Melania Trump Welcomes Humanoid Robot At White House Summit 94
Longtime Slashdot reader theodp writes: In Melania and the Robot, the New York Times reports on First Lady Melania Trump's inaugural Fostering the Future Together Coalition Summit, which brought together international leaders, First Spouses from around the world, tech leaders, educators, and nonprofits to collaborate on practical solutions that expand access to educational tools while strengthening protections for children in digital environments (Day 2 WH summary). The Times begins:
"On Wednesday, Mrs. Trump appeared at the White House alongside Figure 3, a humanoid, A.I.-powered robot whose uses, according to the company that makes it, include fetching towels, carrying groceries and serving champagne. But Mrs. Trump joins tech executives and some researchers in envisioning a world beyond robot butlery. She is interested in how these robots could cut it as educators. Both clad in shades of white, the first lady and the visiting robot walked into a gathering of first spouses from around the world, a group that included Sara Netanyahu of Israel, Olena Zelenska of Ukraine, and Brigitte Macron of France. The dulcet tones from a (presumably human) military orchestra played as the first lady and her guest entered the event. Both lady and robot extolled the virtues of further integrating robots into the educational and social lives of children. In the history of modern first-lady initiatives, which have included building a national book festival (Laura Bush), reshuffling the food pyramid (Michelle Obama) and advocating for free community college (Jill Biden), Mrs. Trump's involvement of a humanoid robot in education policy was a first."
"Figure 3 delivered brief remarks and delivered salutations in several languages. With its sleek black-and-white appearance, Figure 3 would fit right in with the first lady's branding aesthetic, which includes a self-titled coffee table book and movie, not least because the name "MELANIA" was emblazoned on the side of its glossy plastic head. After Figure 3 teetered gingerly away, Mrs. Trump looked around the room and told them that the future looked a lot like what they had just witnessed. 'The future of A.I. is personified,' she told her audience. 'It will be formed in the shape of humans. Very soon artificial intelligence will move from our mobile phones to humanoids that deliver utility.' She invited her guests to envision a future in which a robot philosopher educated children."
"On Wednesday, Mrs. Trump appeared at the White House alongside Figure 3, a humanoid, A.I.-powered robot whose uses, according to the company that makes it, include fetching towels, carrying groceries and serving champagne. But Mrs. Trump joins tech executives and some researchers in envisioning a world beyond robot butlery. She is interested in how these robots could cut it as educators. Both clad in shades of white, the first lady and the visiting robot walked into a gathering of first spouses from around the world, a group that included Sara Netanyahu of Israel, Olena Zelenska of Ukraine, and Brigitte Macron of France. The dulcet tones from a (presumably human) military orchestra played as the first lady and her guest entered the event. Both lady and robot extolled the virtues of further integrating robots into the educational and social lives of children. In the history of modern first-lady initiatives, which have included building a national book festival (Laura Bush), reshuffling the food pyramid (Michelle Obama) and advocating for free community college (Jill Biden), Mrs. Trump's involvement of a humanoid robot in education policy was a first."
"Figure 3 delivered brief remarks and delivered salutations in several languages. With its sleek black-and-white appearance, Figure 3 would fit right in with the first lady's branding aesthetic, which includes a self-titled coffee table book and movie, not least because the name "MELANIA" was emblazoned on the side of its glossy plastic head. After Figure 3 teetered gingerly away, Mrs. Trump looked around the room and told them that the future looked a lot like what they had just witnessed. 'The future of A.I. is personified,' she told her audience. 'It will be formed in the shape of humans. Very soon artificial intelligence will move from our mobile phones to humanoids that deliver utility.' She invited her guests to envision a future in which a robot philosopher educated children."
Fuckbot (Score:4, Funny)
If Donald is too busy with Iran to service her...
Re: Fuckbot (Score:3)
your assuming he can do it now?
Re: (Score:2)
I suspect its been a while since he's been capable of that.
Most dudes that age are well beyond pecker functionalty, and throw in morbid obesity and a lifetime of poor health choices and yeah, short of viagra, odds are low.
So, like (Score:5, Funny)
A sex bot and a serving champagne bot enter the Whitehouse...
Re:So, like (Score:5, Funny)
Which one is Melania?
Re: (Score:3)
Now that's a difficult question to answer.
Re: So, like (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Which one is Melania?
The one from Wife-sylvania.
Re:So, like (Score:4, Informative)
ed-tech (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:ed-tech (Score:4, Funny)
So the current administration has obviously read All of William Gibson's books?
Re:ed-tech (Score:4, Interesting)
Which fits nicely into the “mentor” of Peter Thiel and J.D. Vance, Curtis Yarvin’s plan called “NRx”. Just in case the reader is unaware...
Curtis Yarvin, writing under the pseudonym Mencius Moldbug, is the primary architect of Neoreaction (NRx), also known as the Dark Enlightenment. His philosophy argues that modern liberal democracy is a failed and inefficient system that should be replaced by a corporate-style monarchy.
Core Concepts of NRx
The movement is defined by several key intellectual pillars:
Political and Cultural Impact
While once confined to fringe blogs like Unqualified Reservations, Yarvin's ideas have gained significant traction in specific circles:
The "State-Slave" Concept
Yarvin, writing as Mencius Moldbug, argues that a well-ordered society is built on a hierarchy of "nodes of obligation".
Context and Controversies
I must have seen the wrong video 'cause ... (Score:4, Funny)
I saw two robots. :-)
Logic (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Logic (Score:4, Informative)
Zucktastic (Score:1)
He'd make a great stepfather.
Re:Cucktastic (Score:3)
While we're talking about replacing humans, let me just express the shock and dismay that this White House would come out in favor of billionaires getting richer off of taking away jobs from the working class through building robots that cost as much as a car, and displace any number of domestic workers or contractors.
"Be best" indeed.
Awesome! (Score:2, Insightful)
An entire generation raised to be okay with constant surveillance. Let the robot philosophers wrestle with the consequences of it. We can kick back and bask in all the "utility" it delivers!
Robot philosopher? (Score:1)
Re:Robot philosopher? (Score:4, Insightful)
Children raised by robot educators/philosophers actually worked out well in the fictional sci-fi novel by James P. Hogan "Voyage from Yesteryear": ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
"The story opens early in the 21st century, as an automated space probe is being prepared for a mission to explore habitable exoplanets in the Alpha Centauri system. However, Earth appears destined for a global war which the probe designers fear that humanity may not survive. It appears that the only chance for the human species is to reestablish itself far away from the conflict but there is no time left for a crewed expedition to escape Earth. The team, led by Henry B. Congreve, change their mission priority and quickly modify the design to carry several hundred sets of electronically coded human genetic data. Also included in this mission of embryo space colonization is a databank of human knowledge, robots to convert the data into genetic material and care for the children and construct habitats when the destination is reached, and a number of artificial wombs. The probe's designers name it the Kuan-Yin after the bodhisattva of childbirth and compassion.
Shortly after the launch, global war indeed breaks out and several decades later, Earthbound humanity is united under an authoritarian government. It is this government that receives a radio message from the fledgling "Chironian" civilization revealing that the probe found a habitable planet (Chiron) and that the first generation of children have been raised successfully.
As the surviving power blocs of Earth before the conflict are still evident, North America, Europe and Asia each send a generation ship to Alpha Centauri to take control of the colony. By the time that the first generation ship (the American Mayflower II) arrives after 20 years, Chironian society is in its fifth generation.
The Mayflower II has brought with it thousands of settlers, all the trappings of the authoritarian regime along with bureaucracy, religion, fascism and a military presence to keep the population in line. However, the planners behind the generation ship did not anticipate the direction that Chironian society took: in the absence of conditioning and with limitless robotic labor and fusion power, Chiron has become a post-scarcity economy. Money and material possessions are meaningless to the Chironians and social standing is determined by individual talent, which has resulted in a wealth of art and technology without any hierarchies, central authority or armed conflict.
In an attempt to crush this anarchist adhocracy, the Mayflower II government employs every available method of control; however, in the absence of conditioning the Chironians are not even capable of comprehending the methods, let alone bowing to them. The Chironians simply use methods similar to Gandhi's satyagraha and other forms of nonviolent resistance to win over most of the Mayflower II crew members, who had never previously experienced true freedom, and isolate the die-hard authoritarians.
I guess it maybe all depends how wisely the robots are programmed initially? Sadly, with several AI companies racing forward in a winner-takes-all hyper-competitive safety-ignoring way to earn a lot of fiat dollars, seems like something needs to change to build a more hopeful future. Still, there is always the "Optimism of Uncertainty" as Howard Zinn called it.
https://www.thenation.com/arti... [thenation.com]
Re:Robot philosopher? (Score:5, Insightful)
Children raised by robot educators/philosophers actually worked out well in the fictional sci-fi novel by James P. Hogan "Voyage from Yesteryear":
The word "actually" is doing a lot of heavy lifting it's not qualified for there.
Who gave Paul modpoints? (Score:3)
And where are we going in this handbasket?
Re: (Score:2)
another African American president is where this road leads hopefully.......
Re: (Score:2)
I don't care what their race or sex is. I'm concerned about their age, religion, and views on war crimes and slavery.
We know Obama did war crimes because he told us about them. That's how brazen the servants of the MIC have become. (inb4 I get accused of racism this time: We know Trump does more drone strikes without due process than Obama did, because until Trump rescinded Obama's EO on reporting of such strikes, he was doing four times as many of them.)
Re:Who gave Paul modpoints? (Score:4, Interesting)
fair and good points. by that standard though every president is a war criminal. but this administration and its supporters democrat AND republican had long ranted a black person could not ever win the presidency. when then election approached there were comments from many in politics and media that he will not be ALLOWED to serve. when a black person was sworn in he spent two terms being threatened with impeachment for things he never did. while watching the current president commit those exact same violations, just about every one of the reasons they demanded the back person be removed from office, they dismissed with no complaint. so I have to say in some way a black president would be held to a higher standard?
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
so I have to say in some way a black president would be held to a higher standard?
Absolutely. For one thing, it will not be tolerated if they wear a tan suit.
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This might be a weird thought: can we choose a president based on their policy ideals and character rather than inconsequential attributes such as race, religion, gender, and how entertaining they are?
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This might be a weird thought: can we choose a president based on their policy ideals and character rather than inconsequential attributes such as race, religion, gender, and how entertaining they are?
yes but can you really and truly say that the main reason they first black president of the united states was elected was because he was black or mainly because he was a good choice? I myself find it much more likely the current president was elected just because he was white.
Re: (Score:2)
I agree on why Trump got a lot of his votes. We have ample evidence that there is a very racist and misogynist element within the "conservative right."
The conservative right wouldn't have voted for Harris anyway. That's not why he won.
He won because the Democrats care about whether their candidate stumbles across words and speaks incoherently, so Biden was pressured to step down, and Harris was forced to step up at the last second, with nobody really knowing who she was or who she stood for, thus limiting her ability to bring voters out.
He won because the Democrats weren't clueful enough to get Biden to fully step down and make Harris the next President
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I really don't understand why the only two women candidates that Democrats have run have at least appeared to be at the authoritarian end of their party.
There are two main problems with Democrats. First problem, they are not actually left enough. They are solidly in the pockets of big business, they always vote to increase funding to the MIC, etc etc. They are mostly just as addicted to money as Republicans. (On average it costs more to bribe them, which is mildly interesting although it doesn't change anything for us - it's been studied and it costs more in "donations" to get them to vote like shitheels, but they still do it.) Second problem, which is rela
Re: (Score:2)
He won because the Democrats care about whether their candidate stumbles across words and speaks incoherently, so Biden was pressured to step down
Have you time traveled from before the Biden vs Trump debate, good sir?
I do not wish to pick on one of your points because I am generally agreeing with you. But I must because you presumably neither seen nor heard about the Biden vs Trump debate that caused Biden to be forced out.
I am not even going to assess Biden's compos mentis. Maybe it was some medication or some benign reason, it doesn't matter. But what I can say is that his performance during the debate caused many of the die hard democrats to dec
Re: (Score:2)
I am not even going to assess Biden's compos mentis. Maybe it was some medication or some benign reason, it doesn't matter. But what I can say is that his performance during the debate caused many of the die hard democrats to declare him incompetent and made it acceptable for media and pundits to turn on him (which they never did before).
What phrase would you use to describe that, other than "spoke incoherently"? I mean, I can think of some medical terms that might apply, but that's how I would describe his debate performance. He wandered off the subject, had trouble forming a complete thought... basically like a Trump speech, only he paused a lot when he lost his train of thought instead of rambling about illegal aliens eating pets or whatever.
Re: (Score:2)
Touché! Good point on "actually" and whether it is qualified, thanks. I guess that word only fits in relation to there actually being a novel which I was referring to? But I agree I should have worded that better. The word "fictionally" might have been a better choice? Glad your comment sparked some tangential discussion by others.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, so let's try what worked in an authors imagination with millions of children in easily observed reality. What could go wrong?
Question: would the robots only teach "approved" curriculum? Follow up: who gets to approve the curriculum?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Robot philosopher? (Score:2)
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlord... (Score:3)
... and Figure 3
missed opportunity (Score:2, Insightful)
if there was ever a moment for a robot to flip out and kill people, this was the one
Was that a spot the difference competition ? (Score:5, Interesting)
She is a bit robotic, like a woman who has retreated deep inside to get away from an abusive husband. Stepford wife. [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Insert Pam from the Office "It's the same picture" meme here.
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And yet you cannot be bothered to show us even one.
I personally don't know a damn thing about her other than that she has showed bad judgement across large swaths of her life (hanging around Epstein, marrying Trump, staying married to Trump). If you have specific "signs" you would like to cite, maybe actually cite them rather than being some anonymous poo-throwing chimp.
I'm all for shitty people getting their come-uppance, but let's make sure it's deserved and you aren't participating in the same collectiv
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Why would you suggest someone might have difficulty finding an example and then immediately cite three of them off the top of your head? I assure you there are plenty of other examples if you just do a modicum of research.
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Again, you're the one making the argument. Why are you asking other people to do your research for you?
Lazy.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Get mad, anonymous douche. Thanks for letting me know that I'm living rent-free in your head.
What, you still butthurt over me making you look like the unthinking Republicult member you are?
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I assure you there are plenty of other examples if you just do a modicum of research.
But you still want other people to do your sourcing for you.
Re: Was that a spot the difference competition ? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
......A Stepford wife. [wikipedia.org]
from Wifesylvania.
Not the first humanoid in WH (Score:3)
Wikipedia defines a humanoid as "a non-human entity with human form or characteristics". So given how utterly inhuman Trump and his sycophants are, it seems that the sad and cringe-worthy 'Robot-and-Melania' episode came very late to the 'Real Humanoids of Washington' unreality TV show.
Self-driven isolation (Score:3)
Why does it seem like we are driving society towards self-isolation with less and less human interaction?
Online shopping..."social" media (I don't find it particularly social)...leave-at-door food delivery...all replacing human interaction with a screen and keyboard. Robot teachers? I think not.
It feels like we as a society are slowly trading human interaction for convenience. Is pushing a few buttons and getting what we need delivered within a few hours worth the lack of human interaction? Are we encouraging societal short attention spans with "news" and media in 140 character and 90 second snippets?
Sometimes the most efficient way of getting things done isn't worth what is trimmed out in favor of efficiency.
Re: Self-driven isolation (Score:2)
Totally agree with what you are saying. I would much rather interact with a human for most things most of the time. Flaws and imperfections and annoyances and all.
Especially with kids and learning.
Empathy and patients are two really important traits to learn as humans.
I donâ(TM)t feel that type of learning is best delivered by a robot.
Of course itâ(TM)s much easier to capitalize on manufacturing machines with service plans rather than paying humans a living wage.
This is all very upsetting to me. I
Re: (Score:2)
Why does it seem like we are driving society towards self-isolation with less and less human interaction?
Because the people calling the shots hate "other" humans.
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Why does it seem like we are driving society towards self-isolation with less and less human interaction?
Because the people calling the shots hate "other" humans.
and are actually willing to discuss the possibility of "indentured servitude", just discuss mind you....
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Because when the billionaires control how people communicate, they can control communication.
face-to-face meetings are uncontrollable.
So they finally replaced (Score:1)
Eric
Takes one to know one I guess? (Score:3)
I think they both have about the same emotional range. The new one may have higher standards though.....
How charming (Score:2)
I would love to have seen the footage of the two humanoid robots meeting.
Desensitizing (Score:2)
The Jokes Write Themselves (Score:3)
The fact that somebody in the white house thought this was a good idea is a sign of severe cognitive decline on the part of the people in charge.
Re:The Jokes Write Themselves (Score:4, Informative)
The fact that you are pointing to this as that particular watershed moment just shows that people are not paying enough attention. We've had many of these moments already, where this administration continues to show their incredibly bad judgement, and that their values do not align with the vast majority of the country, much less humanity.
I'll leave this horseshit [youtube.com] as a previous example - we taxpayers are paying dipshits in the White House to make "sick video memes" glorifying war footage of people being killed, mixed with video game characters, Hollywood characters, and professional sports clips as some kind of public campaign to increase support.
War is not fucking entertainment. Watching people die in an illegal war is not "awesome." It's ghoulish, and the people who thought (and continue to think) that this is a good idea should be given an involuntary opportunity to go write their memoirs.
Re: (Score:2)
Who said anything about this being a watershed moment? It's just one of many signs of cognitive decline exhibited by this administration in the past 12 months.
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Glad to see I'm still living in your head rent free.
I must have really caused some kind of narcissistic injury for you to spend so much time following me around, going out of your way to post this mindless nonsense.
Chances? (Score:3)
What are the chances that the robot was being controlled by a human and not AI? There have been a lot of "demos" of AI robots that it turns out is a guy in another room controlling it. If I had to bet money, that is what was happening here as well.
Re: (Score:2)
I wouldn't take your bet, because you've got a sure thing. I wonder if it was made in China?
How genuine was the demo? (Score:3)
I wonder how the Secret Service evaluated the risk to a principal for this.
The Animatrix is not a Guidebook (Score:2)
While I strongly appreciate the elite's desire to highlight influence science fiction, I assert that cosplay is a sufficient means of doing so and directly acting the severely flawed actions of the villains from said stories benefits no one... not even themselves.
Robot? Or teleoperated remote? (Score:2)
But a question to ask is, was it actually a robot? Or was it just a remote teleoperated by a human?
Behind the curtains (Score:2)
Missed Opportunity (Score:1)
It's her replacement (Score:2)
She is showing it the ropes.
Robot philosopher ? (Score:2)
Does it display the Weyland-Yutani logo (Score:2)
Which is which? (Score:1)
Irony (Score:3)
Sorry, I can't focus on the robot when the news is about a conference about strengthening protections for children hosted by the wife of Donald Trump of Epstein files fame. Melania, how are you protecting those children from your husband?
All of this has happened before.... (Score:2)