Robots are trying to kill us all!
Well, not yet. But it sure seems likely we will have to fend for ourselves in the very near future. If Elon Musk or Bill Gates haven’t scared you into recognizing that a terminator reality is right around the corner, here are some recent stories that seem to be steering us closer to that reality:
A Woman Was Slowly Eaten by Her Roomba
This is a good headline and probably better TV than that ‘eaten by a snake show’ on Discovery Channel. It appears these Roomba’s have learned to like the taste of human hair and attacked this poor lady while she slept. Thankfully, we can foil these attempts with stairs or loose cables…or simply not sleeping on the ground. But it’s only a matter of time before the Roomba’s figure this out.
Robots Want to Make Balloon Animals for You
This sounds harmless enough, but think of the kids who have no idea this balloon-bending bot is luring them into a false sense of security. Just like actual clowns, they always sound nice but are just hiding their true darkness under their creepy painted faces.
Google Thinks You Should Take Your Aggression Out on a Robot Dog
The newest addition to the robot family now features indoor-friendly electronic operation and is already being kicked around by its creators. And, of course, this path of building and abusing robots will only end in the demise of the owners. Every time I see one of these I imagine what would happen if they were let loose into some unsuspecting community. Heck, who knows? Maybe this is already happening somewhere
The U.S. Government Hacked a Car and Turned the Brakes Off
As we head more toward a completely automated car future, our sacred controls will be handed off to a robot who should be a better driver than us. But what happens when these controls can be compromised like our email accounts? First, it was pointed out that a listening device like OnStar could be monitored by the government. Now, it seems like the car can also be controlled by Uncle Sam’s favorite hackers. Someone has to put the brakes on this before we literally can’t put the brakes on.
Your TV is Snooping on You
It’s now possible to speak voice commands to your remote control and find that episode of Desperate Housewives you missed last night. What you don’t know is these voice commands are also being stored on some server and it’s presumable that any private conversation could be descrambled by a third party. You can forget about yelling at your TV ever again because it could soon be a recorded offense. Maybe it’s time to go back to the dumb TV? At least it never told anyone what you said.
Robots are Scary…but Also Fun
While these stories are all scary, it’s going to be a while before the Terminator comes knocking at your front door. This still hasn’t stopped the Sarah and John Connor’s of the world from making their own robots though.
And that’s because making robots is fun…and easy.
Don’t believe me? Just do a search for “robot” on Newegg and tell me what you find!
What’s your favorite scary story?
