Polar Cities for Day After Tomorrow Survivors Will Save Us All from Horrible Deaths

There should be consideration for the idea that, due to population expansion and, hopefully, an interest in maintaining regions of the planet for wildlife, humans will need to build habitats in a wider variety of regions.  There seems to have been some success with providing underwater habitat and reef regrowth areas by sinking old ocean vessels.  Perhaps an underwater habitat for humans would give us a place to live, plus have a secondary effect beneficial to ocean life.

Providing we don’t completely destroy the region when it is built…

OLE Firefighting Pill Bug-Like Bots May One Day Save Forests

While this is interesting, my main thought is on how the placement of these robots will play out.  Assuming they would be dropped into the fire region, there can be no argument that permanent placement in fire prone regions (California, for example) would allow for total containment of forest fires. 

Yet, you can just hear the environmentalists lining up to scream.  I believe this will be a very gray area for what naturalists will allow.  Robots made of potentially toxic materials sprinkled around delicate ecosystems would normally be a big “NO.”  However, in this scenario, the ‘bots are designed to protect the ecosystem in which they are placed.

Choose a side or get some popcorn and prepare to watch the fireworks.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121314664909963011.html?mod=rss_whats_news_technology

Currently, I have no pets – robotic or breathing. Considering it down the road, and I did have dogs and cats growing up. Plenty of both, though only one dog I really considered to be “the pet.” As a result, other than a brief childhood infatuation with Daggit, I’ve never thought of robotic pets as a viable alternative.

This caught up with me and drew me back to consider what I know about different animals. The following quote seemed the most meaningful:

Many owners have found robotic pets attacked by their “bio-pets” when
they aren’t home, she says. People on some online forums suggest
getting rid of the flesh-and-blood pets with territorial issues.
“Obviously, they’re feeling threatened,” Ms. Turbeville says. “They
retaliate. They retaliate hard.”

To add context, I used to bike on a regular basis. Still have a nice road racer, that is fluid on pavement. We had a neighbor who trained horses and was riding along when I slid up beside him and said, “Hello.” The horse went nuts. Drew back and almost threw him off. He wrestled it under control and waved off my apologies.

Turns out bikes do a great job of mimicking wolves. Bikes are silent, smooth and often flank horses when passing them on the road. This triggers the horse’s flight response. The situation turned into a test and he asked me to walk the bike closer. The horse became more terrified, but didn’t break and run.

All of this begs the consideration of how autonomous devices will end up interacting with wildlife of all forms. If a cat will chew on an Aibo and a dog will take an aggressive response, what will a bear, wolf and couger do? If the machines are quiet, they could surprise a lot of predators. If they are noisy, they may draw inquisitive wildlife such as deer. This could eventually change the way predators work, shadowing robots and predating upon wildlife drawn to the area.

Given the eventual expense of robotic machines capable of monitoring government and private properties and managing soil cultivation for farming, what will it take to allow these machines to defend themselves? Will they need to be built to take such an attack? Will they need to punish, whether to inflict basic discomfort or cause lethal damage, aggressive animals?

My take is a hedgehog defense. Sense movement and just drop into a ball and stick out some pointy things.