androids, how realistic would the possibility of the like of ash and david

I'm sure that the mechanics of creating a robot like David are well within the bounds of what is possible, perhaps within a few decades (think of where computing technology was 30 years ago). The problem is with the robot brain. Some scientists (e.g. the esteemed Roger Penrose) believe that we are deluding ourselves if we think that we can create true artificial intelligence. The short of their argument is that thinking is not a computing problem, and that human thought arises through a complex interaction of our biochemistry and quantum mechanics. Having said that, nature managed to pull it off, so I see no reason myself why that can't be improved upon, even if we don't understand how it works. The bigger problem, as I see it, would be society's acceptance of such technology. Let's face it, these machines are potentially very dangerous. I doubt we'd ever let such things run loose, even with Asimov's robot laws in effect. Humans aren't that trusting.

There is an old saying that necessity is the mother of invention. If you were to ask me whether the likes of Ash and David are becoming a reality about 3 years ago i would have said we were quite a way off. Since the global crash, universities and bedroom projecteers have had to find ways of getting their hands on cheap lab gear. This has opened up some interesting networks and the sharing of some ingenious techniques, all at low cost. Today were are on the verge of a technological revolution, but it has taken some time to filter down into manufacturing industry. i first saw the early applications of Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and 3D printing back in 2002/3. The resolution of this technology has advanced extremely quickly. Just think back to how many megabytes you would get from an average digital camera compared to what you can get now.There has also been massive developments from the global biohacking community. All this technology is slowly moving into the mainstream. It is now very possible to create a body and endoskeletal structure for an android. As ZZplural states, and I am in complete agreement. The real step forward is the brain. Artificial pathway generation from mathmatical algorythms has been documented since the 90's. There are certainly articles in The New Scientist Magazine from back then covering the subject. These programmes were simplistic, and also begged the question of how you define life. I think whatever comes out of CERN will thrust humanity into its next evolutionary step in technology, but are we ready for it?

"Morphology, longevity, incept dates." "I - I don't know such stuff!"