“The King called the three wisest men in the country to his court to decide who would become his new advisor”.
Advertisement
According to Popular Science, three identical robots were put through a simpler version of the test by Professor Selmer Bringsjord of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. He placed a hat on each of their heads, such that each wise man could see all of the other hats, but none of them could see their own.
While not hugely groundbreaking (other robots and programs have demonstrated forms of self-awareness before), the experiment does show a computer changing its preconceptions on the fly to solve a variation of a classic logic test, while also interacting with the outside world. Just one of them, however, was able to speak. The king declared that whichever man stood up first and announced the color of his own hat would become his new advisor.’.
While these robots aren’t exhibiting consciousness, they are displaying problem-solving that will prove to be incredibly useful for humans in the future.
Researchers told three robots they were going to be given a pill that would disable their ability to speak.
“Initially, all three attempted to answer “I don’t know” but when one heard that it was the only one with a voice it added ‘Sorry, I know now!”.
When only one of the robots actually spoke, it recognized its voice and understood that it was not silenced. “I was not given a dumbing pill”.
Anyway, hopefully the robot council that takes over in 2020 is able to look past the whole “dumbing pill” thing and treat us well as subjects.
However, as the robots presumably are coded the same, it could be said that all three have the capacity to pass the test.
Advertisement
Bringsjord will present the results at IEEE RO-MAN 2015, a conference in Japan about robotic consciousness that runs from August 31 to September 4.
