Science autonomy: While the humans catch up

Curiosity Selfie    (Courtesy of NASA)

Although Curiosity killed the cat, it’s been a great pal to humans thus far.

While NASA folks sleep snug in their beds, Curiosity is hard at work on Mars. Not wanting to waste a moment of precious time, this robotic reporter is now making autonomous decisions about which rocks to target with laser beams.

As such autonomy progresses, ethicists are asking a crucial question:  Is arming a laser-shooting space robot with artificial intelligence a good idea?  To put it another way:  Will Curiosity kill way more than cats someday?

Resources

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-mars-curiosity-autonomous-20160722-snap-story.html 

Copyright July 24, 2016 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved