Deus ex Machina.

Reproduction.

{stop sniggering at the back}

It's what we can do that robots or machines can't. It's why we are so much better than them. Actually, that may not be the case in the future so I wouldn't be saying that too loud right now.

You know when you think of moments in films and then real life does a tiny little step towards it ? You know, things like the scanner that looks inside people to diagnose things in Star Trek. The one that you suddenly see on the news in the form of medical scanners that take multiple slices to form a 3D, multi-layered form that can even pinpoint calcium deposits on bones ?

Well, folks, here's another one.

Randomly smurfing the w3 and spotted a story starting to crop up in a lot of places - for example at Wired News. It features small modular cubes that can connect to others by means of self-controlled magnets on each face and a twisting mechanism through it's centre.




Each cube is aware of it's position and it's place in the group it's involved with. It can therefore coordinate towards a given task - in this case moving other self-aware blocks to spawn a second active 'form' like itself.

Not only does it do this but the one being built moves itself around to aid the other, even when only half built.

There's something really creepy about the short video clip on the site - I'd strongly suggest you take the time to watch it - the sudden movement of the one being built is just so....wrong.

I'm a real geek when it comes to AI, shiny things and, in the words of Python, 'machines that go ping' but this is the first time I've had hairs stand up on the back of my neck when viewing something of this ilk.

In Chinese philosophy 'even the longest journey starts with a single step'.

Ever get the feeling you've just seen that step being taken ??