[ExI] stealth singularity

[Stuart LaForge]

Quoting Spike:

> If we go with the notion of a wheelchair manikin for the elderly AD
> patients, many of them are sight impaired.  This means we don't need to be
> very sophisticated  with the facial-expression actuators at all.  We need a
> two-axis to bend and rotate the neck, a jaw actuator, an eyebrow actuator
> and not a heck of a lot more.  From the neck down it is easy (assuming it
> doesn't have THAT capability.)

There are two alternate ways to go with this. If you are going to try  
to mimic a human being, it should be as realistic as possible. If you  
simply want a robot companion, it could be a walking talking teddy  
bear or other obvious robot. But if you try for realism and fall  
short, you wind up in the uncanny valley and could easily creep  
grandma out.

> I think we could come up with an economy model that is little more than an
> Alexa with about 4 or 5 actuators.  No need to have moving arms or hands.
> This won't be hard to do at all.  We could get waaaay down into the low 4
> digit numbers, perhaps even eventually 3 digit numbers, if we accept a
> single actuator (for the jaw) and don't worry about it if we cut corners
> with the hair and skin.

I would not skimp on hair and skin. In fetal development, the sense of  
touch is one of the first senses to come online and in aging, I  
suspect it may be one of the last to deteriorate. Remember the bible  
story of Jacob, Esau, and the furry gloves? Also there was a series of  
experiments by primatologist Harry Harlow on baby monkeys that suggest  
that touch is very important to a primate's emotional well-being.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/power-play/201806/three-lessons-wire-mother

Stuart LaForge