Robo Marathon and Dark Factories – The Weird Side of the Internet

Robo Marathon and Dark Factories – The Weird Side of the Internet – by Liam Sweeny.

I think that someday we will have Skynet, and judgment day. Maybe John Conner is already alive, a Gen Z with imposter syndrome and crippling student febt, someone who will be glad when an AI superbrain realizes what a croc student loan debt is and wipes it out… and doesn’t stop there.

When they teach future kids about the history of Skynet, probably in a bunker or a tunnel, they’re going to include the half marathon held in Beijing recently, in which humanoid robots were participants.

You know, if Skynet doesn’t get off the ground, this marathon will be in the history of robotics, a precursor to the struggle for robot civil rights.

The robots had A LOT of help, with teams helping them navigate and battery stops. Victory, among the robots, was had by, get this, the “Sky Project Ultra” robot. I wonder how popular the Terminator movie series is in Beijing, and if the name was art imitating life.

It seems like there’s a far stretch from this to armed terminators crunching human skulls beneath their feet, but for God’s sake, we’re teaching them how to run. Imagine these things running across highways at night like deer? Imagine hitting one? Are we going to have robot crossing signs? I hope so.

This might be light hearted, but also a little scary. But not as scary as dark factories. They should be their own story, and probably will be, but dark factories are completely robotic factories, and there’s no light, because robots don’t need it. Toyota has even built a city in Japan that is fully integrated with “smart tech” and humans living alongside robots, maybe joining each other for a run.

Running robots and dark factories, web-enabled light bulbs that go out if you don’t pay your subscription to Light bulbs, Inc. What a crazy pre-apocalyptic world we live in.

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