The Zen of Technology & Scientific Discovery! (& Robots)

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  • Jishin
    Member
    • Oct 2012
    • 4821

    #31
    Originally posted by Tom
    Does a dogbot have Buddha nature?
    Tom
    Sat Today
    It dark but the sun will soon rise. Got stuff to do. Have a good day!

    Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

    Comment

    • Meishin
      Member
      • May 2014
      • 819

      #32
      If robots become sentient, do we vow to save them?

      Find the latest science news articles, photos and videos covering space, the environment, human development and more on NBCNews.com.


      Gassho
      Meishin
      sat today

      Comment

      • Jundo
        Treeleaf Founder and Priest
        • Apr 2006
        • 40485

        #33
        Hi Meishin,

        Which article did you mean to link to (although everything on that page is really interesting)? The one on Siri?

        I live here in Tsukuba Science City, home of Treeleaf Zendo and more robot factories than any place in Japan, about 5 minutes by car from where they are planning to build "Robot City" ... a futuristic development where the hospital, retirement center, school and the like will be robot staffed. Yes, the names of the company and its product is real and intentional (for SF fans)

        TSUKUBA, Ibaraki Prefecture--A start-up firm here is planning to construct a futuristic “city of robots” that relies on robotic and cybernetic technologies to assist with the daily lives of humans.

        Cybernic City is the brainchild of Cyberdyne Inc. President Yoshiyuki Sankai, a professor at the University of Tsukuba, known for developing the robot suit HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) power assist device for applications in health care and welfare.

        Cybernic City will be built in Tsukuba, where the company has its headquarters, and will feature a research-and-development center, senior citizen housing and other facilities on 8.4 hectares of land.

        Cyberdyne envisions the site working on everything from developing robots to assist with everyday living to testing them and putting them to actual use in society. Cyberdyne's idea is to make the zone a model for the cities of the future.

        Cybernic City is derived from "cybernics," an academic field of study espoused by Sankai that combines robotics, neuroscience and other disciplines.

        http://www.japanbullet.com/technolog...city-of-robots

        We have had a couple of threads on the CyboSattvas ...

        Of Buddhabots and Dharmadroids ...
        This story today about a temple here in Japan ... ...(and before someone asks, Buddhism generally holds that robots do not have "souls", although also holding that neither do people! :buddha: The question remains open, however, about whether machines will ever be sentient beings. I happen to think they


        and

        It's the Robo-Buddhist-Priest!


        It Does Not Compute Gassho, Jundo

        SatTodayLAH
        ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

        Comment

        • Meishin
          Member
          • May 2014
          • 819

          #34
          Hi Jundo,

          Oops. Technologically challenged. Maybe this is it.

          Sci-fi may have us worried about self-aware robots, but it’s the mindless ones we need to be cautious of. Conscious machines may actually be our allies.


          Thank you for the links to earlier posts. I'm a day late and a dollar short.

          Gassho
          Meishin
          sat today
          Last edited by Meishin; 06-30-2017, 02:31 AM.

          Comment

          • Kotei
            Dharma Transmitted Priest
            • Mar 2015
            • 4195

            #35
            If robots become intelligent, do THEY vow to save us?



            Thank you.
            Gassho,
            Kotei sattoday.
            義道 冴庭 / Gidō Kotei.

            Comment

            • Jundo
              Treeleaf Founder and Priest
              • Apr 2006
              • 40485

              #36
              Originally posted by Kotei
              If robots become intelligent, do THEY vow to save us?



              Thank you.
              Gassho,
              Kotei sattoday.
              The technological singularity (also, simply, the singularity)[1] is the hypothesis that the invention of artificial superintelligence will abruptly trigger runaway technological growth, resulting in unfathomable changes to human civilization.[2] According to this hypothesis, an upgradable intelligent agent (such as a computer running software-based artificial general intelligence) would enter a "runaway reaction" of self-improvement cycles, with each new and more intelligent generation appearing more and more rapidly, causing an intelligence explosion and resulting in a powerful superintelligence that would, qualitatively, far surpass all human intelligence.
              Is this singularity happening next week?

              Well, Buddha said that all composite things are impermanent. We, and our civilization, are "composite things"

              Hopefully the new machine masters (maybe they will include some usable biological elements from us in the mix, but probably they will design something better) will do a better job than we have in running the world.

              Maybe it will be kind of like the Borg ... but nice. Nice, gentle, peace loving Borg.

              Gassho, J

              SatTodayLAH
              ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

              Comment

              • Kotei
                Dharma Transmitted Priest
                • Mar 2015
                • 4195

                #37
                Originally posted by Jundo
                Is this singularity happening next week?
                Don't worry, best guess is around 2040 ;-)

                At the 2012 Singularity Summit, Stuart Armstrong did a study of artificial general intelligence (AGI) predictions by experts and found a wide range of predicted dates, with a median value of 2040.[7]

                edit:
                Actually, there are some interesting concepts about 'transhumanism' ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism )

                Ray Kurzweil ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil#Predictions ) wrote a non science fiction book about 'The Age of Spiritual Machines' and is quite sure, that he'll upload himself into a machine the next decades.
                He's also working on the improvement of his body in the meantime ( "Live Long Enough to Live Forever" ).
                There's an impressive list of technological inventions, he made and now, he's working full-time for google with the goal "to bring natural language understanding to Google".

                "Does God exist? I would say, 'Not yet.'"


                Gassho,
                Kotei sat/lah today
                Last edited by Kotei; 06-30-2017, 07:10 AM. Reason: added Kurzweil
                義道 冴庭 / Gidō Kotei.

                Comment

                • Meishin
                  Member
                  • May 2014
                  • 819

                  #38
                  A new Frontiers in Robotics and AI study outlines a concept called Empowerment that may allow robots to adhere to self preservation while serving and protecting humans.



                  Gassho
                  Meishin
                  sat today LAH
                  Last edited by Meishin; 07-18-2017, 09:39 PM.

                  Comment

                  • Jundo
                    Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                    • Apr 2006
                    • 40485

                    #39
                    I offer to conduct the first Jukai Precepts Ceremony for any robot or other AI. We may hope they take the Precept on the "Avoidance of taking (other) Sentient Life" seriously ...

                    ... or, at least, Asimov's Three Rules of Robotics ...

                    CNN: US general warns of out-of-control killer robots
                    America's second-highest ranking military officer, Gen. Paul Selva, advocated Tuesday for "keeping the ethical rules of war in place lest we unleash on humanity a set of robots that we don't know how to control."

                    Selva was responding to a question from Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, about his views on a Department of Defense directive that requires a human operator to be kept in the decision-making process when it comes to the taking of human life by autonomous weapons systems.
                    Peters said the restriction was "due to expire later this year."

                    ...

                    But Peters warned that America's adversaries may be less hesitant to adopt such lethal technology.
                    "Our adversaries often do not to consider the same moral and ethical issues that we consider each and every day," the senator told Selva.
                    Selva acknowledged the possibility of US adversaries developing such technology, but said the decision not to pursue it for the US military "doesn't mean that we don't have to address the development of those kinds of technologies and potentially find their vulnerabilities and exploit those vulnerabilities."
                    America’s second-highest ranking military officer, Gen. Paul Selva, warned Tuesday of “a set of robots that we don’t know how to control.”


                    Asimov's Rules ...

                    A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.


                    Gassho, J

                    SatTodayLAH
                    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

                    Comment

                    • Kyousui
                      Member
                      • Feb 2017
                      • 358

                      #40
                      discourse.suttacentral.net article on buddhism and robots

                      FYI:
                      Indeed, the interesting thing is the robot’s claim to have insight into the Buddha’s teaching is based, not on its really having “learned” the Dhamma as a freely thinking being, but rather, by having experienced it through a “bare nature”, or an absent nature. The idea being that this bare nature sees things “as-they-are”. Very interesting. Also very superfluous.

                      Kyousui - strong waters 強 水

                      Comment

                      • Jundo
                        Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                        • Apr 2006
                        • 40485

                        #41
                        Originally posted by TomSchulte
                        Pepper’s creators said the robotic Buddhist could cut the cost of a funeral to under $500 — one quarter of the price of a human priest.» Subscribe to NBC New...


                        I know I could be replaced by a robot around here too!

                        Plastics manufacturer Nissei Eco dressed Pepper in Buddhist garb and programmed the humanoid robot to chant and preach as a monk would during funeral service...


                        Gassho, J

                        SatTodayLAH
                        ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

                        Comment

                        • Kyonin
                          Dharma Transmitted Priest
                          • Oct 2010
                          • 6749

                          #42
                          This is so freaking cool!

                          Zen and technology seem like a good match for me. This droid could help a lot of people that don't have a priest nearby for ceremonies and listening to teachings.

                          Still is no match for a good old fashioned human priest, though.

                          Gassho,

                          Kyonin
                          Sat/LAH
                          Hondō Kyōnin
                          奔道 協忍

                          Comment

                          • Kyousui
                            Member
                            • Feb 2017
                            • 358

                            #43
                            https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t...ersection/6266 has a watercooler topic on Buddhism and Robots.

                            Sat today/ LAH/wasted time today

                            Kyousui - strong waters 強 水

                            Comment

                            • Kyonin
                              Dharma Transmitted Priest
                              • Oct 2010
                              • 6749

                              #44
                              Aibo the robo-puppy is back

                              The Verge is about technology and how it makes us feel. Founded in 2011, we offer our audience everything from breaking news to reviews to award-winning features and investigations, on our site, in video, and in podcasts.


                              Sony says Aibo’s behavior is adaptable, with the dog seeking out owners, learning what makes them happy, and gradually growing accustomed to wider environments. It uses deep learning technology to analyze the sounds and images coming through Aibo’s array of sensors, and uses cloud data to learn from the experiences of other Aibo units and owners.
                              I guess I much rather be with organic dogs, but still this is pretty cool



                              Gassho,

                              Kyonin
                              Sat/LAH
                              Hondō Kyōnin
                              奔道 協忍

                              Comment

                              • Jundo
                                Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                                • Apr 2006
                                • 40485

                                #45
                                Masahiro Mori's Buddhist philosophy of robot

                                Hi,

                                I am posting a link to this article here because, although I did not really understanding much of what it said, it is:

                                (1) About robots

                                (2) About a fellow who develops robots based on Zen Buddhism

                                (3) Is written by a Professor at the University of Tsukuba, the M.I.T. of Japan, home of Treeleaf Tsukuba, and Robot City!

                                (4) I did not understand much of it.

                                (5) Maybe it will be interesting to somebody who is into robots and Zen (and Tsukuba?) who perhaps can understand it better than me!

                                Masahiro Mori is a well-known Japanese robotics scholar whose notion of Uncanny Valley is worldly famous. Mori is also an initiator of the Robot Contest and a student of Buddhism and a practitioner of Zen. He constructs his original Buddhist


                                It said things about robots and Zen like this (and these were the parts I kinda understood!) ...

                                Engineers who have worked at those engineering companies
                                need to receive the lessons and teachings of Zen
                                Buddhism in an engineering manner. Mori strongly believes
                                that his understanding of experiencing non-duality
                                oneness as the source of creativity and innovation could be
                                the basis for many engineers from a variety of disciplines
                                to receive ideas intuitively and create new innovative technology
                                that would contribute to solving global problems.

                                However, many engineers and industrial designers
                                face difficulties obtaining such ideas in the process of designing
                                and developing a new technology. In response,
                                Mori teaches them to learn the backward step (退 歩,
                                taiho). According to Mori, scientists and engineers are
                                both trapped in the myriad of progress and epistemological
                                duality that made people blind, preventing them from
                                being able to see things as they are. The backward step
                                is taken from the Zen master Dogen’s words (E. Dogen,
                                The Zen Site: Fukanzazengi [Universally Recommended
                                Instructions for Zazen]) and means that, instead of looking
                                for a solution outwardly, it is necessary to sit still and
                                look for a solution inwardly. By turning conscious attention
                                from an external to an internal view and by focusing
                                attention inwardly, it is possible to be released from
                                the entangled web of duality that appears to obscure intuition.
                                As the epistemological duality does not enable people
                                to see things clearly, it is necessary to see things as one;
                                for example, for a car to run, it requires both the accelerator
                                and brake, whose functions are oppositional. It is
                                a sort of religious awakening to be able to see things as
                                dualistic oneness in his explanatory terms for engineers,
                                where duality represents technological oppositions and
                                oneness represents a sort of holistic perspective. Mori’s explanatory
                                term of dualistic oneness is equivalent to nondualistic
                                oneness in religious terms, which allows engineers
                                and robotics scholars who need to design new technology
                                to see non-dualistic oneness, since engineers and
                                robotics scholars need to learn the circular relationship between
                                technological duality and Zen oneness.

                                --

                                Mori’s interest in the relationship between life-form
                                and technology led him to a new insight into the Mahayana
                                teachings of Buddhism. For example, when he was a small
                                boy, he wondered why a dog walked on four legs. After he
                                began to design and build a robot, one day he suddenly understood
                                intuitively why a dog walked on four legs. When
                                he was totally absorbed in thinking about how to design
                                his new robot, he realized that it is a dog’s Buddhahood;
                                therefore, a dog walks on four legs. Although he does not
                                refer to any koan, a metaphorical story for Zen practice, ¯
                                when referring to this episode, there is a well-known koan ¯
                                from The Gateless Barriers. A monk asks, “Does a dog have
                                Buddhahood?” The master replies, “Mu (Nothing)” [51].
                                The novice monk spent all of his time in a monastic life
                                while Mori worked at the secular and technological environment.
                                However, Mori reached a somewhat similar realization
                                to the monk at the Zen monastery
                                I have to go introduce myself to the author of the article.

                                Gassho, J

                                SatTodayLAH
                                ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

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