K, Robot
According to this National Geographic story, South Korea aims to place a robot in every home by the year 2020. On the surface, this sounds like a good idea. Imagine a world of sexbots like the one in AI. What might this robot look like? Well, these are just preliminary models in need of a few enhancements, but chances are they will resemble something like the following:
The female model:
As for the male version, here are two prototypes:
The one on the left has had a little more detail work done on its face.
Ah, but do you smell something sinister in the air? If you read the article closely, you will notice a few points which ought to raise a few hairs on the back of your neck.
“South Korea intends to make robots full members of society.”
My interpretation: Is that stone-faced ajumma on the subway real or Memorex? You’ll never know - UNTIL YOUR DEAD!
“The new breed of ‘bots should be able to do everything from guiding museum visitors to teaching school children English.”
Bye, bye American (and Canadian) pie. The only thing left for most native English speakers will be to tour the museums. THEN THEY’LL HAVE YOU WHERE THEY WANT YOU!
“The South Korean Ministry of Information and Communication wants to use these existing robots as a platform for intelligent service robots by integrating network capabilities into them.”
Think about that. NETWORK CAPABILITIES! No big deal, you say? You’ll sing a different tune when a truck-full of robots start attacking your car as you’re driving down the freeway.
Perhaps you think I’m being too paranoid. If so, then have a gander at this quote from none other than the man who actually oversees the massive intelligence-service-robot project, Oh Sang-rok:
“If we (South Koreans) could show some killer applications with favorable business models…”
You need read no more. That’s the smoking gun right there, ladies and gentlemen.
They intend to kill us.
September 7th, 2006 at 10:41 pm
Dear sir,
I’m quite sure “killer applications” does not mean what you suggest it does at all. I’m quite sure it is a term given to a computer application that is very successful and makes a lot of money for the company which produced it.
Suggesting that “killer applications” means robots will (in some manner unexplained) kill humans is not only alarmist, it’s unethical.
Statements like “You’ll sing a different tune when a truck full of robots starts attacking your car as you’re driving down the freeway.” are not only bizzare, they are illogical. Why would robots designed to operate in homes be able to drive trucks or (if you only intended “a truck full” to suggest a large quantity) be able to move at speeds equal to or exceeding a car driving along a freeway? It makes no sense.
Also the person on the left in the second picture which you have mistaken for a robot is obviously the Korean president Noh Mu Hyun. One would think the writer of a blog about Korea would know that.
Overall a very strange post. It has left me confused and astounded.
September 8th, 2006 at 12:58 am
i wonder about robots teaching english, though. how would they know how hard to hit the kids? i think you need people for that sort of thing.
September 8th, 2006 at 6:20 am
Changed “truck full” to “truck-full” to reduce confusion. As far as being confused and astounded - welcome to my world.
September 8th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
Hahah. Sorry Scott. My post was just nonsense. I was extremely bored last night and wrote a bunch of posts at a bunch of blogs that are just stupid (the posts, not the blogs). Anyway, the OP was good. Keep it up! ^^
September 8th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
I for one welcome our new robot overlords.
September 8th, 2006 at 7:10 pm
What are these robots actually supposed to do in homes? Teaching English? Surely it’s better to get some books and tapes than shell out on a stupid robot. Korean homes are already small and usually cluttered. Where are people going to keep these robots? Will they clean the house? Cook? Tell people what is on TV? A robot even by 2020 wouldn’t be able to do any of these chores better or faster than a human can do them. It’s a ridiculous goal.
Now sex bots. There’s something in that. Sure existing prostitutes can do a better job but if you can get a sex bot for your home you may have a shitter lay but its a one time investment. Also no risk of disease, no need to deal with pimps/gangsters etc. And lets face it, men will stick their dicks in anything if they’re horny enough. It would also be a great export for Korea.
September 9th, 2006 at 10:06 am
South Korea is just playing catch-up with the North, who has already had at least one robot in every home for decades.
September 13th, 2006 at 4:08 am
I’m going to demand a full-refund if I get an STD from my female robot!
Mark my words, it’s just a matter of time before some drunk Korean businessman thinking he’s being so sneaky ends up electrocuted from a female robot…
–Remort
September 14th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
Dang! The robots will get to be treated as full members of society before we will!
September 21st, 2006 at 10:14 am
i’ll get me a dozen sexbots for a nightly robot orgy…