Saturday, January 19, 2008

Lying robots and silly trademarks

This has to be the freakiest technology story for a while. Apparently, scientists have created robots with neural pathways that can "lie".
The team at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at the Federal Institute of Technology created the little experimental learning devices to work in groups and hunt for "food" targets nearby while avoiding "poison." Imagine their surprise when one generation of robots learned to signal lies about the poison, sending opponents to their doom.
HAL is coming, he really is!

Meanwhile, there is apparently a lawyer in the US who is trying to trademark the term "cyberlaw". He runs a company called CyberLaw and practices errr cyberlaw, and wants the trademark. As is noted on the link, "[t]hat's like a soda company claiming a trademark in the use of the word soda in connection with the sale of soda".

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The more cynical amongst us will say: 'Lying Robots, The path is clear for Robot Politicians' and/or 'Lying Robots= Labour Backbenchers' etc etc

haddock said...

Royal Mail have a trade mark on Special Delivery for special deliveries so anything is possible.
for example DVD Mailer,Freepost,Just Built ( for homes.... you've guessed...) Local Collect, Not Yet Built,Packet Post, Post Town Gazetteer, Signed For, Tracked

Old BE said...

The US authorities are quite tough on silly trademarks - much stricter than our Euro buddies.