Free Essay

Killer Robots

In: Business and Management

Submitted By quiestveritas
Words 1162
Pages 5
It had never been much of a front yard to begin with, a patch of dry grass under the canopy of trees, but now their limbs were bare of leaves that had migrated soon after George had left. Time had seen the vines grow around trees and house equally, like long, thick fingers strangling, while the leaves, which had reached no further than the porch, were crumbling into dust. The early rains of summer had started small colonies of toadstools which nestled together, sheltered under fallen branches and moss. The earth was reclaiming it’s own. Two children hushed as they approached, as if afraid their voices might wake the sleeping house. “Are you sure we aren’t gonna get in trouble?” asked Emily, quietly. Her mother was always warning her away from things. It was a constant struggle to find things she was allowed to do. “C’mon Em,” said Josh, grabbing her hand and dragging her across the empty yard. “It’s ok. Nobody will even see us.” After the last neighbours had left, Josh had watched the empty house for days as people came and looked at it. He’d hoped the new family would have a boy his age, but all they had was a girl. Still, he made do. So far he’d taught her how to throw a decent pitch, and if he could just get her to stop ducking whenever the ball went near her, she’d be nearly perfect. “Mum told me not to go near abandoned houses,” said Emily. “She says they’re dangerous and you could go through the floor or something.” “You can’t go through the floor,” said Josh, his voice harsh with exasperation. Emily dug in her heels, forcing Josh to come to an abrupt halt. He turned and stared straight at her. “Em, you aren’t going to fall through the floor,” he said. “It’s nice inside. There’s furniture and everything.” Emily chewed the edge of her bottom lip between her teeth. “Didn’t he die in there?” “Honestly Em. What? You think this place is haunted? That we’re gonna go in there and his ghost is gonna jump out?” he taunted her. “Or maybe he’s a zombie!” Emily flung his hand away angrily, “Well if you’re gonna be like that Joshua Harper, then maybe I’ll just go home!” “No, wait, Em,” said Josh, grabbing for her hand again. “I’m sorry. Come on Auntie Em. You know I was just playing.” “You know I hate it when you call me that,” Emily replied. She sighed. “Alright. Come on then.” They ambled across the bare yard, hands swinging between them. Josh squeezed Emily’s hand to get her attention. “Want to know a secret?” he asked. Emily leaned in closer. “What?” “Sometimes I sleep here,” Josh said quietly. Emily stopped suddenly, her jaw dropping in shock. “But, don’t you get in trouble?” Josh ran his hand back through his hair and laughed. It was harsh and bitter. +++++++++++++ Laura Cale tossed yet another load of cough mixture bottles into the bin. She stood and pushed her hair out of her face, before stretching out her back. He husband, Geoff kept muttering darkly about drug addicts and meth labs, but it looked to her like the previous tenants were just your garden variety hoarders. The trash piled in storage cupboards and the back shed was just generic rubbish: egg cartons stacked, neatly meshed, cup over cup; newspapers–from as far back as the early seventies, by the looks of things–were carefully folded, tied in stacks with twine and double wrapped in heavy-duty garbage bags; crates and crates of old glass coke bottles. Catching movement at the corner of her eye, she saw the Harper boy pulling her daughter towards the woods. Of course they were heading for the Kelly house. Laura had already told Emily not to go anywhere near it. Although, what kid that age could resist it? She could remember being that age. Laura smirked inwardly. She would have done exactly the same. Laura turned to her husband and said, “It’s getting late. You go wash up, while I find Emmy, and then I’ll get started on dinner.” She watched Geoff as he stopped and stretched and she almost forgot to breathe. Sometimes she was surprised by just how much love she had for him, like she couldn’t contain it within her own body. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm and grinned at her. “You love me,” he said, leaning in for a kiss. “You know it, Stinky,” she teased.
One sweaty embrace later, Geoff headed inside to clean up and Laura began picked her way along the path toward the forest. +++++++++++++ George Kelly had died the year before they had moved to St James. He’d lived alone, with a dog, Charlie, and Emma had told her that Josh used to visit George most afternoons. Josh would do his homework, and then they’d play endless games of chess. They talked about fishing, and baseball, and school, and occasionally, George would tell Josh stories about the War, and growing up during the Depression. Laura might not approve of her neighbours’ attitude towards their child, but he was one of the few children in the area, and the only one near Emily’s age. Geoff didn’t like Josh from the beginning, and really didn’t like the Harpers, but for whatever reason he had, Geoff had decided to look the other way when it came to his daughter’s friendship with the Harper boy. Perhaps Geoff sensed the same loneliness in Josh that she did. Or maybe he had just resigned himself to the inevitable. Josh was an odd boy at times. Laura would see him on his bike, pedalling furiously home, the milk crate attached to the back loaded with groceries from the corner store. He was always so serious, a solemn little man. Oh, he could be happy, with a grin that was set to split his face in half, but it wasn’t the carefree joy like Emily would have. Her grandmother would have said that the waters ran deep in Josh Harper. Laura couldn’t help but wonder–again–about Josh’s parents. Lots of people visited the Harper house, but never stayed for long. The lawn alternated between patches of overgrown grass and bare earth, and was littered with rubbish and variety of barely recognisable car parts. She’d smile and wave whenever she saw Josh’s parents, but his mother would duck her head and disappear as quickly as possible and his father would just sneer in her general direction. No-good trash, Geoff called them, when Emma was out of earshot. Laura didn’t like to call other people names, but she didn’t like Ian Harper either.

They parted company before they left the woods. Clearly Josh did not want his parents asking questions. Lindsey walked back with Emma's little hand in hers, looking back at the Martin house. Another car had entered the driveway.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

The Frankenstein Complex: Killer Robots or Metal Friends?

...Tran Dr. Ingrao HUMA 1301.002 November 22, 2013 Row C-2 The Frankenstein Complex: Killer Robots or Metal Friends? In it’s fifty years of age, the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics continue to capture the imagination of the general public, but with this growing interest, it also engendered a great deal of fear and skepticism. Hollywood and the media exacerbate the problem while some well-known authors and scientist lend credence to it. This fear isn’t anything new and didn’t just appear with the creation of these mechanized humanoids. Even reaching as far back as the folktales of golems to the monstrous birth of Frankenstein’s creature, humankind has feared the rise of an army of evil manmade creations that banned together to overthrow humanity. Asimov called this fear the Frankenstein Complex. With so many amazing possibilities that came with the new technological era, Asimov believed that the creation of robots and androids would benefit humanity so he formed the Three Laws of Robotics to try and calm the fears that boiled amongst the general public. He states that first and foremost, “a robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm” (Asimov 37). The second law states, “a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders conflict with the First Law” (Asimov 37). And the third law is that “a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First...

Words: 1631 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep Analysis

...The Robot is More Human than You: Defining Humanity in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? As humans, we seem to be inordinately proud of our humanity. We tout that we are the smartest animals (ignoring the fact that we are still animals). We go around boasting that nothing else has the same level of intelligence as we do, that nothing is quite as human as we are. And, as far as we know, we aren’t lying to ourselves. Yet. But what about in the future, when we create something that does contest our humanness? Philip K. Dick explores this idea in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The novel’s presentation of Mercerism, a fictional religion, and its unrealistically physical version of empathy suggests that using empathy to define...

Words: 1010 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

All Terrain Ground Vehicle for Low Intensity Conflict (Atv)

...PROJECT REPORT On All terrain Ground Vehicle for Low Intensity Conflict (ATV) By Bhabani Prasad Nayak(10608025), Aasis Moharana(10608002) Abhay Kumar Dash(10608003),Ratnesh Kumar(10608080) Under the guidance of Mr. J. VIJAY PRABHU, M.E. ASSISTANT PROFESSOR DEPARTMENT OF INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL ENGINEERING Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY In INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL ENGINEERING Of SRM Nagar,Kattankulathur- 603 203 Kancheepuram District i BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the project report titled ―All terrain Ground Vehicle or Low Intensity Conflict (ATV)‖ is a bonafide work of Bhabani Prasad Nayak(10608025), Aasis Moharana(10608002), Abhay kumar Dash(10608003), Ratnesh Kumar(10608080) who carried out the project work under my guidance.Certified further that to the best of my knowledge the work reported here in does not form part of any other project or dissertation on the basis of which a degree or award was conferred on an earlier occasion on this or any other candidate. PROJECT GUIDE Mr.J Vijay Prabhu Assistant Professor Instrumentation and Control Engineering HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT Dr.A.Vimala Juliet Professor Instrumentation and Control Engineering SRM UNIVERSITY SRM UNIVERSITY INTERNAL EXAMINER DATE: EXTERNAL EXAMINER DATE: ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We sincerely acknowledge in all earnestness, the patronage provided by our Director Dr.C.Muthamizchelvan...

Words: 15141 - Pages: 61

Premium Essay

Technology Boom

...The historic event that I chose to address in terms of labor supply and demand was the technology boom of the 1990s. As the technology began to grow, the demand for computers and other electrical devices began to rise. People wanted to bring more of the electronic devices into their homes and their businesses. Car makers began putting technology into vehicles that would allow your windshield wipers to turn on automatically as soon as water hit the windshield. Companies began creating technology that would have automated services answering phones and assisting customers instead of having a real human talking to the customers. This caused the demand for electronic companies to manufacture more of their technology to increase. Stores had to increase their supplies of the new technology because of the high demand that people wanted to have the latest and greatest technology that was coming out. The technology boom did make some lives a little easier, but it also made a large amount of people be become unemployed, because they were not needed to do the jobs anymore. Instead of having people putting cars together, dealerships eventually began to install robotic machines putting the vehicles together alleviating human error. The technology boom began to put people out of their jobs and making it harder for people to get jobs. People had to get educated on the new technology that was coming out so that they could sell it or use it at their place of business. The...

Words: 262 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Robotics

...bodies. Robots on SCM Obviously, it hasn’t turned out that way. It is true that industrial robots have transformed the manufacture of automobiles, among other products. But that kind of automation is a far cry from the versatile, mobile, autonomous creations that so many scientists and engineers have hoped for. In pursuit of such robots, waves of researchers have grown disheartened and scores of start-up companies have gone out of business. It is not the mechanical “body” that is unattainable; articulated arms and other moving mechanisms adequate for manual work already exist, as the industrial robots attest. Rather it is the computer-based artificial brain that is still well below the level of sophistication needed to build a humanlike robot. Nevertheless, I am convinced that the decades-old dream of a useful, general-purpose autonomous robot will be realized in the not too distant future. By 2010 we will see mobile robots as big as people but with cognitive abilities similar in many respects to those of a lizard. The machines will be capable of carrying out simple chores, such as vacuuming, dusting, delivering packages and taking out the garbage. By 2040, I believe, we will finally achieve the original goal of robotics and a thematic mainstay of science fiction: a freely moving machine with the intellectual capabilities of a human being. Reason for Optimism on Robotics Future When it comes to robots, reality still lags science fiction. But, just because robots have not...

Words: 1744 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Essay On Robots Are Better Than Humans

...Alex Hare Mrs. Hoekstra ELA, Hour 1 16 january 2018 Robots better than humans? I am going to discuss if robots are really better than humans or not. I feel that humans are better than robots because humans have more abilities like feelings,thoughts, and expression that robots cannot show or do. First, robots cannot show feelings, and emotion like humans can so it is hard to know what a robot is thinking of doing so it could have been a hurtful or a nice act but you can never tell. But with humans you can always tell by how they sound and the reaction they make to the question. If you were to ask a robot about a hostile act and you can't tell because their voice does rise or go down and you can't tell if the robot is lieing or not. Also, humans can think smarter than robots because robots don't have a brain that lets them think like humans do. Robots and humans can and must work together. When it comes to customer service, marketing and design, and...

Words: 760 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Performance Objectives

...are the machines, equipment and devices which help the operation transform materials, information and customers in order to add value ands fulfil the operation's strategic objectives. a. True b. False 8. Set up costs can be high; also system skills are necessary to integrate EDI.To which of the following information processing technologies is this constraint most relevant. a. Internet b. Local area networks c. Extranet d. Decision support systems e. Expert systems 9. Which materials-processing technology gives the advantage of precision, accuracy, and optimum use of cutting tools, which maximises their life and higher labour productivity? a. NC (and CNC) machine tools b. Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) c. Industrial robots d. Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM)...

Words: 840 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Robotics

...thought of by the word robot is that of a mechanical being, somewhat human in shape. Common in science fiction, robots are generally depicted as working in the service of people, but often escaping the control of the people and doing them harm. The word robot comes from the Czech writer Karel Capek's 1921 play? R.U.R.? (Which stands for "Rossum's Universal Robots"), in which mechanical beings made to be slaves for humanity rebel and kill their creators. From this, the fictional image of robots is sometimes troubling, expressing the fears that people may have of a robotized world over which they cannot keep control. The history of real robots is rarely as dramatic, but where developments in robotics may lead is beyond our imagination. Robots exist today. They are used in a relatively small number of factories located in highly industrialized countries such as the United States, Germany, and Japan. Robots are also being used for scientific research, in military programs, and as educational tools, and they are being developed to aid people who have lost the use of their limbs. These devices, however, are for the most part quite different from the androids, or humanlike robots, and other robots of fiction. They rarely take human form, they perform only a limited number of set tasks, and they do not have minds of their own. In fact, it is often hard to distinguish between devices called robots and other modern automated systems. Although the term robot did not come into use until...

Words: 1349 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Computers and Humans

...artificial intelligence and learning algorithms in order to create free thinking machines and robots. Humans are much more than just thinking machines. The major problem scientist face is no real understanding of how the brain neurons and action create consciousness. We really do not know what consciousness is and how to replicate it. They are working on it however that would be a heavy task. We do not know what emotions consists of or how to measure it. This is not a tangible variable. Will scientists' study of human emotions ever make computers and humans essentially indistinguishable? This is the million dollar question. Human research has been rewarding in the last 100 years, however I believe there is a finite limit to human understanding. I believe consciousness and emotions are the last frontier to creating a human being from scratch. I am not sure we will be able to reverse engineer the invisible mysteries of the mind. How important is it that they look similar to humans? I believe it is important that the robots look human like. Some of the early machine looking robots added to the fear. Humans tend to fear robots that resemble transformers or like early science fiction looking machines. Will a familiar appearance mean that humans will become more accepting of a growing presence of robots in our daily lives? Yes, I believe a friendly non-violent looking robot will mean that humans will have less fear and be more accepting. There will still be an adjustment...

Words: 385 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Evolution of Robots

...use the robot. Scraps of metal put together to make a man made assistant and worker. Every generation it is something new in the news or internet about how computers and robots will help in every day living. There is always talk of what the next best thing a robot will be good for and how they can tweak the newest model to be better then the last. The most recurrent element seems to be the actual revision of improving the robot on a daily basis. Man first made robots to help in homes and factories like in Karel Capek’s “R.U.R”, until the robots turned on them and then humans became the minority race. Once they built them with just a little more than the regular the robots turned on them. They were made to be playmates with children as in Isaac Asimov, “Robbie”, with Gloria being 8 she believed Robbie was her best friend with feelings. This robot did everything for her and with her. Then her mother took Robbie away from her only to have Gloria’s father reunite them and Robbie save Gloria’s life. He, I believe had some type of emotional connection to Gloria. They were pretty basic, couldn’t speak, didn’t eat food and whether they had faces or not was up to the builder himself. They then began to make them a little more sophisticated by adding programs that the robots/computers could understand and respond to humans. Some had faces and programs to understand and carry conversations with humans. We now have robots that run...

Words: 843 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Robots

...Robotic technology. Robots and robotic tech will play a big role in our lives an how we live and function within the next 20 yrs. Over the next 20 yrs. we will have to adapt to the change, and the way every day task an functions will be done. Over the next 20 yrs. we could possibly see a society were robots replace certain jobs that are being done by humans right now for example with the proper technology metro busses could possibly be driven by pre-planned routes an robots. There are three topics I would like to discuss that I think would sustain both the positive and negative impacts of robots, and robotic tech. Robots will change, and have changed the way surgeries are, and will be performed. There are surgical robots already in use today for example (The Neuro Arm) it’s a non-ferrous robot that was used to remove a 21 year old patients brain tumor while she was being scanned with an MRI (Sofge, 2014). Within the future there will be a new robot introduced into the surgical field the “Da Vinci Xi”. The Da Vinci XI will be able to turn more surgeries into minimally invasive as opposed to large incisions (Sofge, 2014). There are two down sides to using robots in surgery, the first would be if the robot starts experiencing technical and or mechanical issues while performing an operation. And robots would cut the job force by eliminating the need for a lot of people in the operating room. Robots will essentially replace the need for a manual labor work force. Robots have started...

Words: 637 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Robots

...ROBOTS In the past decades, many things have changed. In terms of living, social life, infrastructures and cultures. Humans have gone through this massive change over the past decades. In today’s world, robots have been playing a vital role in human’s life. Since the creation of the first robot, humans experience a revolutionary new life. Robots make humans life much easy and simple. In the olden days, humans cannot travel long distance due to time limitations, but now humans can travel around the world with the help of moving machines called robots and then there is a whole new creation of - many in humanoid form, and some that take highly practical forms all their own- which can talk, walk, rescue lives and perform dangerous jobs in extreme environments, or takeover ordinary tasks at home while we are out enjoying our lives. Right from healthcare and homecare, to emergency activities, robots are rapidly becoming a fixture in our lives. Although robots would make humans life easier, robots are a threat to mankind. It is an undeniable fact that robots will take over the future. From the first time we saw a toaster pop up by its own, we have casually accepted that robots can be trusted to do things for us. They record our programmes, prepare our meals, play our music, and even run our cars. We just do not see it because these “robots” do not have a face we can talk to. If we just leave them doing such jobs, soon or later humans will become dumber. "Even if my most pessimistic...

Words: 466 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Genius Bosco Robotics

...technology and changes in the economic times. Through much reading and access to large bulk of information, I created a superhero, Bosco Genius, a guy who awakens in the morning with a 100 percent access to his brain power. The state realizes and becomes aware of the existence of Bosco. They look for him but with his expertise skills and ability, he dodges the men in black and also fends off the middle school tormentors. The whole process torn the writer or the creator into a rhetoric existence because of the complexity nature of the study.  It is reported once that the robotics destroyed and killed human beings within the company. The information was unsubstantiated and untrue since it was maliciously spread to negate the importance of the robots. As a rhetoric, such an instance has never happened and no person has lost life in the company. The three laws of robotics cannot allow them to harm humans and therefore, the information revealed to the public is false and faulty. As a company we have dealt in robotics and they have served to increase the performance of the labour force. However, the public force has a resistance towards the robotics with several claims that the robotics have an effect on the cultural and social setting of the society. The loggerhead position of the public towards the robotics and the whole company has created poor working relation and existence between the two entities. As a rhetoric, I have to work towards...

Words: 2311 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Line Follower Robot Essay

...AUTOMATED GUIDED VEICHLE BASED SERVING ROBOTS FOR HOTELS Abstract: This project describes the techniques for emerging, scrutinising, scheming, monitoring and improving the food supply delivery within hotel area. A microcontroller based line following robot is advanced to distribute the required food items to the needy consumer. A line follower robot that can detect and follow a line drawn on the floor which is black in colour. An IR sensor can be close-fitting near the food serving tray to sense the serving plate is in tray or not. When it reaches near the consumer table, serving mechanism actuation starts. It highs the tray up to height of the consumer’s table and it serves the food items to the table by pushing the plate easily. After serving, again it returns back to its original position. All actuating mechanism are controlled by time controlled movement. One more IR sensor can be attached with the robot side tray, so that it senses any hindrance present in their way and can alarm. 1.Introduction: A Robot is a reprogrammable, multifunctional wheeler-dealer designed to move solid, portions, outfits or specialized devices through adjustable planned gesticulations...

Words: 1113 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Exploding Bacon Team Report

...is a program for kids of all ages to learn about science and technology. FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”. As a part of this program, we are to build a robot that is able to play a game. The team that I am a part of is called Exploding Bacon Team 1902. I really wanted to be involved in this club because I have a love for science and engineering. When I get older, I want to pursue a career in these areas. For the past 5 years our team puts on two, week-long summer camps: one for second through fifth graders and another for sixth through eighth graders. The objective of this camp is to teach the kids about science and technology and how both impact our future. There were about 30 children in the camp each week, coming from different schools in the Orlando...

Words: 652 - Pages: 3