this curious life

While many Americans were finalizing preparations for Thanksgiving on Nov. 21, the U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter signed a new policy directive aimed at reducing the risk and “consequences of failures in autonomous and semi-autonomous weapon systems that could lead to unintended engagements.” In other words, the Pentagon was making sure that the U.S. military doesn’t end up in a situation where robots are able to decide whether to pull the trigger on a human.

In an attempt to head that future off, Terminator-like, Cambridge University has announced it’s setting up a center next year devoted to the study of technology and “existential risk” — the threat that advances in artificial intelligence, biotechnology and other fields could pose to mankind’s very existence.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/11/29/rise-of-the-machines-cambridge-university-to-study-technologys-existential-risk-to-mankind/#ixzz2Ddt8C5H2