Tag: Elon Musk

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Back to the Future

Elon Musk presented the prototypes of his new Cybercab and his new Robovan in October 2024. In this context, he once again said: “The future should look like the future.” (TechCrunch, 10 October 2024) This is an astonishing statement, because if you know a little about the history of robot and vehicle construction, you know that Elon Musk is orientating himself on ideas that were popular 20 to 80 years ago. Brass, copper, silver, gold, and large, matt or polished surfaces – reminiscent of Elektro (1939) and his animal companion Sparko (1940) as well as futuristic vehicles such as Gil Spear’s Chrysler two-seater (1941). Science fiction and fantasy are also likely to play a role in the design of Tesla and co – think of steampunk and cyberpunk in general, and think of movies like “Metropolis” (1927) and “I, Robot” (2004). Elon Musk generally likes to mix ideas from fiction in his developments, for example the large language model called Grok, which takes its name from “Stranger in a Strange Land” and is intended to fulfil claims formulated in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. TechCrunch also points out the backward-looking nature of the Robovan: “The Robovan has a retro-futuristic look – somewhere between a bus from The Jetsons and a toaster from the 1950s. It features silver metallic sides with black details, and strips of light run-ning parallel to the ground along its sides, with doors that slide out from the middle.” (TechCrunch, 10 October 2024) Robots and robotic vehicles could look very different in the 2020s (Photo: Eirik Newth; cropped by Robophilosophy).

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All that Groks is God

Elon Musk has named his new language model Grok. The word comes from the science fiction novel “Stranger in a Strange Land” (1961) by Robert A. Heinlein. This famous novel features two characters who have studied the word. Valentine Michael Smith (aka Michael Smith or “Mike”, the “Man from Mars”) is the main character. He is a human who was born on Mars. Dr “Stinky” Mahmoud is a semanticist. After Mike, he is the second person who speaks the Martian language but does not “grok” it. In one passage, Mahmoud explains to Mike: “‘Grok’ means ‘identically equal.’ The human cliché. ‘This hurts me worse than it does you’ has a Martian flavor. The Martians seem to know instinctively what we learned painfully from modern physics, that observer interacts with observed through the process of observation. ‘Grok’ means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed – to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience. It means almost everything that we mean by religion, philosophy, and science – and it means as little to us as color means to a blind man.” Mike says a little later in the dialog: “God groks.” In another place, there is a similar statement: “… all that groks is God …”. In a way, this fits in with what is written on the website of Elon Musk’s AI start-up: “The goal of xAI is to understand the true nature of the universe.” The only question is whether this goal will remain science fiction or become reality.

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The Idea of a Tesla Bot

Elon Musk presented the idea of a humanoid robot that – according to Manager Magazin – could take on dangerous, repetitive or boring tasks in the future. The Tesla Bot will be about five feet eight inches (just under 1.73 meters) tall, weigh 57 kilograms, and be able to do numerous jobs, from putting screws on cars to picking up groceries at the store – this is what the German magazine reports. It will be equipped with eight cameras and a full self-driving computer, and will use the same tools Tesla uses in its cars (Manager Magazin, 20 August 2021). According to the announcement, the robot will be able to take over physical work. But that’s exactly what service robots are struggling with at the moment, especially humanoid models. The visualization hardly allows any conclusions to be drawn about the capabilities of the prototype, which is to be available as early as 2022. Eyes and mouths could appear on a large display in the head area and mimic abilities could be implemented. When it is turned off – as seen in the video – the robot appears creepy and unapproachable. Arms and feet are unlikely to be suitable for carrying the body in this form. Joints can also only be seen in rudimentary form. Overall, it is unclear why Tesla, of all companies, should close the gaps that are still present at Sony, SoftBank and Boston Dynamics even after many years.