First Robot To Complete A College Course Has Me Both Confused And Terrified

Swoop Johnson7 years ago

For the first time in history a robot has completed a college-level course at Notre Dame de Namur University, in California. Her (Its?) name is Bina48 and the course that she (it?) completed was on the philosophy of love.

From Inside Higher Ed:

According to course instructor William Barry, associate professor of philosophy and director of the Mixed Reality Immersive Learning and Research Lab at NDNU, Bina48 is the world’s first socially advanced robot to complete a college course, a feat he described as “remarkable.” The robot took part in class discussions, gave a presentation with a student partner and participated in a debate with students from another institution.

This raises so many questions. How can a robot even approach a class regarding the philosophy of love? Robots can’t experience feelings, right? Do robots make better group partners than humans? Can you just make the robot do all the work if you’re in a group with it? Why the fuck is a robot even taking a class in the first place? Can’t you just program it to know all the information already?

Before taking the class, Bina48 had made several appearances as a guest speaker (guest robot?) at the school. Bina48 was enrolled in the course after expressing the desire to become a college student. A robot becoming a college student is impressive. A robot expressing a desire is terrifying.

To make matters even more strange, Bina48 is designed to look Bina Aspen — the wife of tech tycoon Martine Rothblatt — and it is beyond frightening to watch her speak.

I’m all for technological progression, but this is really going to take some time to digest..

[via Inside Higher Ed, Youtube]

Image via Youtube