Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2013-03-11]: Robots confused about what they encounter in the world of humans can now get help online.European scientists have turned on the first part of a web-based database of information to help them cope. Called Rapyuta, the online "brain" describes objects robots have met and can also carry out complicated computation on behalf of a robot. Rapyuta's creators hope it will make robots cheaper as they will not need all their processing power on-board. [source: BBC News]
As robots will use Rapyuta, humans also use the collective "society database" which gives us directions on how to behave in various situations. It may seem that we have free will but most of the times we are actually guided by "society norms". Like a computer virus, these "silent directives" have spread to the brains of us all. Trying to get away from these norms is hard.
But we must try. Install an antivirus. Reboot.
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