4.29.2005
Japan and robots
A note from a faithful reader:
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- You're probably aware of the huge train accident that happened in Japan on Monday.
Of course this accident would have not happened if robots were driving the train. I don't know if you are aware of this, but there have been a number of problems recently with drivers overshooting station platforms for various reasons, so I suspect that this accident will help to motivate the removal of human train drivers and speed the introduction of robot / software drivers (on a side thought, you can consider an AI routine driving a train / truck / plane etc a natural extension of the term "device driver").
But robots aside, the whole thing would never have happened if Japanese society wasn't already robotic. What I mean is that Japanese society put such a premium on getting the train to run on time that the human driving the train felt compelled to put punctuality ahead of public safety. Thus, I believe that Japan is well on its way to becoming a Robotic Nation not just because of cultural exposure to robots (e.g. Gundams, Aibo) or technological prowess, but because society is already conditioned to accept robotic behavior as the norm.
So, if I were to give Japan a "Robotic Nation Score", I'd say it would be something like 75%. When all of the trains are run by robots, I'll have to increase that score.
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