To take technology to where it shouldn't go... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2019, 04:54:49 am
content: All of us are here on this forum because we like technology, but I think this is taking technology too far...Article from JapanToday, August 27, 2019: "Nissan develops golf ball that automatically finds the hole every time""As the four-year-old in the video demonstrates, no matter where and how someone putts the ball on the green, it will automatically take control of its own course and go into the hole. What a time to be alive!When Nissan unveiled the ProPilot Golf Ball on Aug 22, it piqued the interest of many......."To see the video of the ball in action...Link to full article here:https://japantoday.com/category/tech/nissan-develops-golf-ball-that-automatically-finds-the-hole-every-timeWhat's the fun in that! Golf just became boring...

author: Black Phoenix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2019, 04:59:45 am
content: I don't believe that they produced that as a way to kill the sport called golf.But this proof of concept could be used in a lot of different things.Plus I'm not seeing the International Golf Association to authorize players to use that balls instead of the common "dumb" ones in their championships.

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2019, 05:26:12 am
content: Quote from: Black Phoenix on August 28, 2019, 04:59:45 amChasing hand grenade ?

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2019, 07:12:24 pm
content: Quote from: Black Phoenix on August 28, 2019, 04:59:45 amSo in2013, Sphero already shown mechanism in moving a (tennis ball sized) ball following externally transmitted instruction. I might have given Nissan a bit more credit if the whole thing is self-contained, but thegolf ball uses external camera and externally uploads the route to the ball.The most you can say about it is, Nissan shrunk the ball a bit more and replaced the human+smartphone navigation with some external automated route evaluation and then upload navigation to the ball. But navigation is well established technology - from car-gps to robo vacuum cleaner to cruse missiles.So, moving ball is existing technology, routing is existing technology... Apart from showing it being use for cheating (or improving a game, if you like), I am not sure what concept they are proofing or how this really demonstrate driver-assist capability for their cars in anyadvancedway.Below are quotes from the linked article, I added bold/underlined to support my assertion in my earlier paragraph:----- BEGIN QUOTE --"... ... ...“They ripped off Sphero.”Sphero is a similar high-tech moving ball developed years agoby an American company of the same name. In the following promotional video, a Sphero can also be seen finding its way into the cup of a golf course.... [RL note: Sphero demo was 2013]However,Sphero is steered by the user via smartphone. The ProPilotGolf Ball, on the other hand, drives itself. It simply needs to be told to go into the hole, then anexternal camera locates its position on the green anda route to the hole is constantly updated and uploaded to the ball wirelessly.Then all it needs to do is drive itself according to the uploaded directions until it reaches its destination.While its applications for cheating are indeed wonderful, the realreason for this invention is to demonstrate Nissan’s ProPilot 2.0 driver support technology. Included in the upcoming line of Skyline cars, ProPilot 2.0 uses the same system to help drivers reach their destinations using map data, cameras, and radar to navigate both roads and traffic.... ..."----- END QUOTE --

author: shakalnokturn
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 01:28:28 am
content: Another case of taking technology to unneeded places, this one doesn't find the hole automatically though (not yet).https://www.pentestpartners.com/security-blog/vulnerable-wi-fi-dildo-camera-endoscope-yes-really/Sorry for the NSFW, it is an interesting read.

author: Canis Dirus Leidy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2019, 08:59:23 am
content: Quote from: Rick Law on August 28, 2019, 04:54:49 amHopelessly Automatic Ping-pong Player, let me see you!Quote from: Michael Crichton, "Terminal Man"

author: GlennSprigg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 02:34:06 pm
content: I quite firmly believe that within 50 years, we will have a simple implant in the brain...Think of the time?, or want to do a calculation?... just THINK of it !!!! etc etc...

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 03:21:23 pm
content: Quote from: GlennSprigg on August 31, 2019, 02:34:06 pmYeah, I've heard that so many times.If it ever happens, you have to consider who exactly is going to be the "we".Given the projected cost of an implantable device of this kind, the cost and risks of the surgery and all medical care needed after that, the "we" will certainly never be EVERYONE.You may think the cost itself could plummet as technology progresses - but the cost of such a device is marginally the cost of the parts themselves. It's all the regulatory stuff it has to go through, and I highly doubt THIS is going to get any lighter.And then, even so, the revolution would have NOT to be about the implant itself but a MAJOR breakthrough in medicine and surgical procedures, because currently brain surgery is risky and costs a fortune.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 06:09:25 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on August 31, 2019, 03:21:23 pmWe're way,waypast that already.Consider a human being. We know, from certain accidents and horrible experiments, that if you take a human baby, and let it grow without any human interaction, what you get is not really a human. This means that a lot of that which makes one human, is embedded in the dynamic interactions with others. Even the boundary of "a person" is difficult to define; you can see this in practice, when a problematic person finds a group/family/pet that stabilizes them, almost turning them into a new person.Now, to be human, is to fing. (That is, "Man" should derive from "manipulators"; "the ones that use their hands to move, change, and modify stuff".)Arguably, even the very first proto-human tools that were made, used, but then immediately discarded, were extensions of those people. (Many argue that we should not grant that status totechnology, only toartandreligion, but I fail to see the difference or reason to do so.)Religion. Fire. Weapons. Domesticated animals. Agriculture. Writing. Telegraph. Telephone. Television. Internet. These all have fundamentally changed the interactions between people, and therefore, what makes one human.Direct mind-machine interfacing ishard; not as hard as AI, but close.Neuroneinterfaces are much easier (audio/visual implants, motor interfaces), but then again, if you just want a machine that whispers you answers that nobody else can hear when you subvocalize a question, you don't need a brain implant for that: a transducer in your jawbone, and a few electrodes in your neck, and a portable computer suffices. (You probably could do that today, if you had a few million to spend.)I suspect that we'll see mind-to-mind interfaces before we have self-aware or self-evolving AI. Of course, before that, we'll probably have implants that provide azapto our pleasure centers when we do our masters bidding.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 07:20:32 pm
content: maybe it could be used to design better more fun golf courses that require skill rather then downright frustrating luck based ones? there is lots of cool ideas with hazard distribution and stuff but i bet alot of it is hard to designthen again I don't give a shit because this is a rich mans sport

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2019, 07:40:40 pm
content: Quote from: BravoV on August 28, 2019, 05:26:12 amfrom C&C3 Tiberium wars'The grenades themselves have miniature rocket engines embedded within them and minimal AI guidance, allowing them to reach enemies in remote locations with deadly precision. This gives grenadiers the ability to clear garrisoned buildings without destroying the structure itself. "

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2019, 06:08:37 am
content: Quote from: shakalnokturn on August 30, 2019, 01:28:28 amI one down you, who even needs electricity?https://www.dezeen.com/2015/10/22/bastiaan-buijs-grandfather-clock-wind-up-sex-toy-dildo-vibrator-hand-blown-glass-dutch-design-week-2015/It'sGLASSwithSPINNING GEARSinside!

author: shakalnokturn
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2019, 04:17:13 pm
content: That's taking steam-punk technology where it shouldn't go.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2019, 05:29:46 pm
content: I think it sounds like a neat tech demo and proof of concept. Obviously the intent is not to introduce hole-seeking golf balls into the game of golf. I'm sure such tech will find practical applications eventually, for now golf is just a fun way to show it off.Even more fun would be a ball that no matter how well aimed, avoids the hole. Slipping that in mid-game sounds like a hilarious way to mess with a cocky golf buddy.

author: GlennSprigg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2019, 12:04:57 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on August 31, 2019, 03:21:23 pmDear Sir.... What do you think happened when the 1st Fax machine was invented?? Wasn't believed.Yet now it is literally ancient technology. WHO later in the 1990's would have believed that later, wewould have today's 'Smart-Phones', with global phone/internet/data/video/multimedia unlimited access ??Medicine has advanced from using 'Leeches', to probes in the groin implanting things into the brain, whichis almost 2nd nature now?? If you think another 50 years is going to produce nothing, then you are mostcertainly in denial. Do we 'understand' it today??... Probably not. Will it happen??? YES !!!