FORCED LABOR

ASEE Prism, Nov 2004 by Grose, Thomas K

BOOK NOTES FORCED LABOR Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androids by Sidney Perkowitz. Publisher: The National Academics Press, $24.95

MACHINES THAT not only look human, but can think, reason, and feel emotion. Humans that are augmented with a variety of bionic parts that improve on what nature gave them.Thanks to the breakthroughs of digital electronics,the stuff of science fiction may soon become reality, argues Emory University physicist Sidney Perkowitz in his book Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androids. Short, breezy, and nicely written, Perkowitz's book raises, but doesn't answer, the myriad ethical and moral questions inherent in rapidly progressing robotics and bionic technologies. But then, those are questions with no easy answers. Mostly, however, Digital People is a fun romp that lays out the historic antecedents-literary, mythical, and real-to what's going on in the labs of today: like the automated theater created by the ancient Greek inventor Heron. And did you know that robot comes from the Czech word "rabota," which means forced labor? Perhaps sensitive androids of the future will consider the term a degrading epithet. -TG

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PERCENTAGE OF DOCTORAL DEGREES IN ENGINEERING AWARDED TO FOREIGN STUDENTS IN 2002-2003:

55.2%