This article is written specifically for Habr – the most advanced audience of techies in the Russian-speaking internet.
The sketch's author is artist-illustrator Yu.M. Pak.
It seems unnecessary for a science fiction writer to seek the help of a scientific consultant while working on a book. After all, paper can handle anything. Need a cyborg girl? No problem! What's currently trending? A sexy appearance? Easy! Comparable to human physical strength? Sure! Oh, and let's not forget a couple of gadgets like a super-powerful laser built into the eyeballs (for some reason!) and X-ray vision. And off we go...
We took a different approach. We tried to create an android on the pages of the novel that respects the laws of physics, using technologies of today or tomorrow. The goal of this article is to gather your opinions, hear reasoned criticism, and perhaps involve you in the further development of the android, which will come to life in 2023 in Dubna, at one of the laboratories of the powerful CYBRG corporation. To be honest, we set ourselves a challenging task – to make the novel "The Age of Aquarius" a kind of "fusion of lyrics and physics," and for this fusion to be strong enough, we need your help! Everyone interested in this introduction, welcome under the cut.
It so happens that the pseudo-scientific fiction that currently fills the shelves of bookstores and movie screens has never compared in our opinion to the works of Steven Hawking, which, on one hand, remain largely fantastic hypotheses, and on the other, have a well-reasoned scientific foundation.
It is precisely such works that truly captivate the imagination and provide food for thought, guiding it toward the frontiers of the unknown, rather than toward a banal happy ending, where that same sexy cyborg, having incinerated all her enemies by the last page, finds happiness in the arms of a man made of flesh and blood who is endlessly in love with her. By the way, if anyone liked the painting below, it is taken from )
In our view, science fiction is not just a fairy tale for adults. It is a vector that defines the direction of technological progress. The following article is a brief overview of existing attempts to create humanoid robots and an attempt to understand whether everything is ready for the appearance of the android described in .
For those in the know—welcome to Moscow in 2023, where chip implantation is no longer a topic for discussion but a social norm; where a global corporation controls everything from your finances to the electronic lock on your apartment door; where artificial intelligence takes on human form, and the impending struggle for power threatens to turn the closest friends into deadly enemies. With the lyrical part done, let's return to reflections on robotics and artificial intelligence.
And now the floor is given to , who made invaluable contributions to the writing of the novel by providing extensive technical consultations.
Hello everyone!
How feasible is the creation of an android indistinguishable from a human in the near future? Let's assume we have to design this device. And let’s say there are unlimited resources and access to the most advanced technologies. We will outline the minimum list of systems that need to be developed:
1. A locomotor system (artificial bones, joints, ligaments, and muscles, sensors for spatial position control of body parts).
2. Realistic artificial skin with built-in pressure and temperature sensors.
3. A power source (we need to calculate the principle of operation and the output power).
4. Sensors to gather information about the surrounding world (organs of sight, hearing, touch, and smell).
5. A communication system, namely a device for articulate speech. We'll also include a 5G transceiver and something like a WiFi and Bluetooth LE interface (heh, the cyborg could have something like a built-in smartphone, which would be very useful for the cyborg's owner).
6. A nervous system (evidently, this would be wiring for energy transfer to artificial muscles, and for signal transmission from sensors).
7. A brain consisting of several subsystems.
The brain is the most enigmatic organ in this whole story. No one really knows how it works, but it seems like . However, the artificial brain will likely need to be represented by several subsystems.
The first is a heavily truncated limbic system (which manages movement, balance, spatial orientation, and regulates nutrition and thermoregulation).
The second involves obtaining and processing information about the surrounding world (most of which will likely need to be dedicated to the visual analyzer). This part should also include an auditory analyzer, a gas analyzer for a reasonably limited set of chemical compounds, and a subsystem for analyzing tactile and temperature sensors.
The third is the most mysterious part, defining the cyborg's personality. This includes memory and learning experience, judgment, desires, instincts for self-preservation, feelings, and the analysis of one's own emotions and social interactions. In our novel, we invented a currently non-existent organic cultivated substrate with a vast number of neurons. These neurons have somehow agreed among themselves and suddenly began to form some kind of individual.)
The fourth is a built-in smartphone with a direct several gigahertz bus connected to the third part of the brain. It's hard to imagine an individual today existing separately from a smartphone. So why not equip our artificial individual with a built-in smartphone with a direct bus to its large hemispheres?)
Well, that's about it. If anything has been forgotten, feel free to write in the comments.
Creating a maximally realistic android is quite a labor-intensive task. Let's assume that several dozen highly qualified specialists in the relevant fields are working on each of the aforementioned systems. Plus, subcontractors are needed to manufacture composite bones, for example, polymers for artificial skin, etc. The cost of such a project will likely be comparable to creating a new automotive platform and will run into several billion dollars.
We are unaware of anyone in the real (not fictional) world attempting to tackle such a task. But if we are mistaken and similar projects exist, we would greatly appreciate your comments.
At the same time, there are significant advancements in creating robots with one or more of the mentioned systems. I believe everyone is already familiar with the robot Sophia from Hanson Robotics. The developers are trying to equip her with outstanding (in the world of robots) communicative skills. By the way, last year with a wealth of photographic content on this topic.
Also well-known are with their advanced locomotor system, and their developers have quite controversial ethical relationships with their robots.)
There is an interesting example of an acting robot. It is based on the German playwright Thomas Melle and reads a lecture inspired by a book written by Thomas Melle himself. A couple of years ago, he suffered from bipolar disorder and poured all his feelings onto paper, writing a bestseller. However, the main goal here is not to replace a person, but rather to highlight the distinction between a natural and an artificial person. For that, wires are demonstratively protruding from the "writer's" head. In the video provided at , one can see the process of creating such a robot.
Recently, there was a buzz on the internet , possessing quite impressive fine motor skills. It can even thread a needle (to be honest, the needle for this demonstration has a pretty large eye). The video contains brief technical specifications of the device. I was a bit struck by the fact that the maximum weight the robot's arm can lift does not exceed 1.5 kg. This means that if you were to build a realistic android female on such a platform, she wouldn’t lift anything heavier than a clutch.)
The advancements in certain areas of android construction are impressive. However, don't expect to encounter an android resembling a human on the street in the next five years. But in a science fiction novel — why not? )
If the audience shows interest in the topic of android construction, and floods us with links to more advanced examples of technologies or specific implementations of androids, we would be happy to continue this subject.
That's all for now. Thank you very much for your attention, and have a great day!
Source: habr.com
