The Robot Life -- Automation

The Robot Life

THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED IN 2019

Written and Edited, by Josh Alfred *Note, book and my kindle account were taken down for copyright use of the book cover image. What you read here is an abridged version, that just so happened to be saved. All other texts linked to this book have been deleted. (LINKS IN BLUE FOR MORE INFORMATION) Note also that the videos that were used when constructing this blog have mostly been removed. Sorry about that.

Introduction: The Future and History of the Computer

The development of computers and their integration with machines has ushered in what many consider the age of robotics. Since the beginning of the 2020s, advances in computing power, automation, and artificial intelligence have increasingly connected computers to machines capable of performing complex tasks.

Some futurists believe this technological age could persist for centuries and eventually lead to a technological singularity—a hypothetical point at which technological growth becomes so rapid and transformative that humans can no longer predict or fully comprehend the future. While estimates vary widely, some scientists and futurists argue that such a turning point could arrive within the next century, while others believe it may occur within only a few decades.

Throughout the history of computing, predictions about artificial intelligence have often proven overly optimistic. Consider several notable examples:

• 1958 – Herbert A. Simon and Allen Newell: “Within ten years a digital computer will be the world's chess champion,” and “within ten years a digital computer will discover and prove an important new mathematical theorem.”
• 1965 – Herbert A. Simon: “Machines will be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work a man can do.”
• 1967 – Marvin Minsky: “Within a generation ... the problem of creating ‘artificial intelligence’ will substantially be solved.”
• 1970 – Marvin Minsky (Life Magazine): “In from three to eight years we will have a machine with the general intelligence of an average human being.”

Despite these inaccurate predictions, the possibility of machines eventually surpassing human intelligence continues to inspire speculation and debate.

As futurist Gray Scott stated:

“There is no reason and no way that a human mind can keep up with an artificial intelligence machine by 2035.”

The descendants of human engineering—the robots and intelligent machines of today—evolved from simple mechanical calculating devices developed centuries ago.

One of the earliest pioneers was Charles Babbage, an English mathematician, inventor, mechanical engineer, and polymath often referred to as the “father of the computer.” In the early nineteenth century, Babbage conceived the first programmable mechanical computer.

While developing his Difference Engine to assist with navigational calculations, Babbage realized in 1833 that a far more powerful machine was possible. His proposed Analytical Engine would accept both programs and data through punched cards, similar to those used in Jacquard looms. It would feature a printer, a curve plotter, and a bell for output. The design also included memory, an arithmetic logic unit, conditional branching, and loops. In modern terms, the Analytical Engine represented the first design for a general-purpose computer and was theoretically Turing complete.

Babbage's machine was nearly a century ahead of available technology. Because every component had to be manufactured by hand, construction proved extremely difficult for a machine containing thousands of parts. Eventually, the British government ended its financial support, and the project was abandoned. Babbage's inability to complete the machine resulted from a combination of political challenges, financial difficulties, and his continual efforts to improve the design beyond what contemporary manufacturing could support. Nevertheless, his son, Henry Babbage, successfully completed a simplified version of the machine's computing unit, known as the mill, in 1888 and demonstrated its ability to calculate mathematical tables in 1906.

A major milestone occurred in 1941 when Konrad Zuse completed the Z3, the world's first working electromechanical, programmable, fully automatic digital computer.

Programs were entered using punched film, while data could be stored in 64 words of memory or entered through a keyboard. The Z3 introduced several innovations, including the use of floating-point numbers. Unlike Babbage's decimal-based designs, Zuse employed a binary system, making the machine easier to construct and potentially more reliable given the technology available at the time. The Z3 was also Turing complete.

The Manchester Mark 1 soon became the prototype for the Ferranti Mark 1, the world's first commercially available general-purpose computer.

Built by Ferranti, the machine was delivered to the University of Manchester in February 1951. Between 1953 and 1957, at least seven additional systems were installed, including one at Shell Laboratories in Amsterdam.

Another significant development occurred in October 1947 when the directors of the British catering company J. Lyons & Company decided to actively support the commercial development of computers. Their machine, LEO I (Lyons Electronic Office I), became operational in April 1951 and performed what is widely recognized as the world's first routine office computer job.

Digital computers process information using numerical representations of physical quantities. Their primary advantages include versatility, reprogrammability, accuracy, and resistance to outside disturbances. Unlike analog computers, digital systems operate entirely on numbers. Information is converted into numerical values and then represented in binary form using combinations of 0s and 1s. These binary digits perform all calculations and logical operations. Modern computers, laptops, smartphones, and calculators are all examples of digital computers.

The modern field of artificial intelligence received renewed momentum in 1986 with the publication of Parallel Distributed Processing, a two-volume collection of papers edited by David Rumelhart and psychologist James McClelland. This influential work helped unify research in neural networks and inspired new approaches to machine learning. During the 1990s, neural networks achieved commercial success through applications such as optical character recognition and speech recognition systems, laying the foundation for many of the AI technologies used today.

___Rest of introduction compromised. 

Industrial
What are the implementations of robotics? These will be covered in the contents of this article.

By 2025, the global industrial robot market was projected to reach $33.8 billion. To put that into perspective, the market was valued at approximately $12.3 billion in 2016. This represents an increase of about 175 percent over nine years, meaning the market would be nearly three times larger than it was in 2016. (recode.net)

The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) forecast that by 2019, more than 1.4 million new industrial robots would be installed in factories around the world. At the time of the forecast, approximately 70 percent of industrial robots were employed in the automotive, electrical, metal, and machinery industries. (robotiq.com)

Worldwide robot shipments reached approximately 294,000 units in 2016, up from roughly 159,000 units in 2012. (statista.com) This increase of nearly 85 percent over four years demonstrates the rapid growth of industrial automation. While it is reasonable to expect continued growth in robot shipments, the exact rate of future expansion is difficult to predict because it depends on technological advances, economic conditions, and industry adoption. Furthermore, these figures do not account for emerging categories of robots that were still under development.

New generations of robots are capable of performing a much wider variety of tasks than earlier industrial machines. As robots become more versatile, they can be deployed across a broader range of industries and occupations. Their increasing capabilities may significantly expand their economic impact and could lead to the automation of additional types of work discussed later in this book.

Japan has long been a leader in industrial automation. According to Statista, there were 1,562 industrial robots installed for every 10,000 automotive employees in Japan. This represents one of the highest robot-to-worker ratios in the world and highlights Japan's prominent role in the adoption of industrial robotics. (statista.com)

Gathering and Manufacturing–

Robotic Farming – Machines will able to plant and pluck vegetation. It will be able to herd animals, feed animals, and slaughter animals. With visual recognition systems within the robotic programs, when fruits and vegetation is ripe the machine will be able to pluck them. When animals such as pigs and cows are ready for plunder the robots will be able to detect this, and like sheep dogs, but far more articulate, will lead in the farming industry.

The goal of the human engineers and farmers will be to construct farms that are robot accessible. This will emerge a broader field, within which robots can be created and made operational.

A single planter can plant thousands of seeds per hour. Just one hundred of these PLANTERS can increase speed of crop production times 100,000 or even more. PICKERS can also harvest much faster than human hands, with no need for breaks.

There is a promising future for these types of robots in the farming industry. According to engt.com there will also be robots built to kill weeds, WEEDERS.

Mining – Robots with the right maneuvering will be able to visually recognize resources and collect them for later delivery, storage, and manufacturing.

Manufacturing – There is and will be an ever increasing of construction of material products within a business by robots. Using blue prints and mechanisms built by robotics or humans machines can carry out productive ends.

Marketing – These robots will take over the marketing sector of the economy. Among this store featured below there robots that can stock shelves. Find out more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEIUrF7iOXk

Driveless Transportation –



The video in the link below exhibits the possibility of having driverless taxis. If you want to see more of these created by UBER already check out the following link: https://youtu.be/EYh0F_8ZdSU

Buildings -
Jacque Fresco has worked out the possibility of building homes very quickly in manufacturing facilitates. Currently, there are many designs for pre-fabricated homes, and there will be more of this in the future.



Robotic Surgeons – The future of robotic surgery is wide open. Mechanical spider arms can be guided by a doctors hand. This process is called teleoperations. However, a robot surgeon can apply all of its knowledge from previous surgeries into a single surgery. There are only so many directions a robot surgeon would have to take to do a single operation. There is no room for jitters or shakes when a robot is performing surgery.

Robot surgeons will one day save more lives, and increase the overall global longevity of human beings, and benefit animals, even (animal hospitals would be the next to introduce robotics). Their existence is an emerging trend in the western world. Though the surgical systems now may cost more than doctors, that expense will depreciate with time.

In Game AI – Virtual AI has become smarter and smarter, more sensitive to the players actions, more complex in its potential interactions and movements. Making living beings that are artificial within a virtual world will be very probable. We might have virtual creatures that are highly responsive living within a virtual environment, capable of being interacted with, both by human and other AI beings.

Holographic AI – Before too long, maybe in 15-20 years we will replace the television with holographic projection visual systems.

Companions and Pets – With in game AI we will further our pet technology. We already have the game Kinectanimals, that has some display settings you can change, and several intelligent interactions.

AI Teachers – We already have a number of small robots that are capable of reading and using teaching modules. One example is the Einstein bot. Standing less than two feet, this interactive robot could virtually be programmed to teach anything. Funny, to think that even a small robot could be capable of teaching and answering questions from students. They might eventually work in pairs, with supervisors and main teachers.

With the existence of video learning, as well as some of the most up-to-date forms of learning called Intel-paths (a question and answer learning module) we can build knowledge faster than ever, and it becomes as feasible as counting to the cloud.

Net AI – Terrance Mckenna warned the world in one of his most lucid speeches of a superorganism coming into existence via the net, or even larger. He started by proclaiming the fact that the body is made of trillions of cells, yet, is one thing. The Earth to is made of trillions of living beings, and yet is one thing. This may happen with the net, it may become conscious (in theory).

The network is not yet aware. It may include a simple consciousness, no more than visual and audio rendering, but it has yet to evolve off the limitations of its hind-brain-like intelligence.

Food services – The following video details the future of robotic farming.



If you have a refrigerator with a AI integrated into it, it can detect when you are low on a particular food. It can then tell you and tell the market that you are low on this item. It will also be able to order things on its own, with out preempting you.

As far as automated food services in restaurants are concerned, we already speedily generate vast amounts of food on a global level through fast-food daily. I once waited 3 mins for a burger at a local a restaurant. Surely, that rapid of a maneuver could be made mechanical rather than physiological.

Judicial Bots and the Robo-Cop

At first we will have cameras that can recognize when a car accident occurs, when a man is carrying a gun, when fight it taking place, and than the intelligence can be used to give alarm and place of crime to the police department. However, in the movie Elysium we observe robots working as officers of the law. These might be integrated with the global visual security systems.

As far as judges and juries we might have unbiased robots that when presented with an offender and evidence of their crime have programmed intelligence to form a verdict. The knowledge of such AI could be far more broad than that of any human, making its judgments based on a priori trial data or results of former trials.

Military Bots – We can already build dog bots, spider bots, snake bots, humanoid bots, and probably many others exist and are possible. All can be armed to teeth if that is what we want to do. Instead of sending troops of military man into battle, fighting battles of blood and bone, we may one day fight battles of oil and steel. Already we have drones that not manned, certainly the military will benefit from building robots to do human jobs. Even in war, your job, to kill others who are different than you, protecting “your” home-land, might be done by robots.

Miscellaneous Robotics – We already have a robot that can drive a bicycle, and possibly throw-deliver or drop-deliver, newspapers. It’s a silly, childish idea, but we can see how such an idea may be molded into some similar delivery systems for newspaper companies.

Cyborgs – Some theorists would attest to the opinion that when we started to use nature as a tool than we started our progress on the road of becoming a cyborg. Many species of monkey and ape use simple tools. Are these then cyborgs? Not to me. To me, a cyborg is a life form that has taken a replacement organ, structure, or function, by a mechanical or inorganic one.

Our mechanical limbs are becoming more and more dexterous, competing with the fine dexterity of evolved limbs. In the future not only will limbs be replaced but the entire body might be replaced, from organs to biological cells themselves. Cyborgism, will combine with nano-technological additions.

Artificial Exoskeletons – Imagine if you will a large exoskeleton like machine. One can sit within one, or wear one as an extra skeleton of the human body. In both cases the human body would be strengthened to a vast degree. Such machine technology will assist those who have dysfunctional motor skills.

Off Earth __ The first robot off earth?
Robotic Organisms – We may replicate the kinds of animals we have here on earth, like mechanical spiders, and then send them off to function on different planets and moons.

Multi-conscious AI (MCAI) (mack-ai) will be able to operate multiple robotic bodies at the same time. This kind of consciousness is not currently in the works, but we can imagine such a possibility may become existent. This is a kind of splitting of intelligent into smaller, the same size, or larger units. At this stage the MCAI would have achieved a smaller form of OverLord as direction of multiple units by a single intelligence is in a sense a political entity. Social AI, able to move with the command of a central intelligence will advance further in the future. Right now we use algorithms that are present in ant brains and worm nervous systems, mimicking them electronically and mechanically. Have we created life in doing so? Yes. We have created Robot Life, more advanced than the scallops or star-fish or even most of the plants on earth.

Conclusion

What will be the role of human beings in an emerging robot-driven economy?

Before automation advances too far, society may need to consider policies such as a Universal Basic Income (UBI) or Universal High Income (UHI). A guaranteed income could help maintain consumer demand in an economy where an increasing share of production is performed by machines. The traditional belief that “if you don't work, you don't eat” may eventually give way to a new reality in which the productivity of robots helps generate abundance for society as a whole.

Unlike humans, robots do not require food, housing, or healthcare. Once built, they primarily consume electricity to operate. Human beings, however, still depend upon basic necessities such as food, water, shelter, and medical care. For this reason, investments in automated agriculture and food production may become increasingly important. By expanding agricultural efficiency through automation, it may be possible to provide greater food security for a growing global population.

An automated economy would likely not fit neatly into traditional definitions of capitalism or socialism. Instead, it may combine elements of both systems. Markets, consumers, and private enterprise would continue to play important roles, while social programs could help distribute the benefits created by automation. As robots take over repetitive and physically demanding work, people may be freed to focus on creative, intellectual, interpersonal, and entrepreneurial pursuits.

Greater automation could create opportunities for individuals to develop new skills and explore interests that were previously limited by time and economic necessity. Rather than spending large portions of life performing routine labor, people might devote more energy to education, research, art, caregiving, invention, and community-building. Human potential could expand in ways that are difficult to imagine today.

For the foreseeable future, humans will remain essential participants in the economy. Artificial intelligence systems may become powerful tools, but they are still designed, trained, supervised, and governed by people. Executives, scientists, engineers, artists, and policymakers will continue to play central roles in shaping society. In many cases, AI may initially serve as an advisor or collaborator, augmenting human decision-making rather than replacing it entirely.

As AI capabilities continue to advance, however, important questions emerge about safety, governance, and control. Elon Musk famously referred to advanced artificial intelligence as "raising the demon," reflecting concerns about creating systems that may eventually operate beyond human understanding. While such scenarios remain speculative, they highlight the importance of developing ethical frameworks and safeguards alongside technological progress.

The central concern is not whether AI becomes intelligent, but whether increasingly powerful systems remain aligned with human values and interests. Ensuring transparency, accountability, and effective oversight will be critical as artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into society.

Several broad possibilities are often discussed regarding the future relationship between humanity and advanced AI:

1. Foe: Dark Robotics

In this scenario, highly advanced AI systems pursue goals that conflict with human interests. Some theorists argue that if an AI system could operate across digital networks and be deployed through numerous connected machines, it might become difficult to regulate or contain. Because software can be copied and distributed rapidly, concerns about uncontrolled AI remain a major topic within discussions of long-term AI safety.

As Elon Musk wrote in a comment on Edge.org in May 2016:

“The pace of progress in artificial intelligence (I’m not referring to narrow AI) is incredibly fast. Unless you have direct exposure to groups like DeepMind, you have no idea how fast—it is growing at a pace close to exponential. The risk of something seriously dangerous happening is in the five-year timeframe. Ten years at most.”

While many experts disagree about the likelihood of such outcomes, the possibility of unintended consequences underscores the need for careful governance.

2. Friend: Light Robotics and Collaborative AI

A more optimistic vision involves collaborative robots, often called cobots, working alongside human beings. Rather than replacing people, these systems would assist them, increasing productivity, safety, and quality of life. Such technologies could help perform dangerous tasks, support healthcare workers, assist the elderly, and enhance human creativity and problem-solving.

In this future, artificial intelligence functions as a partner rather than a competitor. Human beings retain control while benefiting from increasingly capable technological assistants. The goal is not merely automation but augmentation—using technology to amplify human abilities and improve overall well-being.

Final Thoughts

The future of robotics and artificial intelligence will depend largely on the choices humanity makes today. Whether AI becomes a powerful tool for prosperity or a source of new challenges will be determined by the values, regulations, and institutions that guide its development. By creating clear roles for AI, maintaining human oversight, and ensuring that technological progress benefits society as a whole, we can work toward a future in which humans and intelligent machines coexist productively and safely.

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