Robots: future slaves or masters?

Robots will make us into their pets because we just want to be taken care of, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has warned.

The artificial intelligence that will control the world used to worry Wozniak, he told a technology conference. But he has realised that it will be good for us because robots will opt to keep us as part of nature, reports TechRepublic.

“It’s actually going to turn out really good for humans,” he told the conference. “And it will be hundreds of years down the stream before they’d even have the ability.”

By that time, the robots will be aware of their place in the world and opt to keep us around, in the same way we keep family dogs, he said. As such, he joked that he had taken to feeding his dog “filet steak and chicken every night because ‘do unto others’”.

“They’ll be so smart by then that they’ll know they have to keep nature, and humans are part of nature. So I got over my fear that we’d be replaced by computers.

“They’re going to help us. We’re at least the gods originally.”

Wozniak pointed out that if robots did want to take over the world, they’d send a message that personal appliances and other things around the home should become internet-enabled — as the Internet of Things, which is being worked on by Apple as well as other companies, is looking to do.

“I want the Internet of Things,” he said, reported TechRepublic. “It does things for me. I don’t have to think.

“The Internet of Things, if it ever did want to take over the world, would send a message to the computers of today saying, ‘build us the Internet of Things, that’s what we need.’ It makes things nice for humans, so we want this.”

“If it turned on us, it would surprise us. But we want to be the family pet and be taken care of all the time.” THE INDEPENDENT We hadn’t heard of Phicomm until they launched their mid-range phone Passion in the Indian market. Available in black and white, the Phicomm Passion is an interesting device. On holding it, you’ll notice the really good build quality despite its lightness. At 110 gm and 7.3 mm thickness, the mass is well balanced for a comfortable one-hand operation. The reinforcing magnesium alloy frame on the inside adds rigidity, making sure it doesn’t feel flimsy. The frame runs down the side, making space for the power button, the volume rocker, a micro SD card slot and a dual SIM slot (one micro and the oth-