Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution

by P.W. Singer

“A burn-in is defined as ‘the continuous operation of a device, such as a computer, as a test for defects or failure prior to putting it to use,’”

“ ‘That’s when I learned that, in the Bureau, you’ll always have career-defining decisions to make. And every single time, the Bureau trusts you’ll make the right one for it.’”

Trust is simply about acting in an expected manner. I can ‘trust’ that someone wouldn’t lie to me, because I know them.

Alan Turing’s original conception of computation that could unlock the answer to any question.”3

John McCarthy first coined the term ‘artificial intelligence’ to describe the strange idea of a computer becoming a thinking machine, even when they were little more than wall-sized calculators.

The real turning point was when an AI won at Go.9

“Because of how all these advances came together in new ways, it took us back to that original problem—what happens when you combine the old expert systems with all the new approaches?” Modi began ticking them off with his fingers. “Deep learning, Bayesian and evolutionary computing, symbolic reasoning, neural networks modeled on the human brain down to the sub-neuron level via exascale computing but made more powerful than any single brain through synthetic synapses firing literally millions of times faster than the ones in your brain, cross-database access, and cloud-driven insights.”

“As I mentioned the first day, it’s not about the computing power but the training. That is what makes an AI truly intelligent.

The system was how any “Trudy,” their shorthand for an intruder, would be kept out of the exchange.

Automation, robotics, and ever more capable artificial intelligence are no longer just science fiction. Their ongoing advancement and application, across nearly every segment of society, will create amazing new possibilities and efficiencies. As we go through what is best understood as a new industrial revolution, however, there will also be political, economic, social, and cultural disruptions and debates, as well as security threats, of a scale not experienced for generations, if not ever before.