In the future robots will handle all of our dirty work for us, and may even work in law enforcement so human cops don't get hurt and because people believe they'll do the job more efficiently.
But practical and efficient robots don't really inspire fear in people, and when a bot's job is to break up a riot it should have an intimidating profile.
So that's probably why the engineers from China's National Defense University went with the Dalek look instead of the C-3PO while designing the “intelligent security robot” they call “AnBot”.
The AnBot looks more like a rolling ATM than a security bot, and it's missing the Dalek's awesome eyestalk, manipulator arm and gunstick, so how is anyone supposed to take this thing seriously?
Maybe if they program it to say "exterminate!" in Chinese over and over again somebody will pay attention...
Read Riot Control Robot Unveiled In China Looks Ominously Like A Dalek here
Comments (1)
Still, fascinating creatures. I wonder how the complexity of adult mayflies compares to their larva... I know the adults only live long enough to mate, and do not even have time or energy to eat.
Nothing to do with evolution.
"Reverse evolution" is as much a misnomer as "reverse sexism" or "reverse racism".
Besides, the process in question here is not evolution in any case. It's a metamorphic change within one generation. It would be like referring to a caterpillar turning into a butterfly as evolution. It's just another stage of its life-cycle.
Having said that, it is an interesting metamorphic effect .
"Reverse evolution" is a reference to recapitulation theory, thought to have been outdated but a form of it is now making a comeback as we discover more fossils/evidence.
The evolution of certain organisms and their structures can sometimes be understood by observing the organisms devlopment. i.e. the growth of feathers on birds has shed light on how feathers evolved in dinosaurs.
This "reverse evolution" is a creature that for whatever reason found it advantageous to take on a simpler body structure in its adult life, the "blueprint" for which is found in a body form held by its ancestors. Technically there is no "reverse evolution", but its a suitable semantic tool to describe a real phenomenon.
"Technically there is no “reverse evolution”, but its a suitable semantic tool to describe a real phenomenon." What you say is correct, but its not a suitable semantic tool to describe THIS phenomenon.