This is the third book in the series that included 'The Theory of Nothing' the "The Universe Revealed.' My purpose in this new book is to more fully explain how science is actually done and how science fits into our culture along with religion and p...
This is one of my favorite subjects. I've used androids in my science fiction stories for as long as I can recall. But, is a fully functional android even possible, or is it just another science fiction concept?
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Basically, an android is a human-looking robot. Technically, android is a male designation. A female robot would be called a gynoid. However, I consider that term sexist. For the sake of argument, an android could appear as a male or a female. The idea is for a robot to look human.
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The concept goes back quite a ways, at least to the beginning of the 20th century, but it was only used in fiction. Of course, it was used in Star Trek and Star Wars. Obviously, the concept was used in science fiction quite a bit. When it comes to research on androids, Japan is where it's at. They have a fascination with the idea of making realistic human-like robots. The DER2 android looks and acts like a human, especially in facial expressions. Another example of a facial expression android is the WD-2 android built in a collaboration of Waseda University and NTT Docomo's manufacturing.
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KITECH, South Korea, developed a similar facial expression android, EveR-2. It can even sing. The main problem with developing a fully functional android is the brain. As of now, the only thing that could even come close to emulating the human ability to think would be a supercomputer, which is too large to cram into an android body. It's difficult to really appreciate what it would take to emulate the human brain. Think about it. An artificial brain would need to be able to form language, understand symbolic thought, posses perception, reasoning, problem solving and the ability to learn, plus accumulate knowledge. The programming to accomplish all of these goals is too large and complicated to fit into a small computer. It's going to take something much more sophisticated to simulate the human brain. I personally believe it will require quantum computing.
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Think about all of the simulation one would need to make an android act like a human. The visual, aural and touch signals would have to be coordinated in a central processor and then be used to determine what movements or functions would be needed to respond to these external stimulations. This would be a daunting task to accomplish with programming.
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The mechanical simulation of human movement would not be all that difficult. It's the perception of environment and reasoning that is going to be tough to emulate. Then, there is the problem of providing the energy to do all of this. Battery technology is not nearly ready for androids, and I'm not talking about the energy to run the artificial brain. I'm referring to the power needed to have the android walk and move its limbs. They're going to need a long extension cord. Personally, I believe that androids will become a reality, but it will be a while before all of the technical challenges are solved.
