
April, congrats! I have five el rey paintings myself.
Joel, a very good question. Mobility, I actually think not, partly because I tend to refer to software chatbots as robots, and they have no moving parts at all.
Daniel: Heh.
Posted by: Clive at October 28, 2004 3:06 PM
any word on how many are flesh eating robots
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I think if we can adress a machine as a thou, we call it a robot. If a machine is anthropomorphic, its a robot. The question is, what is a robot?
Posted by: Joel at October 28, 2004 7:43 PM
"Flesh-eating robots" would be a good category to have in that census, I quite agree.
My definition of a robot, personally, is "can it bring you a beer?"
Posted by: Clive at October 28, 2004 9:25 PM
Or will it drink my beer?
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Or will it drink my beer?
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Or will it drink his beer?
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So, what constitues a robot. Mobility?
Posted by: Joel at October 26, 2004 6:36 PM
i just bought a painting by el rey... :)
Posted by: April at October 27, 2004 9:26 AM
I missread the heading of this piece as The Robot Consensus, and thought to myself "uh-oh".
Posted by: daniel luke at October 28, 2004 8:19 AM
April, congrats! I have five el rey paintings myself.
Joel, a very good question. Mobility, I actually think not, partly because I tend to refer to software chatbots as robots, and they have no moving parts at all.
Daniel: Heh.
Posted by: Clive at October 28, 2004 3:06 PM
any word on how many are flesh eating robots
Posted by: jim at October 28, 2004 7:15 PM
I think if we can adress a machine as a thou, we call it a robot. If a machine is anthropomorphic, its a robot. The question is, what is a robot?
Posted by: Joel at October 28, 2004 7:43 PM
"Flesh-eating robots" would be a good category to have in that census, I quite agree.
My definition of a robot, personally, is "can it bring you a beer?"
Posted by: Clive at October 28, 2004 9:25 PM
Or will it drink my beer?
Posted by: jim at October 28, 2004 10:31 PM
Or will it drink my beer?
Posted by: jim at October 28, 2004 10:33 PM
Or will it drink my beer?
Posted by: jim at October 28, 2004 10:34 PM
Or will it drink his beer?
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I agree with you about the way you view the issue. I remember, long time ago, Jack London said something like "Everything positive has a negative side; everything negative has a positive side." I also find it interesting to see different points of views and learn useful things in the discussion.
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