By Jason Palmer
Science and technology reporter, BBC News
An international debate is needed on the use of autonomous military robots, a leading academic has said.
Noel Sharkey of the University of Sheffield said that a push toward more robotic technology used in warfare would put civilian life at grave risk.
Technology capable of distinguishing friend from foe reliably was at least 50 years away, he added.
However, he said that for the first time, US forces mentioned resolving such ethical concerns in their plans.
"Robots that can decide where to kill, who to kill and when to kill is high on all the military agendas," Professor Sharkey said at a meeting in London.
"The problem is that this is all based on artificial intelligence, and the military have a strange view of artificial intelligence based on science fiction."
More.
Tuesday 4 August 2009
Sunday 3 May 2009
EYE OF THE STORM - AN INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE ON SCIENTIFIC CONTROVERSY
EYE OF THE STORM - AN INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE ON SCIENTIFIC CONTROVERSY, 19 / 20 June 2009, Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1, UK. EYE OF THE STORM aims to explore a range of controversies, from esoteric arguments between physicists over the structure of the universe, to disputes about the causes of species decline and climate change, and highly charged public controversies around the use of stem cells and the distribution of genetically modified organisms. When heated debates around the challenge of climate change have shown how abstruse uncertainties within a scientific community can be amplified and distorted to challenge the whole notion of human-caused greenhouse warming, EYE OF THE STORM sets out to examine the relationship between scientific uncertainty and public controversies around science.
RECLAIMING THE ENLIGHTENMENT
Nobel symposium: RECLAIMING THE ENLIGHTENMENT
Onsdagen den 20 maj 2009, kl.14.30-18 (inkl. paus)
Lokal: Börssalen, Källargränd 4, 2 tr., Gamla Stan, Stockholm
Föredragshållare: Stephen Bronner, Professor of Political Science, Comparative Literature and German Studies, Rutgers University, NJ
Titel: RECLAIMING THE ENLIGHTENMENT - THEN AND NOW
Föredragshållare: Barbara Taylor, Professor of Modern History, University of East London
Titel: ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE USES OF WOMAN
Föredragshållare: Robert Bernasconi, Professor of Philosophy, University of Memphis
Titel: DISINGENIOUS DISENLIGHTENMENT
Moderator: Marie-Christine Skuncke, Professor i Litteraturvetenskap, Uppsala universitet
The aim of this symposium is to encourage a critical discussion of the legacy of the Enlightenment from the perspectives of ethnicity, gender, religion and politics. -- Stephen Bronners intresseområde är politisk teori. Han har bl.a. skrivit böckerna: Moments of decision: Political history and the crises of radicalism (1991); Of critical theory and its theorists (1994); Reclaiming the enlightenment: Toward a politics of radical engagement (2004). Barbara Taylors forskningsinriktning är "upplysningens kvinnor" och hur den sociala och ekonomiska utvecklingen över tid verkat ur ett genusperspektiv. Hon har bl.a. skrivit och/eller redigerat: Eve and the new Jerusalem: Socialism and feminism in the 19th century (1983, 1993); Mary Wollstonecraft and the feminist imagination (2003); Women, gender and enlightenment (2005). Robert Bernasconi forskar om rasbegreppet och dess historia. Han har skrivit och/eller redigerat i urval: The idea of race (2000); Concepts of race in the eighteenth century (2001); Race and racism in continental philosophy (2003). Marie-Christine Skunckes forskningsintresse är Svenskt 1700-tal i europeiskt perspektiv, fursteuppfostran, politisk retorik och mediehistoria. Hon har under det nya millenniet redigerat i urval: Riksdag, kaffehus och predikstol: Frihetstidens politiska kultur 1766-1772 (2003); Media and Political Culture in the Eighteenth Century (2005). -- Föranmälan till alt. 08-534 818 18
Onsdagen den 20 maj 2009, kl.14.30-18 (inkl. paus)
Lokal: Börssalen, Källargränd 4, 2 tr., Gamla Stan, Stockholm
Föredragshållare: Stephen Bronner, Professor of Political Science, Comparative Literature and German Studies, Rutgers University, NJ
Titel: RECLAIMING THE ENLIGHTENMENT - THEN AND NOW
Föredragshållare: Barbara Taylor, Professor of Modern History, University of East London
Titel: ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE USES OF WOMAN
Föredragshållare: Robert Bernasconi, Professor of Philosophy, University of Memphis
Titel: DISINGENIOUS DISENLIGHTENMENT
Moderator: Marie-Christine Skuncke, Professor i Litteraturvetenskap, Uppsala universitet
The aim of this symposium is to encourage a critical discussion of the legacy of the Enlightenment from the perspectives of ethnicity, gender, religion and politics. -- Stephen Bronners intresseområde är politisk teori. Han har bl.a. skrivit böckerna: Moments of decision: Political history and the crises of radicalism (1991); Of critical theory and its theorists (1994); Reclaiming the enlightenment: Toward a politics of radical engagement (2004). Barbara Taylors forskningsinriktning är "upplysningens kvinnor" och hur den sociala och ekonomiska utvecklingen över tid verkat ur ett genusperspektiv. Hon har bl.a. skrivit och/eller redigerat: Eve and the new Jerusalem: Socialism and feminism in the 19th century (1983, 1993); Mary Wollstonecraft and the feminist imagination (2003); Women, gender and enlightenment (2005). Robert Bernasconi forskar om rasbegreppet och dess historia. Han har skrivit och/eller redigerat i urval: The idea of race (2000); Concepts of race in the eighteenth century (2001); Race and racism in continental philosophy (2003). Marie-Christine Skunckes forskningsintresse är Svenskt 1700-tal i europeiskt perspektiv, fursteuppfostran, politisk retorik och mediehistoria. Hon har under det nya millenniet redigerat i urval: Riksdag, kaffehus och predikstol: Frihetstidens politiska kultur 1766-1772 (2003); Media and Political Culture in the Eighteenth Century (2005). -- Föranmälan till
Sunday 26 April 2009
CfP: ARCHIBOTS : Intelligent and Adaptable Built Environments
CfP: ARCHIBOTS : Intelligent and Adaptable Built Environments
An International Workshop on Architectural Robotics at Ubicomp 2009
date and venue: September 30, 2009 in Orlando, Florida at Ubicomp 2009.
workshop URL: www.archibots.org
papers due: 5pm EST on June 25, 2009 (see below)
organizers: Keith Evan Green (Clemson U.) and Mark Gross (Carnegie Mellon
U.)
call: Robotics embedded in our built environment will increasingly support
and augment everyday work, school, entertainment, and leisure activities in
an increasingly digital society. A full-day workshop offering at Ubicomp,
the International Conference on Ubiquitous
Computing, Archibots aims
to identify opportunities and challenges in research and education in the
emerging area of Architectural Robotics - intelligent and adaptable
physical environments at all scales. For Archibots 2009, we seek position
papers representing diverse perspectives from the extended ubicomp community
exploring possibilities and defining an agenda for Architectural Robotics
for the year 2019 and beyond. Workshop participants will discuss these
perspectives and then, in teams, sketch short videos to envision possible
futures. The collected videos of the workshop are intended to stream to the
Video Program of the conference. The organizers plan to publish selected
position papers as an edited book or a special issue of a journal, and also
further relations with industry and allied disciplines.
scope: We solicit position papers envisioning opportunities and challenges
for Architectural Robotics to support and enhance human needs and desires,
including, but not limited to:
specific applications (e.g., work, health, play, elderly, disabled,
children).
re-configurable and modular robotics in buildings, public places,
furniture...
sociological and psychological implications of architectural robotics.
programming buildings that sense, infer, and respond to human needs.
intelligent building structures and systems with embedded robotics.
the software and hardware infrastructure needed to realize archibots.
teaching and learning architectural robotics.
We encourage papers that go beyond a mere presentation of accomplished
works; instead, we seek contributions to this emerging field that openly
communicat e techniques, methods and assemblies of architectural robotics
and, more broadly, the challenges and prospects of architectural robotics
which we recognize as technical, social and aesthetic.
submissions: Paper submissions must be formatted according to the Ubicomp
supplementary proceedings template and submitted in PDF to both
kegreen@clemson.edu and
mdgross@cmu.edu no later than 5pm EST on June 25,
2009. Papers must not exceed 6 pages and 10MB, including abstract, all
figures, and references. Each submission should have one designated author
who will participate in the conference, should the submission be accepted.
[The organizers acknowledge support for this workshop from the U.S. National
Science Foundation.]
An International Workshop on Architectural Robotics at Ubicomp 2009
date and venue: September 30, 2009 in Orlando, Florida at Ubicomp 2009.
workshop URL: www.archibots.org
papers due: 5pm EST on June 25, 2009 (see below)
organizers: Keith Evan Green (Clemson U.) and Mark Gross (Carnegie Mellon
U.)
call: Robotics embedded in our built environment will increasingly support
and augment everyday work, school, entertainment, and leisure activities in
an increasingly digital society. A full-day workshop offering at Ubicomp,
the International Conference on Ubiquitous
Computing
to identify opportunities and challenges in research and education in the
emerging area of Architectural Robotics - intelligent and adaptable
physical environments at all scales. For Archibots 2009, we seek position
papers representing diverse perspectives from the extended ubicomp community
exploring possibilities and defining an agenda for Architectural Robotics
for the year 2019 and beyond. Workshop participants will discuss these
perspectives and then, in teams, sketch short videos to envision possible
futures. The collected videos of the workshop are intended to stream to the
Video Program of the conference. The organizers plan to publish selected
position papers as an edited book or a special issue of a journal, and also
further relations with industry and allied disciplines.
scope: We solicit position papers envisioning opportunities and challenges
for Architectural Robotics to support and enhance human needs and desires,
including, but not limited to:
specific applications (e.g., work, health, play, elderly, disabled,
children).
re-configurable and modular robotics in buildings, public places,
furniture...
sociological and psychological implications of architectural robotics.
programming buildings that sense, infer, and respond to human needs.
intelligent building structures and systems with embedded robotics.
the software and hardware infrastructure needed to realize archibots.
teaching and learning architectural robotics.
We encourage papers that go beyond a mere presentation of accomplished
works; instead, we seek contributions to this emerging field that openly
communicat e techniques, methods and assemblies of architectural robotics
and, more broadly, the challenges and prospects of architectural robotics
which we recognize as technical, social and aesthetic.
submissions: Paper submissions must be formatted according to the Ubicomp
supplementary proceedings template and submitted in PDF to both
kegreen@clemson.edu
mdgross@cmu.edu
2009. Papers must not exceed 6 pages and 10MB, including abstract, all
figures, and references. Each submission should have one designated author
who will participate in the conference, should the submission be accepted.
[The organizers acknowledge support for this workshop from the U.S. National
Science Foundation.]
Tuesday 14 April 2009
Artist gets an extra ear implanted into his arm
Helen Pidd
The Guardian, Tuesday 14 April 2009
A man with 3 ears at the Edinburgh Science Festival. Performance artist Stelios Arcadiou, known as Stelarc, says his extra ear, made of human cartilage, is an augmentation of the body's form. Photograph: Murdo Macleod
A man with three ears will appear at Edinburgh Napier University today to talk about his "extra" ear, which has been surgically implanted on to his forearm.
Australian performance artist Stelios Arcadiou, known as Stelarc, had the third ear created from cells in a lab in 2006. At the Edinburgh Science International Festival today, Stelarc will discuss his plans to install transmitters in his new ear, so people listen to what it is hearing online. He also hopes to grow a soft earlobe using his own stem cells.
The ear is made of human cartilage. Stelarc, who is visiting professor at Brunel University School of Arts, took 10 years to find a surgeon willing to perform the operation. He uses medical instruments, prosthetics, robotics, virtual reality and the internet in his work.
Ear it is.
The Guardian, Tuesday 14 April 2009
A man with 3 ears at the Edinburgh Science Festival. Performance artist Stelios Arcadiou, known as Stelarc, says his extra ear, made of human cartilage, is an augmentation of the body's form. Photograph: Murdo Macleod
A man with three ears will appear at Edinburgh Napier University today to talk about his "extra" ear, which has been surgically implanted on to his forearm.
Australian performance artist Stelios Arcadiou, known as Stelarc, had the third ear created from cells in a lab in 2006. At the Edinburgh Science International Festival today, Stelarc will discuss his plans to install transmitters in his new ear, so people listen to what it is hearing online. He also hopes to grow a soft earlobe using his own stem cells.
The ear is made of human cartilage. Stelarc, who is visiting professor at Brunel University School of Arts, took 10 years to find a surgeon willing to perform the operation. He uses medical instruments, prosthetics, robotics, virtual reality and the internet in his work.
Ear it is.
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