ELIZA
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Social media bots are damaging our democracy
Social media has become our town crier. When major news breaks, roughly two-thirds of American adults now find out about it online in real-time. But the aftermath of the week's third mass shooting, environmental catastrophe or political meltdown is often rife with false claims, misinformation, and outright conspiracy theories. Some of this comes simply from the confusion surrounding the unfolding situation but to an increasing degree, the discussions around these events are being deliberately -- and effectively -- influenced by an army of autonomous digital actors.
The curious sext lives of chatbots
ELIZA is old enough to be my mother, but that didn't stop me from trying to have sex with her. NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts.
Five questions for the man who created a robot documentarian
We've spilled buckets of digital ink on headless horse bots, uncanny humanoids and the coming of the robot apocalypse, but there's a softer, more emotional side to these machines. Social robots, as they're referred to, are less mechanized overlords and more emotional-support automatons, providing companionship as well as utility. Robots like these are forcing us to consider how we interact with the technology that we've created. Under the direction of artist/roboticist Alexander Reben and filmmaker Brent Hoff, a fleet of precious, cardboard BlabDroids, set out to explore the shifting boundaries of human-robot interaction. These tiny, wheeled machines aren't automated playthings, but serious documentarians seeking an answer to a deceptively simple question: "Can you have a meaningful interaction with a machine?" We'll dive deeper into the topic at Expand this weekend, but in the meantime, here's a short Q&A with Reben on an incredibly complex topic.
Skullgirls reveals third crowd-funded DLC character, Eliza
The third DLC character for Skullgirls, as decided by fan voting on the game's Indiegogo page, is Eliza. She appears as a Cleopatra-inspired character, with hulking Egyptian gods at her side and at least one mummified foot. We like to think Elizabeth would approve of the Skullgirls fans' taste.Eliza is the first of two mystery characters coming to Skullgirls, alongside Squigly and Big Band. Those last two will each receive a story mode and an all-new stage. One of the mystery characters will get a story mode and stage, while the second mystery character missed that goal by $20,000.
Eliza is a doe-eyed, graceful dancing machine, lacks maniacal quality on the floor (video)
Unlike the last batch of bots we've seen, Eliza is actually quite graceful. The cartoonish humanoid got its start as a guide, shuttling people around shopping malls and the Guangzhou Asian Games 2010 Experience Center. Now it's finally getting a chance to show off what it's got -- namely some ill dance moves. These four doe-eyed machines spin, perform complicated arm choreography in perfect synchronization, and pause to pose during this epic number. Clearly, the next step is for someone to teach them how to Dougie. Check out the videos after the break. [Thanks, Robotbling]
