Technology: Beware the Rise of the Machines!

I stumbled on this little nugget while having my morning coffee...

Cornell University’s Hod Lipson is developing robots that can reflect on their own thoughts by equipping them with two controllers. One controller was rewarded for chasing dots of blue light while avoiding red dots, and the second controller modeled how the first behaved and how successful it was. This technique, known as metacognition, enabled the robot to adapt after about 10 physical experiments, as opposed to the thousands of experiments needed using traditional evolutionary robots. "This could lead to a way to identify dangerous situations, learning from them without having to physically go through them–that’s something that’s been missing in robotics," says University of Vermont’s Josh Bongard.

This makes me scared for the future. I remember what happened wth SkyNet and the Terminators. Or even the Cylons. Does anyone else think this is a remarkably bad idea? It's only a matter of time before these toasters rebel and hunt us down for the sacks of meat we are!