[ExI] The Robot Big Bang

[Flexman, Connor]

On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 9:51 AM, Carsten Zander <Carsten.Zander at t-online.de>
 wrote:
>
> we should give the thing a name!
> Memorable terms are important to illustrate important things to the people.


Robotics Explosion
Robotics Diaspora
Robotics Surge
Robotic Prevalence

I personally don't like Big Bang being used for other things, because it
sounds a little pandering and isn't at all the correct metaphor.
I also prefer Robotics to Robot because:
1. Robotics emphasizes they don't have to be automatons with two legs and
arms (like the popular imagination)
2. "Robot ____" has been sullied by the "Robot Uprising" people and
everyone I talk to about AGI risk has a visceral reaction against anything
that sounds like this

Either of these preferences are flexible though, and I'm not trying to
shoot anything down. I also think some more famous person will probably
coin the actual term that gets spread around, but perhaps we could
influence it.
Lastly, among ourselves: I think while it may be helpful to have a term
that we use for general robotic prevalence coming about quickly, we should
remember that it isn't something that happens at a specified time. The
Singularity has the potential to happen in a timespan of months or a few
years if AI has a hard takeoff, but robotics are almost guaranteed to
undergo typical growth where no year suddenly sees an unimaginable
explosion. It is a bit of a tradeoff between useful heuristics and truth,
whether we even choose to name this at all, but I do lean somewhat toward
truth and not building this growth up like it will somehow be a spectacular
Event like people view the Singularity. For this reason I prefer Robotic
Prevalence instead of Robotics Explosion (too much like Intelligence
Explosion) or Robotics Big Bang.
Connor
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