The Secret Genius Of Modern Life review: Clever dog! Is this disco dancing robot the future of border control? writes CHRISTOPHER STEVENS
The secret genius of modern life
Drugs map of Great Britain
This is the artificial intelligence we need in our lives: a bright yellow, dancing robot dog with a rotating CCTV camera for a head.
Professor Hannah Fry was shocked by the dog cyborg in The Secret Genius Of Modern Life (BBC2). She called it “creepy,” “my nightmare” and “extremely dystopian.” We get it, Hannah – you’re more of a cat person.
The dog stands on four springy legs and is equipped with a gyroscopic stabilizer to ensure that it cannot easily fall over. It was developed by a border control agency for use at airports.
In the near future, we may no longer have to show our passports. Instead, Facial Recognition will have Fido approach travelers and scan their facial features. Smart dog!
When suspected fugitives, terrorists or smugglers are identified, security personnel are alerted. The robot makes a nifty disco move, so perhaps it could be trained to cock a leg at offenders or bite their ankles.
Professor Hannah Fry was horrified by the dog cyborg in The Secret Genius Of Modern Life (BBC2), calling it ‘creepy’, ‘my nightmare’ and ‘extremely dystopian’
Professor Hannah researched the history of passports and the technology they use to evade counterfeiters. The subject may sound dry, but she had endless fun, sending messages with invisible ink and shooting watermelons with high-velocity guns, demonstrating some of the science that makes our passports nearly impossible to forge or destroy .
The researchers had fun too, digging through the archives for photos of Edwardian car crashes and First World War spies. One newsreel showed a woman in a 1930s dress and cloche hat, holding a bulletproof glass in front of her face as her husband took shots at her head. The things we did to entertain ourselves before television existed. . .
We also heard the story of 19th century serial killer Joseph Vacher, the French Ripper, caught using photographic mugshots that may have been the earliest form of facial recognition technology.
It was all fascinating stuff, told at a lively pace, although slightly marred by a blatant bit of BBC virtue signaling at the end. Hannah lamented the restrictions that passports place on immigration.
It was all fascinating stuff, told at a lively pace, although slightly marred by a blatant bit of BBC virtue signaling at the end – Hannah complaining about the restrictions passports placed on immigration
“The government can prevent certain people from crossing our borders,” she said. ‘Some may be migrants or refugees who want to build a better life. Passports are about rejection. It’s not about freedom at all.’
After making this pious plea for a “come on, come all” policy, she sidestepped all the troubling implications for the collapse of health care, education and housing. “There’s no way I’m going to get involved in a conversation about open borders,” she said, as if she hadn’t raised the issue herself.
The ugly reality of society’s collapse was revealed in Drugs Map Of Britain (BBC3), with a hard-hitting report from Birmingham, where an epidemic of nitrous oxide abuse has gripped British Asian teenagers.
Nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, once used to lighten cream, produces a short, intoxicating high when inhaled. Incredibly, young people from Muslim families are in favor of it because, unlike alcohol, it is not prohibited by the Quran.
We followed young men racing through the city streets, shouting at each other from their cars as they were hit by balloons filled with gas
Many of those interviewed seemed fully aware of the dangers of the drug, which damaged spinal cords and left some in wheelchairs
Many of those interviewed seemed fully aware of the dangers of the drug. It destroys the spinal cord, leaving some in wheelchairs. But it doesn’t leave a telltale stench, unlike marijuana, making its use easy to conceal. Large cans could once be bought legally, without a prescription, in 24-hour supermarkets for £25, but the drug is now banned as a Class C drug.
We followed young men racing through the city streets, shouting at each other from their cars as they were hit by balloons filled with gas. They do this instead of hiding in parks or doorways, one user explained, ‘otherwise you give the area a bad reputation. People will think there are too many idiots around.’ It goes beyond satire.