From black technology to super engineering

Tesla building in California.

Although it was announced three years ago that the headquarters would be relocated to Texas, the production base in California still maintains its scale, and has been further expanded in the past two years.

And here is also the base of Tesla's many scientific research projects.

One thing that has to be admitted is the fact that California's scientific and technological talents are indeed better than those in Texas.

"...OK, goodbye."

Musk ended the call with a sentence in unproficient Chinese and put down the phone.

He likes to stay up late, and he doesn't care at all that it's 11 o'clock in the middle of the night. He only knows that if he doesn't make this call today, he will feel uncomfortable all over.

His assistant has long been used to the boss's work and rest, sitting by the side and handing over a cup of coffee in a timely manner.

Musk turned on the screen of the phone again, and while the smoke was rising, he took a sip of coffee and landed his fingertips on the screen.

This video was transferred from douyin to Tik Tok, and then transferred to Twitter.

The content of the video is very ordinary, that is, a group of people holding their mobile phones and walking along the road with a man, a woman and a robot.

Frankly speaking, as long as he doesn't know the young man in the picture, no matter how loud the uploader of the video is and how many people are watching, he will think it is a fake video.

Because this biped robot is very unusual.

It is not a functional robot like Boston Dynamics with a bunch of batteries on its back - an indisputable fact is that Boston Dynamics is indeed very powerful in the field of making biped robots move.

In a sense, it’s more like Tesla’s upcoming concept robot—with a built-in battery, a slim body, and a golden section aesthetic.

As a boss who was born as an engineer, he can fully predict how beautiful this robot will be once it is designed with skin.

More importantly, the walking posture of this robot even reveals an indescribable sense of elegance.

As if she wasn't a robot, but a real human woman, very ladylike.

So you know how scary it is?

However……

He knew the young man.

This person is Ye Ming, a shareholder and founder of Jizhi Technology, and one of the youngest candidates for the Nobel Prize-don't mix the peace prize with the field of science.

The creator of Ye's equation and Ye's limit is more like Iron Man's genius than him.

Yesterday, he joked that he wanted to spend 50 billion to buy Jizhi Technology.

Today, it is estimated that this number will have to double before it is qualified to be a joke.

"Mike, if I were the government, I wouldn't engage in any negotiations at all." Musk pointed to Ye Ming's head in the video: "Directly fire three militiamen."

The assistant coughed and laughed: "Boss, this joke can't be played on Twitter."

"Okay, no kidding. You book a ticket for me right away, and I'm going to have a look."

"Boss, it seems that we are not the ones to worry about? They don't seem to be willing to get involved in launch vehicles and smart electric vehicles."

"Yes, it seems that the group of people in Silicon Valley should be anxious." Musk took another sip of coffee, remained silent for a few seconds, and asked back with a frown: "But are you really sure that they will not consider going to space?"

The assistant was stunned.

Musk put down his coffee, picked up the phone again, and his face gradually darkened.

After a while, the phone dialed.

"I ask you to immediately, immediately, bring the robot you designed to my office!"

"I don't care what method you use, whether you let her go, let her run, or whether you carry her on your back or carry her, I will see you in half an hour!"

"no excuse!"

After hanging up the phone, the richest man let out a heavy breath.

"A bunch of stumbling blocks!"

*

*

After seeing off the two professors, Ye Ming returned to the office.

He was a little overjoyed.

It should be late at night with the richest man, right? It's hard for him to call in the middle of the night...

Well, I have to say that this style of behavior is indeed in line with the persona of the richest man who is a genius engineering man-technical matters, there are so many messy business trajectories, how easy it is to go directly to the door!

Obviously, the richest man was stimulated.

After closing the door, Ye Ming sat on the sofa.

Aita's robot sat quietly across from him.

Ye Ming knows that the robot is in attitude control and "sleep" mode at this time - if it is described by data and algorithms, it is now only using the attitude control system and task waiting system stored on the server.

She needs to be awakened to invoke Aita's core thinking system.

Although the pure mechanical structure in front of her eyes is full of alloy bones and circuits, PCBs, chips... But the more Ye Ming looks at it, the more she feels that she does have a quiet beauty that comes from the bones.

Maybe this is the beauty of bones?

The door was knocked lightly twice and then pushed open. Seeing Ye Ming staring at the robot, He Mo was startled for a moment, then smiled and said, "Have you been fascinated?"

"Somewhat."

"Pfft... I designed it to look good, huh?" He Mo also sat down next to Ye Ming, and looked at it for a few seconds: "What kind of casing are you going to install? Silicone casing or metal casing?"

"I didn't think about it, and I don't know..." Ye Ming pursed his lips and swallowed "what does she like".

This is the body that Ita designed for herself. Although she doesn't mind handing over the design to Ye Ming to copy - she has a sense of pride and superiority that is completely different from humans, and she has no illusory concept of "exclusivity", but she still hopes All designs are done by her.

In this regard, Ye Ming still has to respect her.

"The metal shell is not easy to get dirty, and it is easy to clean when it is dirty, but it is easy to leave dents if bumped. The silicone shell is more realistic, it depends on how you choose." He Mo did not hear that there was something wrong with Ye Ming's hesitation , but put his chin in his hand, and said while thinking: "Also, I remind you to pay attention to the uncanny valley effect."

Ye Ming nodded.

The uncanny valley effect means that when a robot is similar to a human in appearance and action, humans will also have positive emotions towards the robot.

And when robots reach a certain level of similarity to humans, the human response to them suddenly becomes extremely negative and disgusting.

Even if there is only a little difference between a robot and a human being, it will be very conspicuous and dazzling, so that the whole robot has a very stiff and terrifying feeling, just like facing a walking dead.

When the similarity between robots and humans continues to rise, equivalent to the similarity between ordinary people, humans' emotional responses to them will return to the positive side again, resulting in empathy between humans and humans. (Note: copy)

Although the theory was put forward in the 1970s, up to now, robots have not obviously caused this effect. On the contrary, some animals and virtual animated images conform to the theory.

It's just... the robot with Aita is not an ordinary robot.

If there is a slight error in the design of the appearance, coupled with Aita's own proficiency in human natural language, then she can easily fall into the uncanny valley effect.

Or design her to be exactly like a human.

But in that case, not to mention the difficulty in achieving vivid human body and facial expressions, even if there is no difficulty in technology and cost, then there will be a fact of emotional transfer.

This can be related to ethics.

Although Ye Ming doesn't pay much attention to the Internet, He Mo and Mo Gu, two lesbians who love "gossip", will chat with him about relevant news, hot searches and so on every time they eat.

He knows that in the West, especially in Western Europe, a group of people who are full and have nothing to do have already begun to discuss the ethics of artificial intelligence after it enters the family.

Hmm... It is purely a stumbling block to the progress of human science and technology.