A young and enthusiastic crowd packed the 92nd Street Y on Friday night to enjoy yet another reunion of science and art at the World Science Festival — an event that featured two stars of the SciFi Channel’s hit show Battlestar Galactica, two scientists in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence, and one futurist/transhumanist philosopher. The lively, thought-provoking session, moderated by effervescent radio host and actress Faith Salie, covered the prospects for developing real cyborgs and the possible ramifications of creating them.
A leading roboticist based at Cornell (and also a TEDster), Hod Lipson‘s video demonstrations of some of his team’s creations were a highlight for many in attendance, and it was a treat to be in the audience as many expressed awe and disbelief at first being exposed to his starfish-like robot, which learns what it looks like and teaches itself to walk. The world of the future certainly seemed much closer after Lipson’s contributions to the discussion, which showed that using evolutionary algorithms running on powerful computers can give robotic creations eerily “biological” forms and behaviors. The concept that robots might break free of the constraints of human imagination and design was certainly food for thought for the Battlestar fans.
The Battlestar Galactica actors were the crowd favorite. Michael Hogan, who played Colonel Saul Tigh on the show, noted how (Spoiler Alert!) stepping into the mind of a cyborg was not so unlike stepping into a character with some form of mental illness — and, with a character already beleaguered by alcoholism, adding such a new illness was not too difficult a stretch. Academy Award nominee Mary McDonnell, who played the terminally ill President Laura Roslin (nicknamed “Airlock” at the WSF event for her character’s propensity for executing antagonists by flushing them into outer space), closed the session with a moving comment about what she learned from the show: the profound impact that results from the shared study of possible futures — science and art, together.