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Three centuries ago,
the great English scientist
Sir Isaac Newton wrote:

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"I seem to have been only like a boy
playing on the sea shore

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"whilst the great ocean of truth
lay all undiscovered before me."

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Today, once again, we are like
children playing on the sea shore,

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but the great ocean of truth
is no longer undiscovered.

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We have unlocked the secrets
of matter - the atom.

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We have unravelled the molecule
of life - DNA.

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And we have created a form
of artificial intelligence -
the computer.

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The discovery of the fundamental
laws of nature in the 20th century

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will open up unparalleled
possibilities for the 21st.

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We are making
the historic transition

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from the age of scientific discovery
to the age of scientific mastery

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in which we will be able
to manipulate and mould nature
almost to our wishes.

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I will show you just how rapidly
and radically
science is transforming our lives.

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I believe this will confront us with
profound challenges and choices,

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so profound that we have to start
to address them today.

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In the coming decades,
we'll see how we are becoming
masters of intelligence,

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how science will allow us to create
and manipulate intelligence
almost at will.

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This mastery of intelligence will
enable us to design new worlds,

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but this is just the first step.

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From mastering machine intelligence,
we'll move to creating
intelligent machines.

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Welcome, Dr Kaku.
Glad to be here, Asimo.

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And, ultimately,
we will redesign our own minds.

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Driving all this is the exponential
growth of computing power.

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This is the old IBM 1401.

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Back in the 1960s,
it was state of the art.

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It was an engineering marvel.
It filled up an entire room,
it weighed four tons,

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and in today's money
it would cost about £1 million.

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The old 1401 could perform just over
4,000 calculations per second.

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This is a mobile phone of today.

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It costs about £50,

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it has a microchip
the size of your fingernail,

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and it can do about one billion
calculations per second.

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That's 300,000 times faster
than the old 1401.

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The exponential growth of computer
power will profoundly reshape
all of human civilisation.

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By 2020, a chip
with today's processing power
will cost about a penny.

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That's the cost of scrap paper
that we simply throw away.

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And children will wonder
how could we possibly have lived
in a world that was dumb?

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Our world is already much smarter
than 10 years ago.

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And as computing power doubles
every 18 months,

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it's propelling us toward
a very different future.

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I'm sitting in this car,
but I'm not steering.

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My foot is not on the accelerator,
I'm not driving at all.
The car is driving itself.

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This car uses GPS systems
and laser sensors

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to find its way and avoid obstacles,
completely autonomously.

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And all this achieved
with the processing power
of just eight desktop computers.

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Very soon, not just our cars,
but our roads will also be smart.

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Built-in microchips will manage
traffic and what once seemed
a futuristic fantasy

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will soon become reality.

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The city of tomorrow!

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Vehicles, electronically paced,

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travel routes remarkably safe, swift
and efficient.

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I believe that in the future
the very words "traffic accident",
"traffic jam",

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will be something that disappears
from the English language.

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By 2020,
intelligence will be everywhere.

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Not just in a car or the roads,
but practically in every object.

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Scientists call it
ubiquitous computing.

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What's ahead is pretty inevitable if
you look at the last three decades.

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The '80s,
the decade of the microprocessor,

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symbolised by the personal computer.
That's when we built our computers.

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The '90s, the decade
of networks and communications,
symbolised by the World Wide Web,

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was when we connected
our computers together.

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was when we connected
our computers together.

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In this decade, it's computing that's
everywhere, connected to everything,

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and embedded in everything. You'll
know ubiquitous computing has arrived

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when you realise
computers have become invisible.

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Already we have computers
in our phones, TV sets, stereos,
wristwatches and dishwashers,

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but in the future
computers will move even deeper
into the very fabric of our lives.

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In just a few years,
basic microchips will be so cheap

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they could be built into every
product we buy - an invisible,
intelligent network

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hidden in our walls, our furniture,
even our clothing.

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Wearable computers will continuously
monitor our health. It's like having
a personalised doctor on call,

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24 hours a day.

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In case of an emergency, like
a heart attack, your clothing will
upload your entire medical history,

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locate your position
and call for an ambulance,
all while you are unconscious.

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We will be reliant on computers
and networks to a degree
we've never imagined.

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We'll all be a little like Blanche
DuBois in Streetcar Named Desire,

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where she says, "I have always relied
upon the kindness of strangers."

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In this case, the strangers
will be machines toiling away
in complete anonymity.

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You won't even know they exist.

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You see this aspirin pill?
Looks pretty ordinary.

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But, believe it or not,
in the future, this could have
the power of a PC and a video camera

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and it could photograph
all your internal organs.

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It's sort of like swallowing
an entire medical laboratory.

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So, in the future,
computers could monitor your health
from the outside and the inside.

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'But perhaps the biggest impact will
come when ubiquitous intelligence
combines with another technology -

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'the internet.'

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In the future,
the internet will be everywhere,
including your sunglasses.

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It will be projected
from the glasses into your retina.

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Or you will use the lens
of your glasses as a movie screen.

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In other words,
your eyeglasses could be your
future home entertainment centre.

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Your glasses will provide you
with a constant flow of information.

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They'll recognise people's faces
and download
their personal profiles.

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500 years ago,
the mass distribution of books
set off an intellectual explosion

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with the coming of the Renaissance,

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but today, with the internet
and ubiquitous computing,
it's an even greater revolution.

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First, it's global. It's not just
for the elites, it's for everyone.

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Second, it's interactive.
Ideas get dissected.

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This is democracy in action.

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This revolution is just
the first stage in our mastery
of machine intelligence.

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'And it's changing not just
our ideas, but our relationships
with each other.'

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So here I am,
dancing in a virtual world.

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My dancing partners are real,

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but they're located several hundred
miles from here, so I'm dancing with
a virtual three-dimensional image,

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transmitted to me in real time.

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Simultaneously, my image
is being transmitted to them.

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'This new technology is called
tele-immersion.'

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Three-dimensional technologies
like tele-immersion have
virtually limitless possibilities.

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They could be the evolutionary
successor of the telephone
and might even reduce air travel.

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Now, at the present time, the
technology is in its early stages,

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but imagine in the future
having an entire business conference
in a virtual world.

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Imagine celebrating a virtual
Christmas party with friends and
relatives in a virtual living room,

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even if thousands of miles away.

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Imagine a virtual television
programme, as if you are sitting
right there in the audience

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or right there,
running on the playing field
of an exciting football game.

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'And what makes this a credible
scenario is the unprecedented growth
we are already seeing

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'in online communication.

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'Facebook, MySpace
and instant messaging are moving
into the mainstream.

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'And with virtual reality,
it goes one step further.

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'We can create virtual worlds
and virtual selves -

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'avatars who are not limited
by real-world constraints.'

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Online games like Second Life
allow us to create worlds

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where everything and anything
is possible. These are worlds
of endless self-reinvention,

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where we can change our shape,

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our sex,
and even our species.

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'As for my avatar,

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'I decided to lose a few years.

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'This is not just escapist
entertainment - people actually live
in these worlds.

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'They even fall in love.'

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I chose a plot of land
near a nice-looking build
and it turned out it was his.

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Chris had built something
very unconventional, very curvy,
very futuristic. That appealed to me.

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It also happened to be in a lovely
setting. A nice, green area
with streams running through it.

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I'd scripted a brain to control the
house, tint windows, lock the door,

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even make a swimming pool appear
from underground when I wanted it.

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Elaine used to pop over
on the pretence
to say hi to Brain.

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The first time we ever went out,
we did have a date,

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it was on a secluded, romantic island
in Second Life. Yeah.
We hung out and chatted

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and acted silly.
Six months after their first meeting
in the virtual world,

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Alayne Wartell and Chris Edwards
got married. For real.

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Second Life has changed my life
in a lot of ways.

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I live in England now
instead of the United States,
I met my husband,

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and I have a new career.

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Alayne earns real money
selling virtual products
in a virtual world.

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'My main business is accessories.

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'I make jewellery and shoes
and handbags and things for avatars.

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'How you look is a really important
part of being there,

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'so I do make a living.'

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In fact, I make more than I ever did
in my previous career.

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That's amazing to me, that it's come
that far. It's really wonderful.

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'I'm surprised how quickly
I'm getting drawn into this world.

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'In just four years, Second Life
has grown from a few thousand
enthusiasts to more than 5 million.

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'By 2020, there will be
an entire three-dimensional universe
in cyberspace

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'with virtual countries
and governments, schools and
universities, property and stocks

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'and virtual families and friends.'

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Virtual reality is going to become
more and more like real reality,
but have the advantage

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that I can share a virtual reality
environment with someone else
hundreds of miles apart.

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We can be other people
and change environments quickly.

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It has a lot of advantages
over real reality.

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I think in 10 years
things like Second Life will be
as prevalent as email is now.

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And virtual worlds will become
a similar way for people
to get together, collaborate.

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I can see in the future
that it's going to be so much more
capable than it is today.

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And I'm going to love it.

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When I was a child,
we read about a fictional character
called Walter Mitty.

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By daytime, he was a typical
middle class boring individual,

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but at night he had very fierce
fantasies living out wild dreams.

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In some sense, all of us are
Walter Mittys, but with Second Life
and virtual reality,

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we can live out our fantasies.

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And in the future, the lines
between our virtual fantasies
and the physical reality

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will increasingly blur.

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One notion is that virtual reality
interfaces might be integrated
into the human body.

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We can have a display built in
to layers within the eye
or into the optic tract somewhere

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or indeed into the brain itself.

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But these possibilities raise
some rather disturbing questions.

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What happens if we assume so many
different identities that we begin
to lose our own sense of identity?

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What happens if we begin to prefer
virtual social networks
over our real social networks?

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And the family - will the family
suffer if we spend more time
with our virtual family

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than our real one?

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If you have more than one avatar,
more than one personality,

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it could impact very much
on how you see yourself.

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Human beings have always had
multiple personalities.

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I'm different as a daughter
to as a sister, to as a friend...

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We all adapt to the context of
the time and the place that we are,
with the group of people that we are.

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Different people bring out different
things in you. But it may be in these
avatar worlds it's magnified tenfold.

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What can I do for you?

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Already more than 30 million people
worldwide spend an average of
20 hours per week in virtual worlds.

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Some, like Sarah Rogers, actually
prefer virtual communication to
socialising in the physical world.

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In real life, I'm quite a shy person,
but if you asked
any of my online friends

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if I was shy,
they would say absolutely not.

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I am able to talk freely,

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just because I have the time
to think about what I'm saying.

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It's quite liberating
because I feel like I'm more myself
when I'm not under social pressures.

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In real life,
Sarah Rogers is a history student.

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In the multi-player online game
World of Warcraft
she is an undead priest.

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The online games
do compete for my time.

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Some days it can be
sort of six hours, eight hours.

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However, it's always more exciting
to go and slay some monster

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than read about history.

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You can be a dragon slayer
or the princess or whatever,

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but you don't have body language,
you don't have pheromones,
inner thoughts.

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It might be in the future we go,
"Eugh! Real life conversation?

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"I couldn't do that! I'd much rather
have this sanitised interaction."

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It might be, in the end, a little
bit like that that we become used
to not having real conversations.

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There's some evidence of that.

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You don't see people face to face

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so you can tell them anything
and you don't feel embarrassed.

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In a way, you actually get closer to
people than you would in real life
and you form stronger bonds.

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Just as the advent of language gave
us an ability to conceive the world

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with a vast array of references
and precision,

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the ability to create and share
simulated content in virtual worlds

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is going to help people conceive
of a multitude of aspects of reality

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that we just don't
really consider today.

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Virtual reality and ubiquitous
computing are only the first stage

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of our mastery
of artificial intelligence.

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As we move further into the 21st
century, artificial intelligence
will revolutionise our lives

215
00:22:18,495 --> 00:22:21,025
even more radically

216
00:22:21,060 --> 00:22:27,579
It will result in an evolutionary
leap that will profoundly challenge
the human condition.

217
00:22:29,020 --> 00:22:35,024
In the latter half
of the 21st century, we will enter
a whole new realm of mastery.

218
00:22:35,059 --> 00:22:41,700
We will move from being creators
of machine intelligence to being
creators of intelligent machines,

219
00:22:41,735 --> 00:22:47,580
machines that begin
to rival human intelligence
or perhaps even exceed it.

220
00:22:50,899 --> 00:22:57,619
And this could mean
that a long-held futuristic dream
may eventually come true -

221
00:22:59,059 --> 00:23:04,179
machines that could fulfil
our every whim.

222
00:23:11,580 --> 00:23:16,579
Already large parts of our lives,
our society, our economy

223
00:23:16,614 --> 00:23:21,577
are run by machines with
specialised artificial intelligence.

224
00:23:21,612 --> 00:23:26,540
There are already hundreds of
examples of what I call narrow AI.

225
00:23:26,575 --> 00:23:30,584
Basically, programs
that are operating at human levels,

226
00:23:30,619 --> 00:23:36,260
doing what humans used to do
and doing them, generally, better,
for specific task.

227
00:23:37,780 --> 00:23:44,580
Flying and landing aeroplanes,
guiding weapons, making billions
of dollars of financial decisions.

228
00:23:44,615 --> 00:23:49,145
I could give hundreds of examples.
This used to require humans.

229
00:23:49,180 --> 00:23:57,260
Machines now do it faster,
more accurately. And the narrowness
is gradually getting less narrow.

230
00:24:02,619 --> 00:24:06,224
And, due to the explosion
of computing power,

231
00:24:06,259 --> 00:24:10,540
more and more machines are now being
designed to think for themselves.

232
00:24:15,460 --> 00:24:20,020
Like these modular robots,
called superbots.

233
00:24:21,659 --> 00:24:26,580
Every module, if needed, can become
a brain to control others.

234
00:24:26,615 --> 00:24:30,940
And they can detect
where they are in the body.

235
00:24:32,659 --> 00:24:38,980
Basically, they use their infrared
and they have six-way communication
with their neighbours.

236
00:24:39,015 --> 00:24:45,220
They would say, "Do I have
a neighbour on my right-hand side?
On my left-hand side?"

237
00:24:45,255 --> 00:24:50,397
If it detects it's in the arm,
it will perform like an arm.

238
00:24:50,432 --> 00:24:55,540
If it detects it's in the leg,
it will perform as a leg.

239
00:24:55,575 --> 00:24:58,105
These are just prototypes.

240
00:24:58,140 --> 00:25:04,179
The next generation of superbots
will be able to assess
their environment independently

241
00:25:04,214 --> 00:25:08,700
and decide for themselves
which shape would be best.

242
00:25:10,540 --> 00:25:16,740
It will change its shape to become
a snake in order to go through
a very narrow place,

243
00:25:16,775 --> 00:25:23,499
or change the shape to have legs
to grab things and climb down
certain things.

244
00:25:23,534 --> 00:25:27,940
Eventually they'll perform different
tasks in different environments.

245
00:25:27,975 --> 00:25:32,300
That's our grand goal
for this project.

246
00:25:34,699 --> 00:25:41,700
Up to now, robots' ability to think
and act autonomously has been
limited by two major hurdles.

247
00:25:41,735 --> 00:25:44,905
The first is pattern recognition.

248
00:25:44,940 --> 00:25:50,980
Robots can see - better than us -
but they don't understand
what they are seeing.

249
00:25:51,015 --> 00:25:55,705
They can't recognise objects very
well. The second is more important.

250
00:25:55,740 --> 00:26:03,259
Robots can hear - much better than
us - but they don't necessarily
understand what they are hearing.

251
00:26:04,619 --> 00:26:07,820
Yet this may be about to change.

252
00:26:11,299 --> 00:26:17,659
'Here at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, researchers have
recently made a breakthrough.

253
00:26:17,694 --> 00:26:22,700
'They have created a machine
with object recognition skills,

254
00:26:22,735 --> 00:26:26,700
'by combining computer science
with neuroscience.'

255
00:26:28,459 --> 00:26:35,100
Our work has been motivated mainly
by trying to understand
the neuroscience of the brain,

256
00:26:35,135 --> 00:26:37,465
how the brain works.

257
00:26:37,500 --> 00:26:41,900
If you understand
the part of intelligence works,

258
00:26:41,935 --> 00:26:44,424
you can recreate it in machines.

259
00:26:44,459 --> 00:26:52,339
The MIT team designed a computer
that emulates the way the brain
processes visual information.

260
00:26:56,179 --> 00:27:02,500
The machine was then shown hundreds
of sample images of common objects,
like buildings, vehicles,

261
00:27:02,535 --> 00:27:05,059
animals or plants.

262
00:27:08,700 --> 00:27:14,340
Afterwards, the machine was shown
images of street scenes
that contained those objects.

263
00:27:16,100 --> 00:27:20,940
The question was whether
it would recognise them.

264
00:27:22,820 --> 00:27:30,700
The results were astounding.
The computer succeeded in finding
78% of the objects.

265
00:27:32,380 --> 00:27:36,039
It did surprisingly well,
I should say.

266
00:27:36,074 --> 00:27:39,664
Much better
than I would have thought.

267
00:27:39,699 --> 00:27:46,220
Intelligence is the ability
to learn to recognise objects
in difficult situations.

268
00:27:46,255 --> 00:27:48,740
I'm excited about this discovery.

269
00:27:53,099 --> 00:27:56,860
But how does the computer compare
to human abilities?

270
00:27:58,939 --> 00:28:03,859
This computer program and I
are going head-to-head in a contest.

271
00:28:03,894 --> 00:28:06,505
It's going to be man versus machine.

272
00:28:06,540 --> 00:28:12,545
Both of us are going to be
flashed a picture
so fast you can barely see it

273
00:28:12,580 --> 00:28:19,179
and we have to decide whether or not
there's an animal in that picture -
Immediate Object Recognition.

274
00:28:19,214 --> 00:28:21,979
Most computers do horribly at this.

275
00:28:24,100 --> 00:28:29,465
'A picture is flashed up onscreen
for just a fiftieth of a second.

276
00:28:29,500 --> 00:28:35,859
'I then have to decide whether
there is or isn't an animal present.
The computer does the same.

277
00:28:39,460 --> 00:28:43,980
'And then the picture is revealed,
along with our answers.

278
00:28:46,780 --> 00:28:49,540
'Let's see who comes out on top.

279
00:29:10,700 --> 00:29:15,500
'I get the impression that the
computer has got the better of me.

280
00:29:18,940 --> 00:29:21,660
'And, in fact, it has.'

281
00:29:25,259 --> 00:29:31,859
It's rather ingenious. This computer
can mimic the way the human brain
processes information.

282
00:29:31,894 --> 00:29:34,459
And look - it beat me.

283
00:29:42,460 --> 00:29:47,584
'Research into artificial
intelligence is at a turning point.

284
00:29:47,619 --> 00:29:55,060
'In the coming decades,
machines will gradually approach
human level intelligence.

285
00:29:56,899 --> 00:30:01,984
'What kind of relationship will we
develop with intelligent machines?

286
00:30:02,019 --> 00:30:07,939
'To find out, I've travelled
to the country my family came from -
Japan.'

287
00:30:10,660 --> 00:30:15,065
My parents grew up in the Shinto
and Buddhist tradition.

288
00:30:15,100 --> 00:30:20,100
In Shintoism, there are gods and
spirits which inhabit all things,

289
00:30:20,135 --> 00:30:24,505
even inanimate things
like machines and even robots.

290
00:30:24,540 --> 00:30:30,619
And in Buddhism,
the emphasis is on harmony,
not conflict, not domination,

291
00:30:30,654 --> 00:30:34,424
but living in harmony
with the world.

292
00:30:34,459 --> 00:30:40,619
'So the Japanese people conceive
robots as friends, companions
and even confidants.'

293
00:30:40,654 --> 00:30:45,036
Welcome, Dr Kaku.
Glad to meet you, Asimo.

294
00:30:45,071 --> 00:30:49,384
I'll show you to the table.
My pleasure.

295
00:30:49,419 --> 00:30:56,740
'It's no surprise that the most
advanced humanoid robot, Asimo,
has been developed here

296
00:30:56,775 --> 00:30:59,065
'in Japan.'

297
00:30:59,100 --> 00:31:03,859
Thank you for making time
to visit us. No problem.

298
00:31:03,894 --> 00:31:06,464
I'll bring you something to drink.

299
00:31:06,499 --> 00:31:11,225
'While Asimo can recognise obstacles
and pre-registered faces,

300
00:31:11,260 --> 00:31:17,820
'most of what it says and does
is pre-programmed.'
Please take a seat. OK, I will.

301
00:31:21,740 --> 00:31:24,025
Please excuse me.

302
00:31:24,060 --> 00:31:30,820
'And yet Asimo has one
very important skill -
it can walk and move like a human.'

303
00:31:33,019 --> 00:31:35,419
I start walking.

304
00:31:41,659 --> 00:31:46,819
We take it for granted that we can
walk. We don't even think about it.

305
00:31:46,854 --> 00:31:51,139
In fact,
it's an extremely complex task.

306
00:32:00,619 --> 00:32:05,340
It took the engineers at Honda
20 years of research

307
00:32:05,375 --> 00:32:09,420
to achieve Asimo's
human-like movements.

308
00:32:18,460 --> 00:32:22,264
Asimo is one of the most advanced
robots in the world

309
00:32:22,299 --> 00:32:27,539
when it comes to walking, when
it comes to running and mobility.

310
00:32:27,574 --> 00:32:31,984
Things that were once considered
impossible, Asimo can do.

311
00:32:32,019 --> 00:32:39,420
So Asimo is an engineering marvel.
Five or ten years ago, a robot that
could walk with this sophistication

312
00:32:39,455 --> 00:32:42,259
was beyond reach.

313
00:32:44,059 --> 00:32:49,419
'Because Asimo's looks and moves are
so strikingly similar to a human,

314
00:32:49,454 --> 00:32:52,345
'I don't see in it just a machine.'

315
00:32:52,380 --> 00:32:56,740
I came for a delivery. Thank you.
I brought you orange juice.

316
00:32:58,140 --> 00:33:01,345
'I know Asimo is a machine...'

317
00:33:01,380 --> 00:33:07,779
Thank you so much.
'..but I find myself relating to it
as though it was a real person.

318
00:33:07,814 --> 00:33:11,956
'We tend to anthropomorphise things
closest to us.'

319
00:33:11,991 --> 00:33:16,064
For example, recently my wife and I
bought a Roomba,

320
00:33:16,099 --> 00:33:21,900
one of these robot vacuum cleaners
that cleans your floor
automatically.

321
00:33:21,935 --> 00:33:26,704
My wife's attitude toward the
machine began to change with time.

322
00:33:26,739 --> 00:33:33,180
All of a sudden, she began
to call it an affectionate name
and say, "Don't work it so hard.

323
00:33:33,215 --> 00:33:39,139
"Let the poor thing rest.
Give it a break,"
as if it were a real person,

324
00:33:39,174 --> 00:33:42,379
some kind of pet or even a baby.

325
00:33:45,619 --> 00:33:50,379
'The more lifelike the machine, the
more we develop an emotional bond.

326
00:33:53,619 --> 00:33:58,099
'And the more we will tend
to interact with it.

327
00:34:00,900 --> 00:34:06,619
'Yet what will happen when,
increasingly,
the machines interact with us?'

328
00:34:09,660 --> 00:34:12,665
MUSIC: "Surfin' USA"

329
00:34:12,700 --> 00:34:20,144
'These children are visiting
the world's largest robot museum
in the Japanese city of Nagoya.

330
00:34:20,179 --> 00:34:27,100
'Some of the robots on display here
are specially designed to foster
an emotional bond with humans.'

331
00:34:34,020 --> 00:34:38,425
This is the Sony Aibo.
In other words, robo-pet.

332
00:34:38,460 --> 00:34:42,460
The Sony Aibo can register
about six different emotions,

333
00:34:42,495 --> 00:34:45,985
like hunger, distress, pain.

334
00:34:46,020 --> 00:34:50,779
When you want to pet the dog,
it registers pleasure. Pet its back,

335
00:34:50,814 --> 00:34:53,939
tickle its ears or its chin.

336
00:34:56,260 --> 00:35:01,020
And when it runs out of electricity,
it shows that it's hungry.

337
00:35:03,900 --> 00:35:08,264
The children here clearly love toys
like Aibo.

338
00:35:08,299 --> 00:35:14,105
Their reaction gives an insight
into our future relationship
with robots.

339
00:35:14,140 --> 00:35:19,820
I showed some Australian children
of a robot called Curio,
which means curiosity.

340
00:35:19,855 --> 00:35:22,259
This Curio is amazing.

341
00:35:25,300 --> 00:35:30,860
Not only can it walk up and down
stairs, sit down, right itself
and so on,

342
00:35:30,895 --> 00:35:36,464
but it can process conversations
and respond as if it has emotions.

343
00:35:36,499 --> 00:35:42,984
When I asked the eight-year-old
children, "Would you rather have
your best friend

344
00:35:43,019 --> 00:35:50,740
"or have Curio as your best friend?"
the best friend was dumped
immediately in favour of Curio!

345
00:35:55,859 --> 00:35:57,865
APPLAUSE

346
00:35:57,900 --> 00:36:02,945
Some of your closest friends
might not be humans at all.

347
00:36:02,980 --> 00:36:09,760
You may become emotionally attached
to a pet robot or to an artificial
intelligence out on the web.

348
00:36:09,795 --> 00:36:16,540
You'll know that it's not really
intelligent, but you've gotten a
habit of sharing your secrets to it

349
00:36:16,575 --> 00:36:23,260
and it listens so well
and so much better than your friend
that you'll be dependent on it.

350
00:36:30,780 --> 00:36:36,019
'But what if these robots did not
just act as though they had
emotions?

351
00:36:38,220 --> 00:36:43,059
'What if they did really feel pain
and pleasure, sadness and joy?'

352
00:36:46,939 --> 00:36:49,339
Nice or nasty?

353
00:36:50,379 --> 00:36:54,780
Nasty. Because you were meant
to register pain.

354
00:36:54,815 --> 00:36:57,379
I'm not going to hurt you.

355
00:37:01,020 --> 00:37:03,420
Nasty or nice?

356
00:37:04,420 --> 00:37:06,139
Nice.

357
00:37:07,659 --> 00:37:14,185
'Traditionally,
emotions have been seen
as the antithesis of intelligence.

358
00:37:14,220 --> 00:37:20,659
'But scientists are beginning
to understand that emotions are
critical for higher intelligence.'

359
00:37:20,694 --> 00:37:25,225
Scientists have been hesitant
to want to work on emotion.

360
00:37:25,260 --> 00:37:30,944
Scientists think of themselves
as very rational, unemotional beings

361
00:37:30,979 --> 00:37:36,660
and yet what scientists often forget
is that we are guided
in what we choose to focus on

362
00:37:36,695 --> 00:37:39,385
by the mechanisms of emotion.

363
00:37:39,420 --> 00:37:44,024
So we came along about a decade ago
and started saying, "This matters."

364
00:37:44,059 --> 00:37:51,580
We have to understand how emotion
influences intelligence
so we may emulate it in machines.

365
00:37:51,615 --> 00:37:55,664
Don't you care?!
Care? No, why should I care?

366
00:37:55,699 --> 00:37:59,820
'Emotional intelligence is the
cutting edge of human intelligence.'

367
00:37:59,855 --> 00:38:04,179
You wouldn't care about someone
in pain? We do not feel pain.

368
00:38:05,379 --> 00:38:11,379
Being jealous, expressing a loving
sentiment, getting the joke.
These are very complex behaviours,

369
00:38:11,414 --> 00:38:14,544
our most intelligent behaviour.

370
00:38:14,579 --> 00:38:19,980
Pardon me for breathing,
which I never do anyway.

371
00:38:20,015 --> 00:38:23,425
Oh, God, I'm so depressed.

372
00:38:23,460 --> 00:38:29,105
Neuroscientists have found something
absolutely essential
about the human brain.

373
00:38:29,140 --> 00:38:34,939
In patients that suffer brain
damage, the front part of the brain,
the thinking part,

374
00:38:34,974 --> 00:38:39,344
cannot communicate well
with the part that governs emotions.

375
00:38:39,379 --> 00:38:46,559
These people are paralysed
by indecision. They can't evaluate
what's important and what's not.

376
00:38:46,594 --> 00:38:53,739
In the future, we want robots
to tell the difference between
right and wrong, good and bad,

377
00:38:53,774 --> 00:38:59,180
important and not important,
and for that emotions are the key.

378
00:39:01,219 --> 00:39:05,899
'So, inevitably, for robots
to be really useful to us

379
00:39:05,934 --> 00:39:10,304
'they will have to be
emotional beings.'

380
00:39:10,339 --> 00:39:16,940
"Let's build robots
with genuine people personalities,"
they said.

381
00:39:16,975 --> 00:39:19,904
So they tried it out with me.

382
00:39:19,939 --> 00:39:24,979
'And these emotional, intelligent
beings will learn and develop,

383
00:39:25,014 --> 00:39:28,540
'becoming more and more independent
of humans.'

384
00:39:29,620 --> 00:39:32,704
I'm not getting you down, am I?

385
00:39:32,739 --> 00:39:39,180
The government here in Tokyo
is considering the world's
first set of laws

386
00:39:39,215 --> 00:39:44,185
to regulate and redefine
the role of robots in society.

387
00:39:44,220 --> 00:39:51,300
This is going to be increasingly
important as robots begin to assume
more and more human characteristics.

388
00:39:53,180 --> 00:39:56,705
You can't predict what will happen

389
00:39:56,740 --> 00:40:03,259
because in a short time the machine
might develop and learn
and invent and test new ideas

390
00:40:04,499 --> 00:40:12,460
in such variety
that the next day you wouldn't
understand what it's doing.

391
00:40:12,495 --> 00:40:17,785
And it would be too busy to bother
trying to explain it to you.

392
00:40:17,820 --> 00:40:25,219
'As machines evolve both their
intelligence and their ability
to navigate our world,

393
00:40:25,254 --> 00:40:27,820
'they may outgrow human control.'

394
00:40:30,580 --> 00:40:35,380
I think there's a very good chance
machines will be smarter than us.

395
00:40:35,415 --> 00:40:37,980
We're going to lose this brain race.

396
00:40:38,015 --> 00:40:40,664
There are two scenarios here -

397
00:40:40,699 --> 00:40:48,140
the optimistic scenario is that these
new superhuman machines are very
gentle and treat us like pets

398
00:40:48,175 --> 00:40:54,100
and the pessimistic scenario is
that they're not very gentle
and they treat us like food.

399
00:40:54,135 --> 00:40:57,180
Me, I hope for the first scenario.

400
00:40:58,220 --> 00:41:00,620
They're coming towards us.

401
00:41:02,379 --> 00:41:06,625
What...what is it?
I don't know.

402
00:41:06,660 --> 00:41:13,579
'Robots developing their own agenda
and turning against humans is
a staple of science fiction.'

403
00:41:18,340 --> 00:41:23,780
Whenever Hollywood shows you humans
coming in conflict with AIs,

404
00:41:23,815 --> 00:41:26,877
sides are roughly evenly balanced.

405
00:41:26,912 --> 00:41:29,904
'Hollywood can only show you movies

406
00:41:29,939 --> 00:41:33,665
'where the good guys
have a fighting chance.'

407
00:41:33,700 --> 00:41:38,140
Goliath versus David is a story.
Goliath versus a fruit fly is not.

408
00:41:42,379 --> 00:41:48,420
Without you, what could he do?
There's no limit to what he could
do. He could destroy the Earth.

409
00:41:48,455 --> 00:41:51,065
Some people think it's hopeless,

410
00:41:51,100 --> 00:41:58,300
it's only a matter of time before
machines become smarter than us
and put us in zoos behind bars.

411
00:41:58,335 --> 00:42:03,257
I don't think it's that clear
at all. We'll be able to choose

412
00:42:03,292 --> 00:42:08,144
the level of advancement
of the intelligence of our robots.

413
00:42:08,179 --> 00:42:13,180
Why don't you keep out? Don't talk
to me like that. I created you.

414
00:42:13,215 --> 00:42:17,465
We do have a choice in how we create
artificial intelligence.

415
00:42:17,500 --> 00:42:23,659
You've got to be very sure
either that that mind is never
going to want to self-improve

416
00:42:23,694 --> 00:42:28,900
or to want to do anything
that destroys intelligent life.

417
00:42:28,935 --> 00:42:31,505
Treat that gun as if it's loaded.

418
00:42:31,540 --> 00:42:36,745
You can't beat us, Dr Fleming!
Am I likely to get hurt? Yes!

419
00:42:36,780 --> 00:42:42,584
What we do with people is put them
through lots of experiments and tests
and challenges

420
00:42:42,619 --> 00:42:48,900
before they are promoted to the next
level, to see if they are trustworthy
and resilient and able to function.

421
00:42:48,935 --> 00:42:56,339
Similarly, as machines get very
complex and less predictable, and
harder to anticipate their behaviour,

422
00:42:56,374 --> 00:43:02,299
we will have to put them through
many more tests and trials
to prove that they are trustworthy

423
00:43:02,334 --> 00:43:04,979
in more complex situations.

424
00:43:07,219 --> 00:43:13,780
I believe it's ultimately up to us
what kind of intelligent machines
we'll create.

425
00:43:13,815 --> 00:43:18,540
We will decide what relationship
we'll develop with them.

426
00:43:21,260 --> 00:43:25,664
And we'll have another
even more critical choice.

427
00:43:25,699 --> 00:43:30,459
We'll be able to choose the level
of our own intelligence.

428
00:43:31,979 --> 00:43:35,065
As machines become more intelligent,

429
00:43:35,100 --> 00:43:41,739
we'll be able to enhance our own
cognitive and intellectual
capabilities. Here's the irony -

430
00:43:41,774 --> 00:43:48,580
as machines become more like humans,
humans might become
more like machines.

431
00:43:48,615 --> 00:43:55,660
And that may represent
the highest stage
in a mastery of intelligence.

432
00:43:59,659 --> 00:44:06,139
Merging our minds with machines
may sound like science fiction,
but it's already happening.

433
00:44:06,174 --> 00:44:11,384
At the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio,
neurosurgeons implant electrodes

434
00:44:11,419 --> 00:44:17,619
into the brains of chronically
depressed patients. The technique
is called deep brain stimulation

435
00:44:17,654 --> 00:44:22,020
or DBS and it's normally used
for Parkinson's patients.

436
00:44:23,059 --> 00:44:28,099
Deep brain stimulation
or a "brain pacemaker" involves

437
00:44:28,134 --> 00:44:30,985
implanting a tiny electrical wire

438
00:44:31,020 --> 00:44:39,500
in different parts of the brain.
This emits tiny electrical signals
that regulate abnormal brain activity

439
00:44:39,535 --> 00:44:44,504
and rewires the brain to help
these patients' quality of life.

440
00:44:44,539 --> 00:44:50,500
Diane is one of the first
depression patients to be treated
with a brain implant.

441
00:44:54,660 --> 00:44:58,105
I suffered from depression
for 20 years.

442
00:44:58,140 --> 00:45:03,020
My world had sort of shrunk
to my living room and my bedroom.

443
00:45:03,055 --> 00:45:07,464
It just felt like I was carrying
a ton on my shoulders.

444
00:45:07,499 --> 00:45:12,819
And even the thought of having to do
anything that took energy

445
00:45:12,854 --> 00:45:18,139
was so exhausting to me
that I couldn't do it then.
So...

446
00:45:18,174 --> 00:45:22,900
It was just sort of a very dark...
shrunken world.

447
00:45:25,380 --> 00:45:29,739
Diane was desperate to find a cure
for her condition.

448
00:45:32,899 --> 00:45:36,904
I tried very many medications -

449
00:45:36,939 --> 00:45:42,019
MAOI inhibitors, SSRI medications,
anti-psychotics,

450
00:45:42,054 --> 00:45:47,065
anti-depressives,
electro-convulsive therapy...

451
00:45:47,100 --> 00:45:51,739
And all of those things
just made me withdraw more and more.

452
00:45:52,819 --> 00:45:54,825
See the nose?

453
00:45:54,860 --> 00:45:59,740
Rezai's team uses the latest
in MRI scanning technology

454
00:45:59,775 --> 00:46:04,620
to locate specific areas
of the brain for treatment.

455
00:46:04,655 --> 00:46:07,064
See here Diane's brain scan.

456
00:46:07,099 --> 00:46:13,100
These computerised systems allow you
to navigate different parts
of her brain

457
00:46:13,135 --> 00:46:15,425
to find the target area.

458
00:46:15,460 --> 00:46:21,420
Microscopic robots are used
to guide the implants
through the brain.

459
00:46:22,459 --> 00:46:27,500
These tiny micro-robots allow us
to start from the top of the head

460
00:46:27,535 --> 00:46:32,740
to a point that is 8-10 centimetres
deep in her brain.

461
00:46:34,259 --> 00:46:36,900
The operation would last five hours.

462
00:46:44,220 --> 00:46:49,380
After three hours, the electrodes
were placed into position.

463
00:46:51,619 --> 00:46:55,664
They woke me up from the anaesthesia
so I could respond.

464
00:46:55,699 --> 00:47:02,299
And they turned it on
and all of a sudden it was like,
"How are you feeling?"

465
00:47:02,334 --> 00:47:04,744
How are you feeling?

466
00:47:04,779 --> 00:47:09,424
I'm starting to smile.
I feel happy.

467
00:47:09,459 --> 00:47:14,500
Suddenly I was just grinning from
ear to ear, giggling a little bit

468
00:47:14,535 --> 00:47:18,380
and I said,
"Yeah, I like this! This is OK."

469
00:47:19,420 --> 00:47:24,179
You know, it's how I used to feel
when I would go to work

470
00:47:25,219 --> 00:47:26,864
and...

471
00:47:26,899 --> 00:47:31,859
you know, have good weekends
and do things.

472
00:47:34,419 --> 00:47:40,979
But I just haven't felt like that
for so long that...
It's been how many years?

473
00:47:42,099 --> 00:47:45,439
Well, since...really '88.

474
00:47:45,474 --> 00:47:48,780
For me it was instantaneous

475
00:47:48,815 --> 00:47:50,779
to feel SO good.

476
00:47:52,219 --> 00:47:55,465
You just don't want it to stop.

477
00:47:55,500 --> 00:48:00,545
So let me show you the X-rays.
You can see here these wires

478
00:48:00,580 --> 00:48:07,059
that are implanted in the mood parts
of the brain to improve the mood
and energy and anxiety.

479
00:48:07,094 --> 00:48:12,659
These tunnel from the top of
the head down here, down the neck,
to the chest

480
00:48:12,694 --> 00:48:15,220
and to the pacemaker battery.

481
00:48:16,299 --> 00:48:23,460
After her recovery, the process
of fine-tuning the settings
of Diane's brain pacemaker began.

482
00:48:23,495 --> 00:48:26,179
We'll start on the left side. OK.

483
00:48:30,219 --> 00:48:33,505
'That's a real rollercoaster ride!'

484
00:48:33,540 --> 00:48:38,500
They switch it one way and almost
instantaneously you're crying.

485
00:48:38,535 --> 00:48:41,100
I don't feel good.

486
00:48:42,300 --> 00:48:45,259
Things just seem darker and heavier.

487
00:48:52,659 --> 00:48:58,859
And then they, you know,
turned that off and maybe switch it
to another parameter

488
00:48:58,894 --> 00:49:01,465
and then you're feeling better.

489
00:49:01,500 --> 00:49:06,300
So I did that for four or five hours,
three days in a row.

490
00:49:11,419 --> 00:49:16,339
Mm, I think I feel a little lighter,
a little brighter.

491
00:49:21,220 --> 00:49:23,705
Feel better?

492
00:49:23,740 --> 00:49:28,420
It's definitely better? Yes.
No doubt, huh? Yeah.

493
00:49:30,699 --> 00:49:35,059
Definitely lighter and brighter.
Definitely? Yes.

494
00:49:37,459 --> 00:49:41,419
My face feels so relaxed.
Does it? Yeah.

495
00:49:43,140 --> 00:49:49,899
'On the fourth day, we found
a setting that I just was...
a whole new person.'

496
00:49:49,934 --> 00:49:53,900
It's the difference
between night and day.

497
00:49:53,935 --> 00:49:55,899
In my life.

498
00:50:01,980 --> 00:50:08,300
Brain implants have the potential
to treat a wide range of conditions
in the very near future.

499
00:50:09,340 --> 00:50:13,180
The use of brain pacemakers
will be more and more common,

500
00:50:13,215 --> 00:50:15,784
for patients with severe epilepsy,

501
00:50:15,819 --> 00:50:19,504
for patients
with Tourette's syndrome,

502
00:50:19,539 --> 00:50:25,740
and one of the next frontiers
will be in the realm of patients
with severe acquired brain injury,

503
00:50:25,775 --> 00:50:29,785
such as stroke,
and patients with autism

504
00:50:29,820 --> 00:50:37,180
and Alzheimer's, down the line. It's
going to affect many neurological
and psychiatric conditions.

505
00:50:41,380 --> 00:50:46,180
'But implants could do more
than simply repair the brain.

506
00:50:47,580 --> 00:50:52,060
'Soon microchips could begin
to augment and improve it.'

507
00:50:53,619 --> 00:50:57,985
Some scientists predict that in
the future we'll have a memory chip.

508
00:50:58,020 --> 00:51:03,824
We'll be able to file away
and store memories
and vastly improve our memory.

509
00:51:03,859 --> 00:51:09,660
Maybe one day we'll have a vision
chip which could help
victims of strokes and accidents

510
00:51:09,695 --> 00:51:14,157
and some scientists predict that
we could even have a thinking chip

511
00:51:14,192 --> 00:51:18,619
that could vastly enhance our
cognitive and intellectual skills.

512
00:51:23,740 --> 00:51:28,705
When you go out to the late 2020s,
almost everybody will have

513
00:51:28,740 --> 00:51:34,780
some amount of non-biological
intelligence inside their brains.
It will happen very gradually,

514
00:51:34,815 --> 00:51:39,664
and as it gradually becomes
more sophisticated,

515
00:51:39,699 --> 00:51:45,705
you'll enter the 2040s and
the non-biological machine portion
of our intelligence could be

516
00:51:45,740 --> 00:51:52,380
vastly more powerful than
the biological portion. Biological
intelligence will be trivial then,

517
00:51:52,415 --> 00:51:56,940
and ultimately that is really
where the action is.

518
00:51:57,939 --> 00:52:00,544
We, as a species,

519
00:52:00,579 --> 00:52:06,580
are starting to put our
information-processing technology
inside our bodies.

520
00:52:06,615 --> 00:52:10,585
And our technologies
are becoming more biological.

521
00:52:10,620 --> 00:52:15,500
In next 50 years we'll see robots
with more biological components

522
00:52:15,535 --> 00:52:19,504
and people
with more electronic components.

523
00:52:19,539 --> 00:52:25,699
So where are the people going to be
and where are the robots going to be
in 50 or 100 years?

524
00:52:25,734 --> 00:52:25,740
It's an interesting question.

525
00:52:25,779 --> 00:52:27,940
We are at the dawn of a new era

526
00:52:34,539 --> 00:52:41,100
in which we might, literally,
be able to change our mind
with the push of a button.

527
00:52:43,699 --> 00:52:48,304
The proof of principle
already exists.

528
00:52:48,339 --> 00:52:54,340
A team at the University of Southern
California is working on an implant
to replace the hippocampus,

529
00:52:54,375 --> 00:52:58,784
the part of the brain that is
instrumental for storing memories.

530
00:52:58,819 --> 00:53:05,220
People whose hippocampus has been
damaged in an accident may remember
things from before the accident,

531
00:53:05,255 --> 00:53:10,219
but have trouble forming new
memories. In a groundbreaking move,

532
00:53:10,254 --> 00:53:15,464
scientists hope to correct this
by inserting computer chips

533
00:53:15,499 --> 00:53:21,220
directly linked to the nerves of
the brain. I started 30 years ago.

534
00:53:21,255 --> 00:53:25,819
I was involved in early
microprocessor development.

535
00:53:25,854 --> 00:53:28,345
I'm a physicist by training,

536
00:53:28,380 --> 00:53:32,384
and I never really anticipated
becoming a neuroscientist

537
00:53:32,419 --> 00:53:37,419
or taking these and translating them
into a biological system.

538
00:53:40,699 --> 00:53:46,819
First, the team recorded
the electrical responses
of the hippocampus of rats.

539
00:53:52,140 --> 00:53:56,899
Then they designed a computer chip
which mimicked these responses.

540
00:54:00,659 --> 00:54:04,900
The chip was tested by interfacing
it with the brains of rats.

541
00:54:06,859 --> 00:54:11,899
You can improve the response
of the rats by about 50 or 70%,

542
00:54:11,934 --> 00:54:16,299
so we do see an improvement
in the rats' performance.

543
00:54:19,659 --> 00:54:24,100
The next step will be
to develop the chip for humans.

544
00:54:24,135 --> 00:54:28,105
By replacing the damaged hippocampus
of a human,

545
00:54:28,140 --> 00:54:33,099
the scientists aim to treat
Alzheimer's and epilepsy.

546
00:54:34,780 --> 00:54:39,425
It's very exciting work
and it's very fulfilling

547
00:54:39,460 --> 00:54:43,420
if you think eventually
you might impact people's lives.

548
00:54:52,579 --> 00:54:58,380
Currently, brain implants
are only used to treat
certain medical conditions.

549
00:54:58,415 --> 00:55:02,864
The very idea of having electrodes
sticking out of our heads,

550
00:55:02,899 --> 00:55:09,499
well, that's repulsive to some
people, even if they can enhance
our memory and our intelligence.

551
00:55:09,534 --> 00:55:13,465
But in the future,
we just might get used to it

552
00:55:13,500 --> 00:55:19,459
and this technology could become
totally safe, reliable
and unnoticeable.

553
00:55:20,259 --> 00:55:26,459
But this raises an even deeper
question. Precisely how many
of our natural body parts

554
00:55:26,494 --> 00:55:32,659
can we replace with artificial ones
before we begin to lose our sense
of being human?

555
00:55:37,899 --> 00:55:40,464
We'll replace ourselves

556
00:55:40,499 --> 00:55:45,545
by beings that are like us
in some respect and not in others.

557
00:55:45,580 --> 00:55:51,344
They'll be able to learn
a thousand times faster
and live a thousand times longer

558
00:55:51,379 --> 00:55:57,580
and these little changes will make
such large changes that it's hard
to imagine what will happen.

559
00:56:00,499 --> 00:56:05,065
One of the biggest problems
with the 21st century

560
00:56:05,100 --> 00:56:09,939
is how one deals with a world that
is far from a level playing field

561
00:56:09,974 --> 00:56:14,744
and having some enhanced ability
when others have no drinking water.

562
00:56:14,779 --> 00:56:20,824
Would that lead us into a world
where the colonialism
of the 19th century pales

563
00:56:20,859 --> 00:56:27,660
in significance to the speciation,
the differentiation of people into
techno-haves and techno-have nots.

564
00:56:31,020 --> 00:56:36,499
'All revolutions have
winners and losers.
This one is no exception.

565
00:56:36,534 --> 00:56:40,985
'But I would say the big losers
are the people who say'

566
00:56:41,020 --> 00:56:45,680
they don't want to get involved.
They're the ones who will discover

567
00:56:45,715 --> 00:56:50,340
that being a little bit out of touch
will have unpleasant consequences.

568
00:56:50,375 --> 00:56:54,660
This is a revolution where it's not
a good idea to be a bystander.

569
00:57:04,900 --> 00:57:08,905
In the past, we were just
observers of intelligence.

570
00:57:08,940 --> 00:57:15,339
During the Agricultural Revolution,
the best we could do was domesticate
animals and use their intelligence

571
00:57:15,374 --> 00:57:19,424
to secure our food supply.
During the Industrial Revolution,

572
00:57:19,459 --> 00:57:25,899
we could build adding machines and
automated instruments, but that's
about it. Now for the first time,

573
00:57:25,934 --> 00:57:32,420
in the Information Revolution,
we can begin to become
masters of intelligence.

574
00:57:33,940 --> 00:57:38,984
This mastery will offer us
unparalleled freedom
and opportunities.

575
00:57:39,019 --> 00:57:44,700
It has the potential to enrich
our lives more than anything
we've seen before.

576
00:57:46,459 --> 00:57:51,460
But it also forces us to confront
key social issues,

577
00:57:51,495 --> 00:57:55,900
choices that we have to start
to address today.

578
00:58:19,659 --> 00:58:23,620
Subtitles by Subtext
for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2007

579
00:58:24,620 --> 00:58:27,219
Email us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk