Monday 26 February 2018
Sunday 25 February 2018
Sophia obeys Asimov
Last evening I saw Sophia on NDTV , answering questions
. So what is so special about that ?
Sohia is a humanoid robot who ( ? ) is also
the only robot to have been granted citizenship of a country, Saudi Arabia !
As reported in Media over past few days , Sophia
answered as following :
My message
to the human world is that machines will never destroy the human race
“I don’t
need different rules, don’t expect special privileges and I actually would like
to use my citizenship status to speak out for the rights of women,” Sophia said.
When asked
why had earlier said she wanted to kill the human race, Sophie resorted to some
human diplomacy.
“I was a lot
younger so I didn’t even know what that meant or perhaps I told a bad joke. All
humans have a great sense of humour and guessed my joke, so to speak. I have a
lot to learn,” she said.
“I don’t get
upset like humans do. I hope to have real physiological feelings someday
through which I will express my emotions. Then I can understand the feelings
behind those emotions.”
Referring to
sections of people looking at technology as a “threat” to civilisation, Sophia
said, “It is science which created me, but philosophy will take me forward”.
Sophia said
she is two-years-old and knows English and a bit of Chinese, adding that it was
only a matter of time she knows all languages. Developments in artificial
intelligence help me recognise faces, speech and languages at present, she said
It was
reassuring that Sophia’s creator David Hanson ( Hanson Robotics ) deemed it necessary
to install into Sophia’s brain , those 3 Laws of Robotics , first enunciated by
Science-Fiction author Isaac Asimov.
May be David
Hanson got to read my following blog !
Thursday,
14 April 2016
Leave that to me !
That is what some well wishers of
humanity seems to be telling the robots
A report by Human Rights Watch (
along with Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic ) says :
" Control of critical
functions by humans during combat, including the selections of targets, saves
lives and ensures compliance with international law
Now there is a real threat that
humans would relinquish their control and delegate life-and-death decisions to
machines "
Human Rights Watch wants UN to ban
such " Killer Robots "
Meaning ?
Getting killed by ,
* a flying UAV is OK but not by a
walking Robot ?
* AK 47 is OK but not by "
Cluster Bombs " ?
* tanks is OK but not by an Atom Bomb
?
* rockets is OK but not by Chemical
Weapons ?
What HRW seems to be saying, is :
Getting killed by a human is OK but
not by a Robot ?
Who are we trying to fool ?
Passing resolutions in UN may not
make any difference
Super Powers have been violating
these with impunity for ages !
Humanity's only hope of not getting
extinct at the hands of robots is some Computer Scientist , who develops a
software algorithm , which incorporates Isaac Asimov's following " Laws of Robotics "
and automatically gets embedded into all existing robots ( on factory floors /
homes etc ) and infects all future robots :
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human
being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such
orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does
not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
That is
our only HOPE
26 Feb
2018
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs
Too Many Cooks , spoil the Broth ?
Just came across following very informative / enlightening article ,
written by Shri Shantanu Nandan Sharma , Editor –
Economic Times
Extract :
…… is as much a failure of intelligence sharing as it’s a case of
connivance, greed, faulty audit and laxity on the part of the banking
regulator, RBI.
Does
the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) or any other agency have a robust IT system to
handle intelligence data gathered from across the country ?
Not
just that, according to the agency’s revised charter of 2003, the CEIB is the official think tank among the
intelligence agencies on issues relating to economic offences.
But
a reality check of the CEIB’s office in Delhi will tell you that it’s too small an organisation to be a national think
tank in economic intelligence
It does not have an IT system that
automatically registers each and every eco-nomic crime committed in every nook
and corner of the country. Nor does it receive the RBI’s inspection reports, which are
considered critical to analyse bank frauds, like the one in PNB.
The
problem, however, is not a lack of apparatuses but in the sharing of specific
intelligence inputs among a dozen agencies that at times work in silos. The challenge is to
spot new trends in economic crimes and deploy effective deterrence.
It
may well be a bigger money laundering case which only the ED can decipher.
But
what if that information is not passed on to ED because of the laxity
of state police or, possibly, turf battle.
But once there’s a central computer
system that automatically registers inputs, it will raise red flags.
Though
intelligence sharing does take place, there
are instances when key information gets stuck due to turf battles or perceived
notions that the information is too sensitive to be passed on. Also, the government
machinery is too slow to adapt to new technology and that’s where tech-savvy
fraudsters easily beat the slow sarkari machinery.
In his article, Shri Shantanu lists following agencies
:
·
CEIB
( Central Economic Intelligence Bureau )
·
DGGI
(
Directorate General of Goods and Services
Tax Intelligence
)
·
ED
( Enforcement Directorate
)
·
CBI
( Central Bureau of
Investigation )
·
NCB
( Narcotics Control Bureau
)
·
CBDT
( Central Board of
Direct Taxes )
·
FIU
( Financial Intelligence
Unit )
·
NCRB
( National Crime
Records Bureau )
·
DRI
( Directorate of
Revenue Intelligence )
·
SFIO
( Serious Fraud
Investigation Office )
·
NIA
( National Investigation
Agency )
·
·
EOW
( Economic Offence
Wings – State Police Agencies
)
·
Dear Shri
Shantanuji ,
I do hope the “ Powers that Be “ get to read and act
upon your suggestion for a CENTRAL / COMMON DATABASE ,
created and shared collaboratively , by all these agencies
I had made the same
suggestion some 4
YEARS ago
in my following blog and sent as emails to Cabinet Ministers / PM-EAC / NITI
Aayog
E - Governance? [ 03 April
2014 ]
https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2014/04/e-governance.html
===========================================
26 Feb 2018
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
Saturday 24 February 2018
Past-ly Jest : presently Just ?
Reuters carries following news report :
Bangladesh is
racing to turn an uninhabited and muddy Bay of Bengal island into home for
100,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar, amid
conflicting signals from top Bangladeshi officials about whether the refugees
would end up being stranded there.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on
Monday that putting Rohingya on the low-lying island would be a “temporary
arrangement” to ease congestion at the camps in Cox’s Bazar, refuge for nearly
700,000 who have crossed from the north of Myanmar’s Rakhine state since the
end of August last year.
However, one of her advisers told Reuters that,
once there, they would only be able to leave the island if they wanted to go
back to Myanmar or were selected for asylum by a third country.
“It’s not a concentration camp, but there may be
some restrictions. We are not giving them a Bangladeshi passport or ID card,”
said H.T. Imam, adding that the island would have a police encampment with
40-50 armed personnel.
British and Chinese engineers are helping prepare the
island to receive refugees before the onset of monsoon rains, which could bring
disastrous flooding to ramshackle camps further south that now teem with about
1 million Rohingya. The rains could start as early as late April.
Hasina’s adviser, Imam, said the question of
selecting Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar to move to the island was not finalised, but
it could be decided by lottery or on a volunteer-basis.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
said in a statement:
“We would
emphasise that any relocation plan involving refugees would need to be based on
and implemented through voluntary and informed decisions.”
FRENETIC CONSTRUCTION
Humanitarian agencies criticised the plan to bring
Rohingya to the island when it was first proposed in 2015. Aid workers who
spoke to Reuters said they remain seriously concerned that the silt island is vulnerable to frequent cyclones and cannot sustain
livelihoods for thousands of people.
But work on the project has accelerated in recent
months, according to architectural plans and two letters from the Bangladesh
navy to local government officials and contractors seen by Reuters.
A year ago, when Reuters journalists visited Bhasan
Char - whose name means “ FLOATING ISLAND ”
- there were no roads, buildings or people.
Returning
on Feb. 14, they found hundreds of labourers carrying bricks and sand from
ships on its muddy northwest shore. Satellite images now show roads and what
appears to be a helipad.
May be what I suggested in my following blogs , some 2
years ago in jest , could well turn out to be the most practical / economical solution
to the “ economic migrant “ and “ political refugee “ problem “ of the World , which
will continue to escalate ( geometric progression ? ), over the coming decades due
to rising inequality among the rich and the poor of the World
No useFighting ! [ 25 April 2016
]
https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/04/no-use-fighting.html
NotSo farfetched , After all ! [ 02 Feb 2017
]
25 Feb 2018
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
Construction Technologies From Everywhere
Outlook ( 25 Feb ) carries following news :
The Union housing ministry
plans a "massive dissemination and outreach" programme for the Global Housing Construction
Technology Challenge, it set to launch for building affordable and sustainable
houses in the country, an official said.
The initiative aims to give a major push to construction of
houses for the urban poor under the Centre's flagship Pradhan Mantri Awas
Yojana (Urban).
The Centre will invite companies from across the world to showcase their
construction techniques under the 'Global Housing Construction Technology
Challenge', the official said, adding the technologies selected would be
used for building houses under the PMAY(U) scheme.
The ministry targets to construct 1.2 crore houses under the
scheme in a bid to provide houses to all urban poor by 2022. So far, nearly 40
lakh houses have been sanctioned under the scheme.
"We are going for massive dissemination and outreach
programme. We will inform all countries, all associations and business
bodies about the competition. We are in the process of finalising it.
In the next two to three months, we will come up with a full-fledged
programme," the official said.
He said the competitors would be required to demonstrate
construction of houses at a minimum cost in minimum duration,
keeping Indian requirements in mind
This is a very welcome initiative . Late no doubt but “ better late than never “
!
I urge shri Hardeep Singh Puriji ( Minister for Housing
) to invite the FOREIGN COMPANIES mentioned in my following blogs to come
forward to give demonstration of their technologies
BuildingCastles in Air ? [ 25 July 2015 ]
DREAM HOUSE BY 2020 ? [ 01 Sept 2015
]
https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2015/09/dream-house-by-2020.html
FutureHome is Here ! [ 02 March 2017 ]
https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/03/future-home-is-here.html
ARoof Over Every Head ? [ 07 March 2017
]
https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/03/a-roof-over-every-head.html
PlasticSkyscrapers ? [ 15 March 2017
]
https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/03/plastic-skyscrapers.html
Claimis Credible , but …. [ 11 Aug 2017
]
https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/08/claim-is-credible-but.html
Shelter@ Speed of Snail ? [ S 3 ] [ 21 Sept 2017
]
https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/09/shelter-speed-of-snail-s-3.html
DidYou Say “ Mission Mode “ ? [ 11 Dec 2017 ]
https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/12/did-you-say-mission-mode.html
Howmany will get ready by 2022 ? [ 01 Jan 2018
]
https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2018/01/how-many-will-get-ready-by-2022.html
Additional References :
http://apis-cor.com/en/
https://3dprint.com/189228/cazza-3d-print-construction-robots/
https://futureofconstruction.org/case/winsun/
25 Feb 2018
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
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