An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles

Once, in drunkenly discussing the possibility of a global robot takeover, one of my wittiest friends said something like this:

“When it happens, some expert will go on TV and say ‘We never saw this coming!’ The hell we didn’t. There’s been sci-fi about conscious robots revolting against their human captors since long before the first real robot was even built. Since we assumed they’d roll over us with their giant wheels as the code on homemade punchcards flashing through their vacuum tubes.”

And now some assholes at Ga Tech are experimenting with teaching robots how to lie, when to lie, and how to cover their tracks, in a rudimentary way. Let me say now: we knew in advance this was a terrible idea. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

(h/t to Boing Boing)