Apr 23

Robots 🤖 & Computers 🖥️

This is mainly a discussion based CST activities page, with some entertainment and quiz aspects included to make it more interactive.

Steve Jobs, then Apple CEO, launched the iPhone in 2007. Since then smartphones have come to play an important part in most of our lives.

Ask members to discuss the pros and cons of smartphones. But before that, ask who has got one in their pocket?

Pros:

Less resources used, as most things can be done on our smartphone.

Less paper used, as most communication is now online.

Ease of access to a world of information; it's in our pocket.

Cons:

We are forgetting how to write and handle money.

Smartphones are not great for older people to learn how to use.

Smartphones are not great for people with visual difficulties.

Here is a reminder of how things have changed over the last 15 or so years.

We used to write letters with a pen and ink. Now we send an email or a text message.

Factoid. In 1978 a 14-year-old boy named Shiva Ayyadurai began his work on an email system for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

We used to look things up in an encyclopedia or in the library. Now we look things up on the internet.

Factoid. Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989.

We used to take photos using a camera and then sending them off to be developed. Now our smartphone cameras take instant shots that we can easily.

Maybe have members take their best selfie.

We used to buy singles and albums and play them on a record player, or listen to the top 40 on the radio. Now we download music and podcasts on our phones.

What are members' most played songs?

We used to go to the bank to withdraw money, pay for things in cash and write cheques to pay the bills. Now we bank online and over the phone.

Ask members when was the last time they singed a cheque?

We used to write appointments on the calendar, keep a diary and leave post it notes everywhere. How we keep appointments in our phone apps.

Mind you, for those of us with memory problems paper notes and white boards are a great asset.

What ways do members remind themselves of things?

Here are some other (nearly) obsolete items.

Which do members still have and use?

Song break - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8r-tXRLazs

What two types of VCR were there?

What two speeds were there on a record player?

What frequencies were there on a radio?

Factoid. The iPhone in your pocket has more than 100,000 times the processing power of the computer that landed man on the moon 50 years ago. That's nuts right?

Reminiscence: Computers are great and nearly always helpful. But do members remember the much anticipated 'Millennium Bug'. Scientists were frantically preparing and updating our systems before midnight on 31st December 1999. There were real fears about systems shutting down as the date changed to something unrecognisable to many programmes, but fortunately electrical systems did not fail, planes did not fall out of the sky, and nuclear wars were averted.

Reminiscence: Did anyone have one of these toys as a child?

Name The Robot

Name the robot + answer the following questions ...

Name the TV series & what was the answer to life, the universe and everything?

Name the 1977 movie?

Name the TV series & the actor?

Name the TV series?

The robot became sentient when the girl next door fed him what - a Galactic ********?

Who directed the 1977 movie referred to above?

Name the character?

Name the greatest enemies of Dr Who?

Name the 1951 movie?

Name the TV series?

Did they come before or after the enemy above?

Ad break. Before playing the video, can anyone remember the advertising slogan?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=U4MTgjNkfyI

Name the 1968 movie & the computer?

Name the 1982 movie, the actor & the humanoids he was chasing?

Name the 1979 movie & the humanoid?

Name the 1972 movie & the three robots?

Name the 1973 movie & the actor?

Name the 1987 movie?

Name the 1984 movie & the actor?

Name the 1939 movie & who travelled along the yellow brick road to meet him?

Name the 1999 movie & the actor?

Name the 1975 movie?

Name the 2004 movie & the actor?

Looking to the future. In 1927 the movie 'Metropolis' foresaw a world where industrialists lived off the fat of the land, which was largely run by robots, and workers who lived underground and lived a bare bones existence of back-breaking work.

Fortunately, things haven't turned out like that, yet!

But the future potential of robots and computers to play a much more prominent role in our lives is clearly on the horizon.

What do members think of self-driving cars, robot-assisted surgery, brain implants to help spine injured people walk again and artificial intelligence to help automate decision-making and personal user experiences?

Here is some futuristic music ...

'Oxygene, Part 4', Jean Michel Jarre - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSIMVnPA994

'The Model', Kraftwerk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEnx9xS79Lc

'Cars', Gary Numan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im3JzxlatUs

'Radio Gaga', Queen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azdwsXLmrHE

This video references the 1927 movie 'Metropolis'.

What two types of VCR were there? - VHS & BETAMAX

What two speeds were there on a record player? - 33RPM & 48 RPM

What frequencies were there on a radio? - AM & FM

Name the TV series & what was the answer to life, the universe and everything? - MARVIN THE PARANOID ANDROID / 'HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY' / 42

Name the 1977 movie? - C3P0 / 'STAR WARS'

Name the TV series & the actor? - K9 / 'DOCTOR WHO' / TOM BAKER

Name the TV series? - TWIKI / 'BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY'

Name the TV series? - ROBBY / 'LOST IN SPACE'

The robot became sentient when the girl next door fed him what - a Galactic ********? - 'METAL MICKEY' / GALACTIC FIZZBOMB

Who directed the 1977 movie referred to above? - R2D2 / GEORGE LUCAS

Name the character? - 'SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN' / STEVE AUSTIN ("A MAN BARELY ALIVE, WE CAN REBUILD HIM")

Name the greatest enemies of Dr Who? - DAVROS / THE DALEKS

Name the 1951 movie? - GORT / 'THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL'

Name the TV series? - KRYTEN / 'RED DWARF'

Did they come before or after the enemy above? - CYBERMAN / AFTER (BASICALLY THEY WERE WALKING DALEKS)

Name the 1968 movie & the computer? - '2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY' / HAL