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Androids coming of age

Mike Yamamoto Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Mike Yamamoto is an executive editor for CNET News.com.
Mike Yamamoto
2 min read

The debate over stem cell research has largely overshadowed another form of human replication that has been contemplated for generations: androids.

android

A few weeks ago, the Web was abuzz over a female android created at a Japanese university considered the most convincingly human-like in appearance to date. Now, we get "Amazing Amanda," a futuristic doll equipped with "speech-recognition and memory chips, radio frequency tags and scanners and facial robotics."

The world is in no immediate danger of being overrun by creations worthy of a novel by Arthur C. Clarke, as they are the evolutionary equivalent of the lungfish. But if their artificial brains are as smart as they're supposed to be, they'll soon learn that real humankind has little patience for machines that don't work.

Blog community response:

"Amanda can respond to certain voice commands and can also interact with her accoutrements. For example, if she asks for peas, and you give her a cookie, she'll respond by saying something like, 'I asked for peas and this is a cookie. Cookies and peas are very different.' Now, what are we teaching little kids by having polite dolls? That actual children are polite? First of all, I've never heard a kid ask for peas. Secondly, I've never heard a kid, when given a cookie, protest."
--Consider the Kimpossibilities

"Neither talking dolls nor talking robots are toys that really promote imagination, IMO. In my crotchety old-fart worldview, honor goes to things like building blocks and their many variations like Legos, art supplies, and in particular the castoff clothes, cardboard boxes, sauce pot 'drums,' and other items that kids manage to find extremely creative ways to play with."
--Infidels of Every Denomination

"Run, run, for this is surely one of the signs of the Apocalypse...or at least really friggin' creepyÂ…"
--Maya in Wonderland

"In the future we are likely unconsciously to grant personhood to a whole range of mechanical, non-sentient beings with whom we interact. By contrast, even now we exclude from personhood a whole range of sentient beings, whose inner lives we fail to recognize, and whom we wrongly judge to be automatons."
--Windy Weather

"This group of scientists developed a robot that looks similar to a real human, supposedly. Maybe I'm just biased. I'm the type who is more concerned with functionality than cosmetics when it comes to gadgets (or pretty much anything else). I'd say develop a working robot first, then worry about making it look nicer."
--Ordinary Nothing