#82 Josh Bongard - AI, Robotics & Embodied Intelligence

Josh Bongard is the Veinott Professor of Computer Science at the University of Vermont and director of the Morphology, Evolution & Cognition Laboratory. His work involves automated design and manufacture of soft-, evolved-, and crowdsourced robots, as well as computer-designed organisms. A PECASE, TR35, and Cozzarelli Prize recipient, he has received funding from NSF, NASA, DARPA, ARO and the Sloan Foundation. He is the co-author of the book How The Body Shapes the Way we Think, the instructor of a reddit-based evolutionary robotics MOOC, and director of the robotics outreach program Twitch Plays Robotics.

Summary

Josh Bongard, a professor and roboticist, discusses the intersection of artificial intelligence and biology, particularly through the development of Xenobots. He describes embodied intelligence and the the emergence of physical intelligence in machines, as well as the ethical implications of AI and robotics. Bongard emphasizes the importance of understanding intelligence as a collective experience rather than an individual one, and he shares insights on the future of autonomous machines and the role of curiosity in AI development.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Josh Bongard and His Work
02:37 The Evolution of Robotics and Biological Systems
05:41 Embodied Intelligence: A Body-Centric Perspective
08:42 Emergence of Intelligence in Living Systems
11:36 Xenobots: The Intersection of AI and Biology
14:57 Ethics and Safety in Biological Robotics
17:45 Potential Applications of Xenobots
20:50 The Future of Living Machines
23:41 Challenges and Misunderstandings in AI Development
26:44 The Role of Physical Intelligence in AI
32:27 The Limitations of AI Creativity
35:45 Trusting Autonomous Vehicles
37:33 The Role of Robotics in Disaster Response
38:36 Physical Intelligence in Robotics
42:09 Building Machines with Experience
45:02 The Debate on Brain-Centric Intelligence
46:28 Understanding Embodiment and Collective Intelligence
51:00 AI and the Nature of Curiosity
56:16 Empathy Towards AI
59:50 Reflections on Transhumanism
01:00:51 The Future of AI and Robotics
01:04:43 Parting Thoughts on Collective Identity
01:06:09 Podcast exit terence

Josh Bongard
https://jbongard.github.io/
https://aiforgood.itu.int/speaker/joshua-bongard/
Keywords
Music for every episode
Intro and exit music used: Strange the dreamer by Savfk - www.youtube.com/@savfkmusic

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AI, robotics, Xenobots, intelligence, ethics, safety, physical intelligence, transhumanism, curiosity, collective intelligence, embodied intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, Transhuman, Biophysics, Morphology, Robotics, Future of humanity, Embodied minds, Quantum Biology