Robot Futures

150 Pages·2013·3.459 MB·English

by  Illah Reza Nourbakhsh

Robot Futures

Robot Futures
Illah Reza Nourbakhsh
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2013 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Nourbakhsh, Illah Reza, 1970–
Robot futures / Illah Reza Nourbakhsh.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-262-01862-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Robotics—Popular works. 2. Technological forecasting—Popular
works. 1. Title
TJ211.15.N68 2013
629.892—dc23
2012024598
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Marti, Mitra and Nikou: you illuminate my life.

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Preface xiii
1 New Mediocracy 1
2 Robot Smog 19
3 Dehumanizing Robots 49
4 Attention Dilution Disorder 65
5 Brainspotting 85
6 Which Robot Future? A Way Forward 109
Glossary 121
References 125
Index 131

Acknowledgments
Many people in my life have played critical roles in encourag-
ing me to be inquisitive and providing me with the knowledge
and habits of mind that shaped my intellectual identity. I am
deeply grateful to all of them, although were it not for one par-
ticular mentor, I would never have become a roboticist. Profes-
sor Michael Genesereth at Stanford University introduced me to
artificial intelligence and robotics, then encouraged me to join
his research group. He convinced me to change my plans fol-
lowing college, continue university studies, and enter the PhD
program at Stanford University, and he taught me a form of aca-
demic precision and sharpness in thought, and an appreciation
of societal impact, that transformed me.
My peers, friends, and family have read early versions of this
book and provided invaluable guidance. They have shaped both
the style and the essential content of this work: Mark Bauman,
Nonie Heystek, Steve Ketchpel, Ben Louw, Tom Lauwers, Marti
Louw, Matt Mason, Ofer Matan, Farhad Noorbakhsh, Alex Nor-
bash, P. W. Singer, and Holly Yanco. Not only did Mark Bauman
and P. W. Singer improve this book through their early reviews;
together with Fatemeh Zarghami, my mother, they are my role
x Acknowledgments
models. They set a gold standard for how one educates, commu-
nicates, and informs for positive social change.
Jim DeWolf at the MIT Press has enthusiastically supported
this endeavor, navigating the publication process with patience
and transparency. His efforts, and the willingness of the Press
to publish a work that is critical of technology and its ramifica-
tions, speak volumes about their commitment to express strong
ideas of all flavors to the public.
The life of a robotics professor is mostly consumed with teach-
ing, research, and fundraising—so much so that I cannot imag-
ine normally finding the time and space to properly nurture a
book. Carnegie Mellon University and the Robotics Institute
gave me that time and space by granting a sabbatical, allowing
me to leave my university responsibilities behind and travel to a
distant place. On the other side of that voyage, the University of
the West of England’s Science Communication Unit, led by Pro-
fessor Alan Winfield, welcomed Marti Louw, my wife, and I with
open arms into a dual sabbatical, providing an environment for
research collaboration that was warm and stimulating during
our stay in Bristol. Finally there is the one person who created
the most important space for me to write daily, and who served
as my most regular intellectual peer in evaluating and tuning
the ideas in this book—Marti Louw. Her science communication
expertise and her willingness to take on the societal impact of
robotic technologies have made her the ideal collaborator.
Throughout this book I describe some of my past projects. The
first-person narrative can imply that I invented and built these
new systems singlehandedly, but nothing could be further from
the truth. The CREATE lab’s thirty members—researchers, edu-
cators, administrators, and students—are the real drivers behind
every one of these projects. These individuals have dedication,