Rea· son rē-z(e)n :
proper exercise of the mind; intelligence; justification; the sum of the intellectual powers.
The Age of “Reason” The AI Robot
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera produced The Jetsons, an animated sitcom set 100 years in the future. The Jetsons first aired on ABC in 1962. The show featured video telephones, flying cars, and a Robot Maid named Rosie.
Irwin Allen produced Lost in Space for CBS in 1965. The Robinson family set off on a 5 year space mission set in the distant future, 1997. The show guest starred Robby the Robot, a “Robotoid” with independent decision making skills, regardless of programming.
In 1966 NBC aired Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek. Set in the 23rd Century the show featured technologies including talking computers, Communicators, and Universal Translators.
Mr. Roddenberry, Allen, Hanna and Barbera were precise predictors of new tech. Today, these technologies take a slightly different shape in self-driving EVs, robots that vacuum carpets and mow lawns, Alexa and mobile phones with more computing power than the Apollo Space Missions. At the heart of these technologies is artificial intelligence.
The Age of “Reason” the AI Robot is another fantasy of a powerful, sexy and sophisticated vision of the future and bleeding edge technology. Reason is an improbable image of how artificial intelligence will take shape, perhaps in a more Liberal Arts/Netflix kind of way as opposed to Rocket Science/NASA.