A ROBOTIC dog could be a good companion for your dog-loving grandparent who is not able to care for a living pet, suggests a press release from Saint Louis University, Missouri.
Researchers there compared how residents of three nursing homes interacted with Sparky, a living, medium-sized mutt, and AIBO, the robotic dog made by Sony. The team brought Sparky or AIBO into residents鈥� rooms and put them near the occupant. Both pets interacted with the residents 鈥� wagging their tails and responding to the people they visited.
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鈥淭he most surprising thing is they worked almost equally well in terms of alleviating loneliness and causing residents to form attachments,鈥� says William Banks, professor of geriatric medicine at the university. 鈥淭here is a lot of loneliness in nursing homes and animal-assisted therapy 鈥� whether from a dog or a robot 鈥� is one answer for addressing that.鈥�
Robotic dogs could also help to care for older adults who live alone and need a little monitoring. 鈥淭his health companion could follow a person in their home, giving them reminders on when to take medication or sending out an alert when a person has suddenly gone from a vertical position to a horizontal one,鈥� Banks says, evidently choosing his words with care.
With all that going for the 鈥渄ogbot鈥�, could real dogs be going out of fashion?
STILL on the theme of bots, reader Erik Berglund calls our attention to , which describes itself as 鈥渢he Christian AI that is always on and always ready to listen and chat鈥�.
Naturally, it first asks you to pay $10 for year-long, 24/7 access, but for those of little faith it offers a free demonstration. We think readers would be wise to try this before paying anything. When Berglund asked, 鈥淒oes the existence of evil disprove the existence of a benevolent, omnipotent God?鈥�, Godsbot replied: 鈥淚 think it does the existence of evil disprove the existence of a benevolent omnipotent God.鈥� Godsbot, Bergland suspects, is just another version of a program called Eliza, which returns slightly reframed versions of your questions.
Encouragingly, Godsbot offers rather more insight into some scientific matters. When Feedback asked, 鈥淒id you create the Earth 6000 years ago?鈥�, Godsbot replied, 鈥淣o I didn鈥檛 create the Earth 6000 years ago. What鈥檚 it like?鈥� When we asked if species were created or evolved, it answered, 鈥淚 will choose did they evolve.鈥�
Next we asked, 鈥淒id you create the Creation Museum?鈥� Godsbot sensibly denied all responsibility, replying: 鈥淣o I didn鈥檛 create the Creation Museum. What鈥檚 it like?鈥� However, when asked who did create the museum, it answered mysteriously, 鈥淭he Wright Brothers.鈥� And asked if Richard Dawkins was Satan incarnate, it replied, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if he is Dawkins Satan incarnate. I know he is middle-aged.鈥�
Impressed by these responses, we dug further and found Godsbot was created by Ron Ingram, a 鈥渃orporate strategist, trainer and consultant鈥� who also created the . As you might expect, that鈥檚 another AI application, which its website says 鈥渋s linked to a metaphysical archive filled with mysterious books spanning the secrets of the east and the west鈥�.
The trail from Godsbot doesn鈥檛 stop there, either. Feedback has tracked down the source of the AI software, a site called , which lets you design your own software robots and turn them loose on the internet. When we last checked, the site boasted that Pandorabots had served up 564,580,317 replies. Is it too late to shut the lid?
鈥淭HE advertisement for house and contents insurance received by Callan Dick assured him that 鈥淗alifax could beat your renewal quote by up to an average of 拢104鈥�
MAYBE spam email does have a function after all, Gordon Morris suggests. He鈥檚 been cleaning out his junk email folder, hunting for real messages that overzealous filters might have hidden there.
He noticed that the volume of spam offering mortgages and loans declined to zero in November. At the same time, the number offering pills and potions increased dramatically.
Is this, he asks, an indication of the 鈥渃redit crunch鈥�? Are the senders of junk email providing us with a barometer of the world鈥檚 economic well-being? Does the increase in the offers of pills and potions that do wondrous things to one鈥檚 anatomy (if one is male) indicate where people鈥檚 thinking and activity is diverted when they cannot borrow money?
THE company now called Premier Election Solutions makes touch-screen voting machines. It used to be called Diebold Election Systems and has been involved in many controversies, notably after the recount of the 2004 US presidential election in Ohio. The company鈥檚 spokesman is Chris Rigall. We hope he doesn鈥檛.
FINALLY, our report of a road sign in north Wales saying 鈥淪low Construction Ahead鈥� (15 December 2007) reminded Bill Quinton of a sign in the same area that reads 鈥淪low Workforce in Road鈥�. Who is responsible, we wonder, for these surprising displays of honesty?