MIT professor and AI-research pioneer Marvin Minsky discusses smart robots of the present and future.

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TechTV: What do you see as wrong about the ways that we program computers today?

Minsky: First, they don't have common sense. So some of us are working toward building huge bases of common sense and knowledge.


You can pull with a string, not push.
People go indoors when it rains.
Things fall if not supported.
It annoys people to interrupt them.
No one else hears what you think.
It's hard to hear in a noisy place.


Second, our programs are not yet "resourceful" enough, because of how each program uses only one method. That's why we're designing a new architecture in which a program has more knowledge about different ways to approach different kinds of problems.

The idea is that each particular "Way to Think" can get stuck. But if you recognize what went wrong, then you may know how to change your approach.

TechTV: How far away are replacement brains and body parts with nanotech?

Minsky: It's hard to tell how far away that is, but we can expect rapid progress on some kinds of problems, while others will turn out to be much more difficult.

And for our brains, I think that eventually it will be better for us to download their contents into our new, more easily maintained supercomputers!

TechTV: What kinds of robots will we have 25 years from now?

Minsky: It's hard to predict this because we don't know (1) how many people will work on this, and (2) how many of them aim their research toward what later turns out to be the right track. In fact, if we had made better choices 25 years ago, then we'd have those robots now!

In particular, I don't like the design of any of our present-day robot bodies. I think we would get much more from them if their bodies were more like this (assuming that they're more intelligent).



Read Minsky's book in progress

Minsky: I am still finishing and editing my book "The Emotion Machine," so I would appreciate any comments and criticisms.

Click the following links to read a draft of "The Emotion Machine."

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