Do you think our technology can support a lifeform like KITT

[jup]

Technically possible? Do tell. Flying cars/platforms have only been under serious development since the late 50s. Even now, the flying car concept is still very iffy...

...I really hope you don't buy the "free energy" myths, even though there are some energy sources that are nearly free. There is no such thing as true free energy, though. No single energy solution exists.

DK

Check out this link on some of Nikola Tesla's history:

http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_hifreq.html

I short cutted to the pages about his theory on using RF to transmit high voltage through the air. Had he been able to achive this great electricity grid, it would have been as impossible to charge people for using it as it is to stop people from recieving radio and TV reception.

As a bonus patent fact, Tesla filed a patent for a commercial flying car in the early 20's. But, he never found the funding to attempt building it. It's talked about a few pages beyond the link I provided above.

Besides, in one of the early Bond films, the bad people make an escape in a flying car. (Basically, they drove a car into a barn and converted it by attaching a plane frame to the car. (Had wings, a tail and a propeller engine. Probably some cables to operate the plane basics.) Then, they taxied out the side and took flight to get away from James.)

[Darknight]

I've long been aware of Tesla's genious, and his many inventions, but he never came up with a true free energy scheme. No one has. His high voltage wireless transmission idea would help take care of the administration of energy, but it does not generate electricity. Besides that, it's just an idea that sounds good. Few have researched the adverse effects that such a system would bring about. (I'm thinking of interference into virtually every electrical device, including cell phones, not to mention the possibility for higher cancer rates. On top of that, what if certain antannaes or well grounded metal structures began to draw current from this source. You could have hundreds of buildings being struck by artificial lightning each day, with a release of energy similar to his death ray device, which, as you know, is quite destructive. Being a fairly tall individual, I'd sure hate to have to walk hunched over all the time just from constant fear of being struck by artificial lightning. Imagine what it would do to the golfing industry!)

Many of Tesla's ideas were very good, but some people (and scientists) exaggerate their worth far beyond truth.

Relating to the flying car patent...you can get a patent on almost anything. Tesla had the idea, but again, he could not make it feasible. The technology just didn't exist. He couldn't get enough power and flight stability to make his idea reality.

Ideas are great, but they're even better when you can make them work.

DK

[Crusing]

Look I am not trying to crush anyones dreams of Kitt being a reality one of these days. I find the idea excellent but there will be issues.

If there are people out there willing to make it happen they should ask themselves "What are we realy getting into"?

What happens if there is some flaw in Kitts programing and something like what happened in the movie Terminator happens. I hope if Kitt is a reality there will be some measures taken to ensure this type of thing never happens whether it is a programing flaw or just someone trying to use Kitt for there own evil purpose.

Kitt in the future sounds promising before we attempt anything we should realy try to understand what we are doing.

[jup]

As long as those potentially dangerous machines have something that most of our electrical devices have, I think we're pretty safe.

I'm referring to the common cord with a plug that goes in a wall outlet. If the AI machine goes dangerous, just pull the plug and say good night. Else, a circuit breaker in easy reach will do just fine.

In KITT's case, there were auto fuses. (Never mind the fact that they had security tasers on them.)

[Cuda426440]

I watched a report on TV a couple times ago about a project that the Honda company is working on. Curiously they call it a projet of an "intelligent car". For the moment, I think this project is focused only for driving aids.

For example, there is a kind of camera linked to a computer that "scans" a certain distance in front of the car. And when there is a car too close of your car, the system automatically slows down your car to keep a safe gap between the two.

Also, there are cameras on both left and right sides of the car. Also linked to a computer, these cameras read the road by "looking at" the painted lines on the ground. And, the computer will have an effect on the steering wheel by calculating the best way to keep the car in the middle of the way.

Unfortunately, when it comes time to talk about the car driving by itself, the tests that Honda made weren't very conclusive.

To me, it's a start and it's a little step forward. But I won't see it on the road tomorrow, nor the next week, nor...

[Rockatteer]

If there are people out there willing to make it happen they should ask themselves "What are we realy getting into"?

What happens if there is some flaw in Kitts programing and something like what happened in the movie Terminator happens. I hope if Kitt is a reality there will be some measures taken to ensure this type of thing never happens whether it is a programing flaw or just someone trying to use Kitt for there own evil purpose.

I reminded of the line from Jurassic Park where the chaos guys says...

"Your scientist where so busy seeing if the COULD do it... they never stoped to ask if they SHOULD do it"

I think the same sort of care needs to be used here.

[jup]

For example, there is a kind of camera linked to a computer that "scans" a certain distance in front of the car. And when there is a car too close of your car, the system automatically slows down your car to keep a safe gap between the two.

That's been around since the '70s. (Maybe, even the '60s.) Only, instead of using computers, it was radar based.

Also, there are cameras on both left and right sides of the car. Also linked to a computer, these cameras read the road by "looking at" the painted lines on the ground. And, the computer will have an effect on the steering wheel by calculating the best way to keep the car in the middle of the way.

The scary thing is that Honda isn't the only one to think of using road lines to navigate the car by. Problem is, when the lines go away or (in the case of the first lane on a freeway) an off-ramp goes by, this calculated navigation system goes a little nuts. Because, a logical "thinking" computer likes the logic of solid lines to calculate by. But, when that real world logic goes away, the computer just can't cope.

Unfortunately, when it comes time to talk about the car driving by itself, the tests that Honda made weren't very conclusive.

I wonder if that robot thing that Honda was advertising (got me why) had anything to do with this autopilot testing?

[Darknight]

Asimo is the bomb! When I first saw him on TV I about flipped out. It was awesome.

For automated cars, they need to take baby steps toward making cars more automated. For example, instead of simply locking onto the road markings, they should be able to also read the road surface composition, and make adjustments accordingly. Along with that, they need to make them able to recognize road signs and/or traffic lights, and so on. We're still a long way from complete automation of our cars, but our technology is good enough to allow some more significant advancements.

DK

[Army_F_Body]

I reminded of the line from Jurassic Park where the chaos guys says...

"Your scientist where so busy seeing if the COULD do it... they never stoped to ask if they SHOULD do it"

I think the same sort of care needs to be used here.

I agree. I rember reading somewhere that when we achieve AI it will be a totally different form of life the likes of which we've never encountered due to it's rapid evolutionary scale. Computers advance faster than organic life. It's form of logic and reasoning would become totally alien to our own. That personally scares me. The odds of accidentally creating a Karr instead of a Kitt would go up drastically. Who knows the Terminator analogy mentioned elsewhere in this thread could be true! I hope we will have a fuse in reach

[reddkryten]

I was just thinking, computers have trouble cars because it is not compleatly logical, well what about useing an analog system like Mark Tilden.

I was reading The Bicentineal Man and on the back cover it said something like, they tried programing the three laws of robotics into a computer in the 70's and they got strange results, anyone know what it was?

[jup]

I was reading The Bicentineal Man and on the back cover it said something like, they tried programing the three laws of robotics into a computer in the 70's and they got strange results, anyone know what it was?

I've never heard about that one. But, I can imagine the problems could come from trying to teach the computer just what a Human really is. Because, the data concerning what qualifies as Human is nowhere near as consistant as Pi.

It's the same problem I saw in having KITT identify what life was in order to not harm it. It almost requires an understanding that can not be calculated.

[reddkryten]

Couldn't K.I.T.T. use heat sensors to tell if something is human or not.

[knightimmortal]

KITT would need a whole lot more than heat sensors to tell if something is human. If he went just by his heat sensors alone, he wouldn't be able to tell if it was a human, or just a very warm rock.

There are programming languages even today that allow you to put in criteria for monitoring something, including heat, respiration, cardiopulmonary activity, several different items all mixed into one to determine if something is alive/human or Rock.

KI

[reddkryten]

How far away can the sensors be, do they have to be right next to a person or can they be quite a distance away.

[knightimmortal]

Sorry it has taken me a bit to reply. It depends on the sensor for the distance, but they already do exist, just not in tandem with other items.

KI

[reddkryten]

thanks for that info.