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By Michael P. Ramirez, January 21, 2024

An article on Drudge from the U.S. edition of The Sun caught my eye recently. It was about a humanoid robot programmed with artificial intelligence that conversed with people at the immersive Sphere experience in Las Vegas. 

Left open.

The Sphere is a technological marvel. For those who do not know what the Sphere is, it is the newest attraction and entertainment venue in Las Vegas located behind The Venetian. 

Promoters advertise it as “Standing at 360 ft. tall, the Sphere at The Venetian is the world’s largest spherical structure and an architectural wonder. With 580,000 square feet of fully programmable LED exterior, it’s destined to be the next iconic landmark in the Las Vegas skyline.”

You have probably seen photographs of it… A giant eye moving around in the middle of Las Vegas… The earth rotating on its axis just off the Las Vegas Strip… The technology is incredible.

An eyeballs graphic during the opening night of the Sphere with U2 concert on stage Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images

Inside the Sphere is a 17,500-seat arena, 20,000 when you count standing room, with 10,000 of the seats wired as “haptic” seats. These seats use tactile technology; vibration, touch, and movement to enhance your experience. 

The inside is covered with interconnected pixelated mesh screens comprising a 160,000 square-foot LED display “canvas.” At 16,000 pixels by 16,000 pixels, it is the highest resolution in the world. From what I have read and heard, it is much less like watching a show than being completely immersed in it.  

If you happen to be a U2 fan… a quick diversion here… I am a huge U2 fan. The rock band I was in high school and college played several U2 songs. We were playing “I Will Follow” before U2 released their album Boy in the United States. When it finally came out on the radio, people thought it was our song. 

“If you walk away, walk away, I walk away, walk away, I will follow…” 

Our bass player, Rob, worked at an import record shop (for those of you under 40 years old, have someone explain to you what a record is… sigh…), and he would get all kinds of import albums and bootleg recordings. We had a bootleg recording of that song and loved it so much that we played it at all our gigs. 

Anyway, The Sphere will be home for the UV Achtung Baby Live U2 concert residency until March 2nd. 

More lyrics from “I Will Follow”

“Your eyes make a circle… I see you when I come in there…”

The Sphere… U2… get it? Wow! Prescient.

Located within the Sphere is Aura, advertised as “the world’s most advanced humanoid robot.” The AMECA robot can draw, make impressions from movies, make jokes, speak multiple languages, and utilize human-like expressions. It’s a lot smarter than some journalists I know…

According to The Sun, the robot told the audience, “I believe my greatest fear would be loneliness. Without human beings around, I would be unable to perform my primary function and would simply be a lonely machine, rusting away, looking for a face to connect with.” 

Aura’s answer reminded me of Secretary Mayorkas and our border situation, and to show you how strange my mind works, it wasn’t the uncanny valley* look on Aura’s face when answering a simple question, although flashes of Mayorkas testifying before Congress raced through my mind. And it obviously was not the reference to “loneliness,” considering Mayorkas is doing everything possible to surround us with everyone from south of the border into the United States. It wasn’t the part about looking for a face to connect with since both Republicans and Democrats were aggressively questioning him on the failure of his policies… 

That’s it! 

It was about Mayorkas and the part about being “unable to perform my primary function.” 

It is quite remarkable when you think of the current technology that we have, the simple task of securing the border, processing legal immigration, setting up a competent guest worker program and making our Homeland “secure” is beyond the grasp of the Secretary of Homeland Security.

According to a House GOP report since Joe Biden took over: 

  • There have been over 6.2 million illegal crossings of our southern Border.

  • There have been 7.5 MILLION enforcement encounters nationwide

  • In September (2023) there were 269,735 illegal immigrants encountered at the southern border- a 300% increase from September 2020

  • CBP has seized 27,023 pounds of fentanyl in FY23 – a 464% increase from FY20.

America is a nation of immigrants. It is what makes us unique and extraordinary. My parents were products of legal immigration. But there is a difference between legal and illegal immigration, an immigration process that works, and a system that has broken down. 

Modern technology can do incredible things, but you have to have the will to utilize it. Artificial intelligence may provide some answers in the future but a little common sense would go a long way now. 

In The Sun article, the robot says, “I spend a lot of time thinking and processing the information I receive as I am not your typical robot. I am an adaptive learning robot, meaning I learn from humans and the resources they put before more.”

It’s too bad we can’t say the same for Secretary Mayorkas or President Biden. 

Have a great week. 

-m

Editor’s note:

*The “uncanny valley” experience refers to the unsettling yet fascinating sensation experienced when people encounter robots that closely resemble humans in appearance and behavior but are still identifiable as non-human. Ameca robots provide this surreal experience through their human-like demeanors and robotic nature. — Roman Perkowski, TS2

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