Adventures in Mexico: Part 1

          I will never forget my first trip to Mexico after college with my friend Mark. We had both studied Spanish for a couple of years at college, so we thought we would go to Mexico and try it out. Well, we were in for a surprise.
          First of all, we crossed the border with no problems and after we were about 20 miles into the country we were getting hungry, so we decided to stop for some lunch at a cafe in a small town. They didn't have menus. The server greeted us and told us about the day's specials, in Spanish, of course. Mark and I looked at each other and then at her. We didn't understand a word she had said! So we just shook our heads and said "No entendemos." (We don't understand).
         So she smiled and gestured for us to follow her. She took us back to the little kitchen. Everything smelled delicious. She pointed at the different pots and told us what they had to offer for lunch. We still didn't understand anything, but we could see what looked good and what smelled good, so we just pointed at what we wanted while saying "Esto" (This one).  She nodded and took us back to the little dining room with four tables.
       A few minutes later, our food came. It was delicious! We asked for more. When we finished, we paid, gave her a tip, and said "Gracias" (thank you) and "Adios" (goodbye).  That day taught us several  things--we found out how good Mexican food is, how patient and kind Mexicans are, and how bad our Spanish was!
      In conclusion, this was only the first of many adventures that we would have on our trip to Mexico.  Understanding the language and culture of a new country can be a lot more difficult than you might think. But it is worth the effort. Have you ever had a similar experience when you visited or moved to a different country?

Ex Machina and the future

          Have we created a monster by making robots that have Artificial Intelligence (AI)?   Some very smart people who started the information technology revolution, like Steve Wosniak, Apple co-founder and Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, are starting to have second thoughts about a future with intelligent robots.  They worry that robots of the future could become smarter than humans and decide that humans should no longer be in charge. They see two possible scenarios; either the robots decide that humans are no longer necessary and destroy them, or the robots make humans their slaves. Both of these scenarios are scary to us humans, of course. My opinion is that although robots may become smarter than humans at some time in the future, they will never have what makes us human--souls. So it's hard to see how robots will ever have qualities like emotions, feelings, creativity, courage, caring, and a conscience, or example. These are some of many human characteristics that make us human and don't seem to depend on intelligence, either human or artificial. There is a new movie coming out soon, called Ex Machina, that explores the future of robots and AI.  You can click here to watch a trailer about the movie.  It looks like an interesting movie and I'm sure it will cause much debate.  I am eager to watch the movie when it is released. The future is difficult to predict. That's why it can be both fun and scary to think about. What do you think about the future, robots and AI?