Friday Squid Blogging: NIWA Annual Squid Survey
Results from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited annual squid survey:
This year, the team unearthed spectacular large hooked squids, weighing about 15kg and sitting at 2m long, a Taningia—which has the largest known light organs in the animal kingdom—and a few species that remain very rare in collections worldwide, such as the “scaled” squid Lepidoteuthis and the Batoteuthis skolops.
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.
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vas pup • August 11, 2023 7:24 PM
Is there a sinister side to the rise of female robots?
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230804-is-there-a-sinister-side-to-the-rise-of-female-robots
“The idea of having sex with an android has existed in mainstream entertainment for decades, in science fictions films such as Blade Runner, AI Artificial Intelligence, Her and Ex Machina.
In her book Man-Made Women, Richardson warns of a growing trend – the idea has jumped from science fiction to morning talk shows and music videos. Sex doll brothels are opening in Barcelona, Berlin and Moscow.
She cautions that there would be a massive cost to normalising such interaction. “What we’re building into society is this very egocentric idea that actually what a single human being is feeling and thinking and experiencing is “a relationship”. So they can project onto an AI avatar all these feelings.
“There’s a concern generally with AI, especially when it’s related to sex: human relationships are difficult. There’s risk involved with any kind of intimacy, and AI is more compliant.”
Some people find pornography easier than dating, he says, and AI could provide a way of avoiding the effort of dealing with other human beings, and the fear of rejection that this brings.
He sees more of a future in animated characters which are interactive, rather than three-dimensional humanoid “companion bots”. “Pretty much anything with moving parts is going to be problematic. Think about the attention the automobile requires compared to whatever computer you’re working on.”