Headline September 21, 2017/ ''' LAUGHING *ROBOT-STUDENTS* TALKING '''

''' LAUGHING 

*ROBOT-STUDENTS* TALKING '''

FOR THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS THE WORLD OVER, one growing job segment for the future would be : 

*How to babysit several robots at a time, troubleshooting them when necessary and making sure they have bins to load.

*BUT HISTORY SO RECORDS* THAT on the home front,  there are some very good reasons that the domestic robot has taken such an uninspiring form and that-

The World Students Society, according to Merium, Rabo, Haleema, Saima, Dee, Eman, Sanyia- Lakshmi, Zilli and- Thousands by thousands the whole world over, is by far,  and turning into-,

*The most admired organization in the World* : !WOW!. 

And with that, so, I go on even to define *The Rights* of Robots, Students, and workers'', as a beautiful self-sufficient team.

For now, though, we were expecting Rosie of  ''The Jetsons'' or C-3PO. Why then did we end up with Alexa, writes Nocholas Carr.

Maynah, Maria, Ibrahim, Harem, Hannyia and Merium -there are warehouse tasks, for example, picking individual items off shelves, with all their various shapes and sizes -where people outperform robots.

Amazon has added 80,000 warehouse employees in the United States since adding the  Kiva robots, for a total of more than 125,000 warehouse employees. And it says the warehouse spree will continue.

Beyond the technical challenges there's a daunting psychological barrier to collecting and selling anthropomorphic machines. 

No one has figured out how to bridge what computer scientists term the ''uncanny valley'' -the wide gap we sense between ourselves and imitations of ourselves.

Because we are such social beings, our minds are exquisitely sensitive to the expressions, gestures and manners of others. Any whiff of artificiality triggers revulsion. 

The more closely the robots are designed to mimic us, the creepier they are.

That puts roboticists in a bind : The more perfect their creations, the less likely we'll want them in our homes. Lacking human characteristics, smart speakers avoid uncanny valley altogether.

Although they may not look like the robots we envisioned, smart speakers do have antecedents in our cultural fantasy life. The robot they most recall at the moment is HAL, the chattering eyeball in Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi classic ''2001 : A Space Odyssey''.

But their current form -that of a stand alone gadget -is not likely to be their ultimate form. 

They seem fated to shed their physical housing. Alexa will come to resemble Samantha, the artificially intelligent operating system'' that beguiles-  Joaquin Phoenix character in the movie ''Her''. 

Through a network of  speakers, microphones and sensors scattered around our homes, we'll be able to converse with our solicitous A.I. assistants wherever and whenever we like. 

Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook  C.E.O spent much of last year programming a prototype of such a virtual agent. In a video released in December, he gave a Demo of the system.

Walking around the Silicon Valley home, he conducted a running dialogue with his omnipresent chatbot. He explained how to make toast for his breakfast, play movies and music, and entertain his infant daughter.

Hooked-up to cameras with facial recognition software, the digitized Jeeves also acted as sentry for the Zuckerberg compound, screening visitors and unlocking the gate.

Whether real or fictional, robots hold a mirror up to society. If Rosie or her kin embodied a 20th-century yearning for domestic-order and familial bliss, smart speakers symbolize our own, more self-absorbed tune.

It seems apt that as we we come to live more of our lives virtually, through social networks and other simulations, and robots should take the form of keeping us comfortable in our media cocoons.

Even as they spy on us, the devices offer sanctuary from the unruliness of reality, with all its frictions and strains.

They place us in a virtual world meticulously arranged to suit our bents and biases, a world that understands us and shapes itself to our desires.

Amazon's decision to draw on classical mythology in naming its smart speakers was a masterstroke. Every Narcissus deserves an Echo .      

But, Amazon's Mr. Clark also said history showed that automation increases productivity and, in some cases, demand from consumers which ultimately creates more jobs.

''It's a myth that automation destroys net job growth,'' he said.

In the case of Amazon's Florence facility, it opened up the new opportunity for Ms. Scott.

At one point, one of the arms knocked over a tote, sending a dozen or so cone-shaped plastic coffee filters skidding across the ground. Ms Scott hit a button that froze the arm so she could safely pick up the mess.

Then the arm started working again.   

''The robot will work the same all day long,'' said  Edward Cohoon, who supervises Ms. Scott and other Amazon workers as they tend to individual robots.

''Their stomachs don't grumble.''

With respectful dedication to the Research Scientists, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society and Twitter-!E-WOW! -the Ecosystem 2011:

'''1000 Words '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless