Future Education Advise: Computer Science and Humans

[Superskull85]

Hi,

I am currently registered in the Computer Science program at McMaster University, located in Hamilton Ontario. I was advised to go into the Computer Science program by a professor at McMaster during their summer orientation (I forget the name of the professor). Through most of my high school career I have been interested mainly with the software side of computers. I have written personal programs that demonstrate any new ideas I have come up with and/or any topics I have read about.

During high school I was also interested in music, and at the time, wanted to see if I could merge my interests. I found some ways I could do that, but I was more interested in software than music so I enrolled myself in a Computer Science program. I am still interested in music, but now I have come to realize that I would enjoy it more if I did it as a hobby.

Anyways, shortly after entering first year at McMaster began thinking about how computers could one day operate almost identically to humans. When I think about how this could be done I automatically think of the "android" or "cyborg" structure (a lot of my inspiration for this kind of thinking comes from science fiction shows like Star Trek and Star Gate). Although I know that this kind of computer is not too practical at this time, I would like to know more about this topic.

I have contacted some professors at McMaster to see if they could help me get a better understanding concerning this topic. However, I was wondering what other students, who may be studying similar topics, think I should focus on for my future education. Would there be any mix of major/minor degrees that would allow me to study this topic?

I want to continue with Computer Science, but if possible I would also like to learn more about how computers could one day become humans. What should I do?

[jbking]

How much Googling around this topic have you done? I'm just wondering as there are a couple of different routes that come to mind:

Actroid seems close to what you mean I believe in terms of robots with human characteristics.

The Turing Test though is another interpretation of what you mean in terms of interactions between humans and computers.

[gvc]

"Become humans" is a tall order, but Steven Hawking argues that it is entirely reasonable to assume that computers will eventually be able to acquire their own energy and replicate themselves. Does that make them "life form," in Star Trek vernacular?

[Superskull85]

I have looked into android projects such as the ASIMO and the Actroid. They do interest me, and they follow along with my interest in trying to make computers more human-like, but would I be able to work towards those kind of projects, while also focusing on Computer Science?

As computers start to think for themselves, become aware of the world around and start to reproduce, we will have to rethink our definition for "life form." So I do think computers will one day become life forms themselves, and this exactly what I wish to work towards.

[jbking]

Superskull85 @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 2:52 pm wrote:

I have looked into android projects such as the ASIMO and the Actroid. They do interest me, and they follow along with my interest in trying to make computers more human-like, but would I be able to work towards those kind of projects, while also focusing on Computer Science?

I would think it may depend a bit on the school in terms of what similar courses they offer and what research projects into these areas do they have. I'll admit that that may be a bit of a non-answer but it is the best that I can give at the moment.

[Superskull85]

The professor I asked told me that the University of Toronto has a lot of AI people. So I may look into switching universities.

I haven't had too much time to look into humanoid robots like Honda's ASIMO, and Tyota's Partner, but the videos I saw on YouTube concerning these projects were really interesting.

Anyways thank for trying to help me out.

[btiffin]

old guy

Where are they at now with robots? Insect intelligence? Most of the dancing robots are following set patterns with small abilities to adjust to the environment (by reaction usually, and then best guess trial and error)?

But (and I could well be), if I'm not mistaken, only very basic AI artificial insect intelligence can be achieved with free roaming anthropomorphic artificial life forms. No?

Haven't really followed robotics since the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HERO_(robot)

So Superskull85, computer science can definitely keep you in the field you seem passionate about. (Only a quick off top of head comment) take a class in philosophy and see if you can't get past or around the current binary logic limiter of most hardware systems. imho, on off cannot describe the human condition. It's going to take a synergy of comp-sci and sci-fi magic as yet uncovered to give life to machines. Definitely a worthy pursuit.

Cheers

[Superskull85]

Well from my limited knowledge so far, I can probably say that the AI used in robotics today has gone beyond the "artificial insect intelligence."

I have read/seen videos of experiments where Honda's ASIMO was able to learn the names of objects that were presented to him/it. Much like how an infant first begins to learn in their early stages.

Initially the infant would have very little knowledge of the world around it, and really only have the "OS" embedded into their makeup. They would than either condition themselves to do, or not to do, an action and/or learn what objects are from their parents. This is much like how the ASIMO I saw responded to input from other humans; the ASIMO was able to move, see, hear and touch to a limited degree. The ASIMO would try to interpret the object using any knowledge it had learned, and if it had gotten the name wrong, ASIMO's "parents" would tell him/it what the object actually was. However, the ASIMO had preprogrammed language, unlike the infant.

You could argue that the ASIMO simply stored a picture of the object and matched it with a name. You would probably be correct in saying this, but in the most simplistic way, isn't this what we, humans, do as well?

I found a paper that talks about how we would need "a new research are that fuses engineering and science" if we wanted to study humans behavior when communicating with androids. I don't think I understand the paper that well, but I think it would be interesting to be apart of that kind of research area. You can find the paper here:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/pmc/articles/PMC2577602

Side note. Tyota's Partner robot can play the Trumpet and the Violin with almost complete accuracy, and Honda's ASIMO conducted a symphony orchestra. It would be interesting to see if these robots would be able to learn a piece of music by reading notes written on a page, and maybe, with the help a well designed algorithm, simulate emotion within their music.