The Campaign Builder's Guild

Robotany? No, seriously: http://www.danielbauen.com/robotany/

I'm really creeped out by this, to be honest....

Super Creepy. A robotic plant that reaches out towards you when you're near. I think it's another piece to the AI puzzle.

It's the borg's passive, lesser known sister tech...

double post, my bad.

*Initiates awesome inpirational speech mode* They are beginning mass production of these in underground lairs. they will be distributed throughout the world...and then they will strike humanity when we least expect it in an attempt to free their tree brethren! We must act now! Who is with me?.................................. Oh, and who ate my keys?!!!

I don't find this scary at all.

First and foremost, plants can move quite a bit on their own; the rate at which humans perceive time is just too fast to notice most plant movement.  Some exceptions include Venus Flytraps, which can close their traps in 100 milliseconds, and the White Mulberry tree, which can fire pollen from its flowers at 25 μs (or 25 microseconds; propelling its pollen at about one-half the speed of sound).  So this is nothing nature doesn't do already.

Furthermore, I think it would be neat to go outside, sit under a tree, and have the tree adjust itself to give you the right amount of shade and/or sunlight.  Using nature to suit our comfort, I think, would be much preferable to sitting under an umbrella.  Not only would we not have to make an umbrella, we would also be maintaining a tree, with the deforestation we practice, and plain ugliness that is inherent in modern architecture and developmental planning, it would be an elegant solution to the problem of "I want some more shade over here."

Finally, this plant is an example of Weak AI, that is to say, it is not self-aware and has no chance of ever being self-aware, but it can make decisions pertaining to its own programing.  If it sees that a human could use some shade, it could shade you.  If you tell the program that you want less shade, it could respond in kind.  Strong AI is what you might possibly need to be afraid of.  I'd be more worried, personally, if Strong AI, sentient AI, becomes weaponized.  The US military, at least, is already looking at weaponizing Weak AI.

Personally, I find working with nature, rather than around or against it, to be the most preferable solution to problems like this.

Post Scriptum: You will be assimilated.  Resistance is futile. :-P

Quote from: limetomFurthermore, I think it would be neat to go outside, sit under a tree, and have the tree adjust itself to give you the right amount of shade and/or sunlight.

Oh, I agree. Having said Shade Tree randomly slap you upside the head as you try to read a book? Not quite as "neat".

This particular tree doesn't scare me so much. What does scare me, is the potential this tree implies. Three words: Reactive Environmental Weaponry. Think the military isn't going to want their hands on that? It's much more effective (and, I imagine, much more amusing) then Agent Orange and it's cousins.

Quote from: sdragon1984

Quote from: limetomFurthermore, I think it would be neat to go outside, sit under a tree, and have the tree adjust itself to give you the right amount of shade and/or sunlight.

Oh, I agree. Having said Shade Tree randomly slap you upside the head as you try to read a book? Not quite as "neat".

This particular tree doesn't scare me so much. What does scare me, is the potential this tree implies. Three words: Reactive Environmental Weaponry. Think the military isn't going to want their hands on that? It's much more effective (and, I imagine, much more amusing) then Agent Orange and it's cousins.

Well I for one would prefer a forest full of whomping willows than a minefield any day.

Quote from: Stargate525

Quote from: sdragon1984

Quote from: limetomFurthermore, I think it would be neat to go outside, sit under a tree, and have the tree adjust itself to give you the right amount of shade and/or sunlight.

Oh, I agree. Having said Shade Tree randomly slap you upside the head as you try to read a book? Not quite as "neat".

This particular tree doesn't scare me so much. What does scare me, is the potential this tree implies. Three words: Reactive Environmental Weaponry. Think the military isn't going to want their hands on that? It's much more effective (and, I imagine, much more amusing) then Agent Orange and it's cousins.

Well I for one would prefer a forest full of whomping willows than a minefield any day.

What about a Whomping Willow that knocks you directly onto a mine?

Quote from: sdragon1984Oh, I agree. Having said Shade Tree randomly slap you upside the head as you try to read a book? Not quite as "neat".

This particular tree doesn't scare me so much. What does scare me, is the potential this tree implies. Three words: Reactive Environmental Weaponry. Think the military isn't going to want their hands on that? It's much more effective (and, I imagine, much more amusing) then Agent Orange and it's cousins.

You must take into consideration the tensile strength of a tree limb.  Many trees, especially those with mass sufficient enough to seriously harm a human being are simply not capable of moving quick enough nor moving far enough to do much damage to a human.  Take a look at most large trees.  Their branches are a good meter or two above your head.  There is no chance such a tree could hit you; the limb would break before it could even get to you.  Smaller trees would hurt a little, but would really be nothing more than a nuisance.

Furthermore, Ambient Reactive Weaponry is silly.  It could only be feasibly used for defensive purposes.  Its movement is severely limited, and its damage output is not that great.  Also, more than likely, it would be destroyed after it was "figured out."  The military would give this kind of thing one look, and reject it.  Its just not efficient.

Again, I will posit that the military is more interested in the capabilities of Weak AI.  They would much rather have a "smart" perimeter defense system that uses something actually harmful, like say the 5.56 Ã'" 45 mm NATO round, rather than a small tree branch.  If you can make swarm of unmanned areal vehicles, without needing human interaction aside from assigning a target, eliminate said target, you've got something a lot more efficient, and a hell of a lot scarier.  And this is exactly what the US military is looking at developing.