INTELLIGENT MACHINES

ANNALES CORRIGES
Classe(s) : Tle L - Tle ES - Tle S | Thme(s) : L'ide de progrs
Type : crit LV2 | Anne : 2013 | Acadmie : Polynsie franaise
TEXT 1
A robot with a reassuring touch

Boston If you grab the hand of a two-armed robot named Baxter, it will turn its head
and a pair of cartoon eyes displayed on a tablet-size computer-screen face will
peer at you with interest.

The sensation that Baxter conveys is not creepy, but benign, perhaps even
disarmingly friendly. And that is intentional.

Baxter, the first product of Rethink Robotics, an ambitious start-up company in a

revived manufacturing district here, is a significant bet that robots in the future will
work directly with humans in the workplace.

That is a marked shift from todays machines, which are kept safely isolated from
humans, either inside glass-cages or behind laser-controlled light curtains, because
they move with Terminator-like speed and accuracy and could flatten any human they
encountered. By contrast, Baxter, which comes encased in plastic and has a nine-foot
wingspan, is relatively slow and imprecise in the way it moves. And it has an
elaborate array of safety mechanisms and sensors to protect the human workers it
assists.

Here in a brick factory that was once one of the first electrified manufacturing sites in
New England, Rodney A. Brooks, the legendary roboticist who is Rethinks founder,
proves its safety by placing his head in the path of Baxters arm while it moves
objects on an assembly line. []

The $22,000 robot that Rethink will begin selling in October is the clearest evidence
yet that robotics is more than a laboratory curiosity or a tool only for large companies
with vast amounts of capital. The company is betting it can broaden the market for
robots by selling an inexpensive machine that can collaborate with human workers,
the way the computer industry took off in the 1980s when the prices of PCs fell
sharply and people without programming experience could start using them right out
of the box.

John Markoff, in The New York Times, September 18, 2012.

TEXT 2
Alter our DNA or robots will take over, warns Hawking

Stephen Hawking, the acclaimed scientist and writer, reignited the debate over
genetic engineering yesterday by recommending that humans change their DNA
through genetic modification to keep ahead of advances in computer technology and
stop intelligent machines from taking over the world.

He made the remarks in an interview with the German magazine Focus. Because
technology is advancing so quickly, Hawking said, computers double their
performance every month. Humans, in contrast, are developing much more slowly,
and so must change their DNA make-up or be left behind. The danger is real, he
said, that this [computer] intelligence will develop and take over the world. []

He also advocated cyber-technology direct links between human brains and

computers. We must develop as quickly as possible technologies that make possible
a direct connection between brain and computer, so that artificial brains contribute to
human intelligence rather than opposing it.

Nick Paton Walsh, in The Observer, Sunday 2 September 2001.

COMPRHENSION

1Read the two texts and find the following information.

1.Text 1

a)Type

b)Author

c)Source

d)Is it informative or fictional?

e)Subject.

2.Text 2

a)Type

b)Author

c)Source

d)Is it informative or fictional?

e)Subject.

2Who or what do the following names refer to?

1.Baxter
2.Rethink

3.Rodney Brooks

4.Stephen Hawking

5.John Markoff

6.Nick Walsh.

Text 1

1Choose six adjectives characterizing Baxter. Justify by quoting from the text.

Ambitious benign creepy dangerous - fast friendly-looking imprecise

inexpensive safe slow.

2Are the statements right (R) or wrong (R)? Justify with a quote from - or a reference
to - the text:

1.Rethink Robotics is an American company.

2.Rethink Robotics began selling the Baxter robots

in the 1980s.

3.The company has created a robot that is dangerous

for humans.

4.Robots today do not work in direct contact with humans.

5.The price of a Baxter robot will remain high.

3In a few words, compare Terminator-like robots and Baxter.

Text 2

1How does Hawking feel about intelligent machines?

2What solutions does he suggest? What would be the objective of each solution?
Both texts

Seuls les candidats de la srie L traiteront la question suivante.

Compare and contrast how the two texts present and analyse the issue of machine
intelligence. (80 to 100 words).

EXPRESSION

>Les candidats de la srie L traiteront les deux sujets. Les candidats des
sries S et ES choisiront un sujet.

1How do you feel about the rise of intelligent machines? Do you think they are
dangerous? Discuss and illustrate your point using precise examples.

2Imagine living with a robot in your home. Write about a typical day in the company
of your robot.

Texte 1
Lauteur
John Markoff (n en 1949, amricain) est journaliste. Diplm en sociologie, il est
responsable des sujets scientifiques au New York Times. Il a par ailleurs crit
plusieurs ouvrages sur les technologies modernes. En 2013 il a reu le prestigieux
prix Pulitzer.

Pour en savoir plus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Markoff

Le thme
Larticle dcrit Baxter, un nouveau robot conu sur de stricts critres de scurit et
ayant une apparence rassurante, la diffrence des robots traditionnels. Son
constructeur a pour objectif de produire des machines bon march capables
dassister utilement les humains dans leur travail.

Vocabulaire utile la comprhension

To grab, l.1 (agripper); to peer, l.3 (scruter, observer); creepy, l.4 (qui donne la
chair de poule); benign, l.4(affable, inoffensif); a bet, l.8 (un pari); a shift, l.10 (un
changement); to flatten, l.13 (aplatir); the wingspan, l.15 (lenvergure); an array,
l.16 (une gamme); to broaden, l.26 (largir).

Texte 2
Lauteur
Nick Paton Walsh (n en 1977, britannique) est journaliste. Correspondant
international de CNN, il travaille pour le quotidien britannique The Observer. Il a reu
plusieurs rcompenses pour ses articles et reportages.

Le thme
Le clbre scientifique Stephen Hawking met en garde lhumanit contre le danger
dordinateurs sans cesse plus intelligents, qui pourraient finir par dominer le monde.
Pour pallier ce risque, il conseille de modifier lADN des humains et de relier cerveaux
humains et artificiels afin que les ordinateurs collaborent avec notre intelligence au
lieu de sy opposer.

Vocabulaire utile la comprhension

To reignite, l.1 (rallumer); genetic engineering, l.2 (manipulations gntiques); to
keep ahead, l.4 (garder une longueur davance); advances, l.4 (avances,
progrs); the make-up, l.10 (la constitution).

Les points de convergence

Les deux textes voquent les craintes engendres par la fabrication de machines
dites intelligentes. Le premier prsente le robot Baxter, conu selon des critres
privilgiant la scurit et le sentiment de scurit chez leurs utilisateurs; le second
voque la crainte ancienne que ces cratures cyberntiques viennent un jour nous
dominer et nous dtruire.

Le sujet dexpression 1
Pistes de recherche
Lexemple de machine intelligente que vous connaissez le mieux est sans doute
lordinateur, mais vous pouvez prendre dautres exemples. Faut-il craindre que ces
outils que nous crons pour nous servir, sorte de machines esclaves, ne
deviennent un jour nos matres?

Vous pouvez ensuite faire remarquer que ces craintes ne sont pas nouvelles, quel
que ft dans le pass le niveau technologique.

Do viennent nos craintes? Du fait que ces machines sont faonnes notre image
puisquelles ont pour fonction de reproduire ou encore prolonger nos actions
humaines? Vous noterez que nous les connaissons autant par nos uvres de fiction
que par la vie relle. Pensez lordinateur Hal, dans 2001, a Space Odysseyqui
converse aimablement et servilement avec les membres de lquipage du vaisseau
spatial, puis qui dcide de les tuer quand ils ralisent quil a fait une erreur. Autre
exemple: Terminator, qui est dautant plus effrayant quil a un aspect humanode. A
contrario, R2D2 et 3PO de Stars War ont lair bien sympathiques.

Vous pouvez conclure que la vision que lon a de ces machines est sans doute lie
celle que lon a de ltre humain.

Vocabulaire utile
A tool (un outil); the epitome (lincarnation, larchtype); amazing (tonnant,
stupfiant); data (des donnes); to design (concevoir); the sorcerers
apprentice (lapprenti sorcier); a safeguard (un garde-fou); evil(mauvais); a
purpose (un but, un objectif).

Le sujet dexpression 2
Pistes de recherche
Vous avez le choix: soit situer le rcit dans votre vie prsente au domicile familial,
soit le situer dans votre vie future dadulte. Avec, par exemple, un robot-majordome,
qui organise et dirige le quotidien de la maison, travers notamment tous les
appareils mnagers. Une occasion de montrer que vous connaissez leurs noms.
Dcrivez votre emploi du temps quotidien, et imaginez comment ce robot, suppos
trs intelligent, peut interagir avec vous linstar dun tre humain qui vous
connatrait parfaitement.

Vocabulaire utile
A butler (un majordome); household appliances (appareils mnagers); achore (une
corve); embedded(incorpor); to hoover (passer laspirateur); a chip (une puce, un
micro-processeur); to diagnose(diagnostiquer); a disease (une maladie).

CORRIG
COMPRHENSION

11.a) Newspaper article. b). John Markoff. c)The New York

Times. d) Informative. e) Building a new type of safe and reassuring robot which will
collaborate with humans.

2.a) Newspaper article. b) Nick Paton Walsh. c)The

Observer. d) Informative. e) Altering our DNA to prevent robots from taking over.
21.a new robot. 2. a start-up company which produces robots. 3. Rethinks
founder. 4. a famous scientist and writer. 5. a New York Times journalist. 6. a
journalist for The Observer.

Text 1

1Benign (the sensation that Baxter conveys is not creepy, but benign, l.4);
friendly-looking (disarmingly friendly, l.5); imprecise (relatively slow and
imprecise in the way it moves, l.15-16); inexpensive (The company is betting it
can broaden the market for robots by selling an inexpensive machine, l.26-27); safe
(Rodney A. Brooks [] proves its safety by placing his head in the path of Baxters
arm, l.19-21); slow (relatively slow and imprecise in the way it moves l.15).

21.Right: in a brick factory that was once one of the first electrified manufacturing
sites in New England (l.18-19).

Notez bien:

New England est une rgion compose de six tats situe lextrme nord-est des
tats-Unis.

2.Wrong: They will begin selling in October (l.23).

3.Wrong: it has an elaborate array of safety mechanisms and sensors to protect the
human workers (l.16-17); Rodney A. Brooks [] proves its safety by placing his
head in the path of Baxters arm (l.19-21).

4.Right: robots in the future will work directly with humans (l.8); todays machines
[] are kept safely isolated from humans (l.10-11).

5.Wrong: The company is betting it can broaden the market for robots by selling an
inexpensive machine [] the way the computer industry took off [] when the prices
of PCs fell sharply (l.26-29).

3Terminator-like robots are frightening (creepy, l.4) because they can be

destructive and aggressive and move at incredible speed, which can be really
dangerous, while Baxter is meant to look reassuring (benign, disarmingly friendly,
l.4-5) and to be safe.

Text 2

1He is afraid of their possibilities, as he thinks they will one day take over the
world (l.5).

2He first suggests that humans should alter their own DNA in order to evolve faster
than intelligent machines and thus be protected. He then suggests that the human
brain and the artificial brain should be directly connected, so that computers will
collaborate with, and not endanger, humans.

Both texts

Both texts consider that machine intelligence is aimed at helping humans, but the
optimistic tone of the first article contrasts with the pessimistic tone of the second.
The design of Baxter is meant to be reassuring and safe, unlike traditional scary-
looking robots that convey old fears that have made the success of science-fiction;
Baxter should become one of those tools that make our life easier and more
comfortable. On the contrary, Hawkins revives the fears of a machine-dominated
world that we have often had when new technologies emerge, and the solutions he
suggests (DNA alteration, direct computer-brain connexion) are far from reassuring!

EXPRESSION

1 Guidelines

Stanley Kubricks masterpiece, 2001, a Space Odyssey, deals with the evolution of
intelligence and the use of tools by jumping from early ages to futuristic ages when
an intelligent computer named Hal can pilot a spaceship, talk to humans, think and
even react emotionally, eventually disobeying orders and killing the crew of the
spaceship one by one when they have found out it (he?) has made a mistake.

The tool that was meant to be a slave becomes the master.

Hal is the epitome of the intelligent machine as mans creation, able to do amazing
things as long as it does what it is told to do and is kept under strict control.

Today we have Hal-like machines and computers which can react to vocal commands,
which recognize our faces or fingerprints, help surgeons carry out operations, analyse
data much faster than we could, etc.

But they seem to be intelligent only because they are designed to reproduce and
extend the actions of our brain. The only thing is that we make them calculate much
faster than we can, and this is what can worry us. They can be dangerous if like
sorcerers apprentices we dont create safeguards and let them get out of our control,
if we let them be used by men with evil purposes.

We like to be scared, and most probably, the artists visions of these machines have
something to do with our fears: artists and writers seem to have more often imagined
creepy Terminator-like robots than friendly C3PO or R2D2 creatures. This must be
what R.Brooks had in mind when he designed disarmingly friendly Baxter.

Maybe the way we consider these machines depends on the way we consider man:
good or evil
2 Guidelines

Butler is my everyday indispensable companion. I call it Butler because Iwant to

name it after its job rather than with a human name. Its just a tool after all, but a
wonderful tool. In fact it manages a whole family of specific tools embedded in all the
appliances that do the household chores.

It knows when its time for me to get up and comes to my room to tell me to wake
up. When I arrive in the kitchen, breakfast is ready and warm. During my shower, it
tells me the days agenda and picks the right clothes out of the wardrobe, depending
on what I have planned to do. When Im away at work it hoovers the house or waters
the garden.

But the moment I like best with Butler is in the evening, when I get back from work: I
can play games with it and it accepts to be programmed so that it will let me win
even after a difficult game. As it knows my cultural tastes it helps me to choose what
books to read, what films to watch. It is connected to a chip which has been inserted
under my skin, so my health has no secret for Butler, and it will diagnose any
disease before I am even aware of feeling ill.

My only problem is that as it is better than me and other humans at doing things, I
tend to have a lonely life, with few people around. Ill have to talk it over with
Butler