The Anthrobotics Cluster at the University of Edinburgh / The CRAG – Creation of Reality Group Aram Vartanian MAN-MACHINE FROM MACHINE TO THE COMPUTER (in P. Weiner ed., Dictionary of the History of Ideas, vol. 3. New York: Scribner, 1973) The man-machine idea occupies a strategic and fateful position at the confluence of several disciplines […]
Category Archives: Pop culture
Using Stories to Teach Human Values to Artificial Agents
Using Stories to Teach Human Values to Artificial Agents Mark O. Riedl and Brent Harrison School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, Georgia, USA Abstract Value alignment is a property of an intelligent agent indicating that it can only pursue goals that are beneficial to humans. Successful value alignment should ensure that an […]
The Anthrobotics Cluster
‘The distinction between us and robots is going to disappear.’ Rodney Brooks, Robot: The Future of Flesh and Machines, 2002. The Crag – Creation of Reality Group, directed by Luis de Miranda – is co-developing The Anthrobotics Interdisciplinary Network at the University of Edinburgh along with the school of informatics, with Ram Ramamoorthy and Michael […]
Physicists in England claim they have discovered how to create matter from light
Physicists in England claim they have discovered how to create matter from light, by smashing together individual massless photons– a feat that was first theorized back in 1934, and has been considered practically impossible until now. If this new discovery pans out, the final piece of the physics jigsaw puzzle that describes how light and […]
Alone together: why we expect more from technology and less from each other
As we expect more from technology, do we expect less from each other? Sherry Turkle studies how our devices and online personas are redefining human connection and communication — and asks us to think deeply about the new kinds of connection we want to have.
‘We believe’ – but who are we? Margaret Archer on the Relational Subject
‘We believe’ – but who are we? Margaret Archer on the Relational Subject A video proposed by The Sociological Imagination and the Committee on Social Theory Margaret Archer by herself: ‘My theoretical work over the last twenty-five years has been devoted to the problem of structure and agency. Related to this is the problem of […]
Anthropologist, film and creation of reality
I read a few chapters of this text when writing the profile of the project; now that I’ve read the book in full, what I admire about it is that it’s in many ways a philosophical ethnography of creative labor: a consideration of the role of art in how we look at things and reproduce […]
Absolute Value Crag Survey 2015
Some values influence your choices more than others. They shape your actions, your future, and to a certain extent the future of human societies. Do you know what is your most important value? Is there an absolute value that governs you, for better or worse? We invite you to take 2 minutes to answer this […]
Could a Computer Create its Own Representations?, a Crag Talk by Alan Bundy
Could a Computer Create its Own Representations? Alan Bundy School of Informatics University of Edinburgh Keynote talk at the CRAG INTERNATIONAL CONFLUENCE Saturday 5 December 9.30 am Project Room 50 George Square Artificial Intelligence systems need to maintain a representation of their environment so that they can interpret sensory information and plan actions. This is […]