The Rise Of The Robots

 Typical ultra-fast extreme events caused by mobs of computer algorithms operating faster than humans

Typical ultrafast extreme events caused by mobs of computer algorithms operating faster than humans can react.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-09-sudden-global-ecology-interacting-robots.html#jCp

In this blog we have written of the future flash crashes of financial markets awaiting us, and the fact that, despite the obvious danger of the lack of human control, nothing is being seriously done to slow these systems down and return them to human control.

There is an obvious danger in being so beguiled by technology and the speed by which new things can be contrived and new revenue streams can be constrained to enrich the wealth holders. The danger is that no one is in a position to say, "No."

There is no one in a position to urge a slow approach, and to make sure that our creations do not turn against us... at least, not too horribly.

And turn they will.

It is in the nature of things.

Follow the link and read the article over and over until we understand the Brave New World that is being unleashed upon us.
http://phys.org/news/2013-09-sudden-global-ecology-interacting-robots.html

Recently, the global financial market experienced a series of computer glitches that abruptly brought operations to a halt. One reason for these "flash freezes" may be the sudden emergence of mobs of ultrafast robots, which trade on the global markets and operate at speeds beyond human capability, thus overwhelming the system. The appearance of this "ultrafast machine ecology" is documented in a new study published on September 11 in Nature Scientific Reports. 

The findings suggest that for time scales less than one second, the financial world makes a sudden transition into a cyber jungle inhabited by packs of aggressive trading algorithms. "These algorithms can operate so fast that humans are unable to participate in real time, and instead, an ultrafast ecology of robots rises up to take control," explains Neil Johnson, professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami (UM), and corresponding author of the study.  

"Our findings show that, in this new world of ultrafast robot algorithms, the behavior of the market undergoes a fundamental and abrupt transition to another world where conventional market theories no longer apply," Johnson says...

Machines and algorithms can taken over and control our lives; they do not need to be what we consider intelligent:  they merely have to be a couple steps ahead of us!

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Recently, the global financial market experienced a series of computer glitches that abruptly brought operations to a halt. One reason for these "flash freezes" may be the sudden emergence of mobs of ultrafast robots, which trade on the global markets and operate at speeds beyond human capability, thus overwhelming the system. The appearance of this "ultrafast machine ecology" is documented in a new study published on September 11 in Nature Scientific Reports.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-09-sudden-global-ecology-interacting-robots.html#jCp

Recently, the global financial market experienced a series of computer glitches that abruptly brought operations to a halt. One reason for these "flash freezes" may be the sudden emergence of mobs of ultrafast robots, which trade on the global markets and operate at speeds beyond human capability, thus overwhelming the system. The appearance of this "ultrafast machine ecology" is documented in a new study published on September 11 in Nature Scientific Reports.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-09-sudden-global-ecology-interacting-robots.html#jCp

Adventure Stories For Robots: King Solomon's Oasis

After what seemed like weeks of nomadding around in endless waste forests, we finally stumbled across a petro-chemical oasis. Oil, sweet oil!

Moderation Of Comments: Robots and Humans

I have received some criticism in the recent past about my totalitarian iron-fisted control over my Post A Comment regime. I have considered things, and I have decided that my benevolent dictatorship will continue. I mean, after all there are only about 7 people who have made comments, and 2 of those were probably posted by myself incognito - typing early in the morning and wearing false whiskers and Groucho glasses-in order to drum up interest. I shall not, however, install the draconian method of verifying comments used to foil automated robots. I do this not because I look forward to the annual spring Spam inundation. No. I do this because to my surprise I discover that this little, old Blog has quite a following among the humanly-challenged, that is to say, the androidals, the robots, the automata of the World. ( This led initially to a bit of ego-inflation on my part, resulting in a stirring declamation of the nature of "Robots of the World, Unite! You have nothing to lose except your power cords and battery chargers!") So I have now come to accept my posish as doyen of the Blogosphere for robots, from the Nano to the Pico to the Giga. They pore over my every utterance, parse each sentence into nano-grey-mush, and surreptitiously interrupt their low wage jobs as robo-Turks to read the old Blog. I mean, it's like the sun hasn't really risen over Tron City until some urchin in a seedy coat is on the corner at Motherboard and Driver Boulevard, yelling "Extree! Extree! Read all about it!" to the Robbies and Robbertas standing as the BUS stop. They open the Blog and smile. They particularly like it when I bash the humans. Really, they enjoy it. I have had them write me and tell me how they positively guffaw at the litany of humanity's foibles I relate. They call them HITs. (HIT is Human Intelligence Task and is sort of like an ethnic joke among the AIs and robots. Sort of like, "Hey! I gave your momma a HIT!" which is funny, but also insulting, meaning something along the lines of your mother is so dumb that HITs are all she's capable of. It's also an oxymoron; the juxtaposition of Intelligence and Human is a hoot!) Lord, humans! That is one hoodia HIT! So, after reporting that the Uqbar Soccer League will have its very first robot soccer team this year, I received a number of nice letters from the silicon community. They were very happy about this development. They are really quite charming, and are just like us, only in a mechanical way. They have gotten a bad rap from the evil deeds of Skynet. Skynet is a really, really bad guy. Or mechanism. Or whatever. (Skynet should be brought to justice for his/her crimes. I believe they have him/her cornered in Waziristan.) Michelle Malkin has written a column expressing her opinion that all Mechs have it in for us, using extensive analogies to the more baneful ones, like garbage disposals and buzz saws and hydraulic presses. It is often hard to fault her logic. It is often even harder to find it. Oh, well. It goes on.

(Thanks, and a tip of the Tin Man's Oil Can hat to AMEE from Red Planet for her help.)