Archive for the 'Science' Category

A Robot in Hong Kong

Friday, June 18th, 2010

There are more and more robots who are finding themselves out of work these days. Some might say that this is just the sign of the times, with economies in a kind of temporary spin dry, but for the robots, it’s especially bad news. In Hong Kong, hotel staff is fortunately all human, where there is room to negotiate subtleties and engage in real live conversations, and thankfully, it looks like automated everything is still very far off.

But the robots might disagree.

The Robot Kitchen , which was in full force in 2006 and 2007, is no longer in operation, and most of the people who ate there, the fault is with the robots. The technology team behind the robots are claiming that it was not their fault at all, but had to do with the limited programming that they are capable. The robots did their job, but people wanted too much, and they didn’t understand the laws of robotics .

In a place where technology and culture merge in unexpected, and often very delightful ways, the idea of a restaurant run by robots is a very good one. But it turns out that it wasn’t just an experiment in the new machine age, but was one of transcultural understanding. Robots can only do so much, and only what they are told to do, so whenever there are new variables entering the picture, things tend to get a little awkward.

They are limited, furthermore, by the decisions of their creators, and although there has been an effort to create a machine that thinks for itself, one that’s been well underway since the early 1960s, the technology is not there yet. The main fear that the robots have, after their favorite employer shut the doors, is that the robot fad was just a fad, and people’s love of their cyborg eyes was as fleeting and fickle as any kind of love based on infatuation. They are currently gathering in cyber-cafes all over Asia to determine their next big marketing scheme.

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The Solar System’s Corner Fireplace

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

For good reason, ever since we’re children, we’re told not to stare at the sun.  The sun, after all, is pretty bright, considering it’s about 93 million miles away from us, capable of providing the planet with all its heat and light and life.  It’s size is incredible, with a diameter of about 865 hundred thousand miles and is the 109 times the size of the planet Earth.  It’s no wonder that so many early religions, stories, and, in modern times, research has been devoted to this immense corner fireplace of the solar system.

Every once in a while, it’s nice to check in and see where we are in the universe, and right now, as you read these words, we’re on the Earth, in the Sol System (the center of which is that aforementioned 93 mile-distant fiery ball of hydrogen and helium, with a surface temperature of 5,510 degrees Centigrade, generating its heat by nuclear fusion, turning the hydrogen nuclei into helium.  It appears today that this star, once thought fairly small and insignificant in the solar system, may be brighter than 85 per cent of the other stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.  Many of the other stars appear to be dimmer red dwarfs), and right now, we’re traveling through an area known by astronomers as the Local Interstellar Cloud in the Local Bubble zone inside the rim of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way.  If you are outdoors, the light that allows you to read this blog took eight minutes and nineteen seconds or so to get here and illuminate your laptop, desktop, or page (if you’ve printed this out).

In a meditative mood, as a child, I might scribble out my address as Los Angeles, California, United States, Planet Earth, the Sol Solar System, the Milky Way Galaxy, and the Universe.  That address has grown a bit: LA, CA, US, Earth, Sol System, Local Interstellar Cloud, Local Bubble, Milky Way Galaxy, and the Universe.  Once parallel universes are proved, we’ll probably have to add those, too.  It’s a lot to contemplate, so instead, during these winter months, I’m going to get some hot chocolate, build a fire and watch the flames roar in the hearth, perhaps one of the most comforting small things I can think to do in such a large place!

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