Star Warsologies: A Podcast About Science and Star Wars

64: Droids, AI, and Sentience, recorded at Star Wars Celebration Japan

Star Warsologies: A Podcast About Science and Star Wars

Show Notes

In this episode of Star Warsologies, we share the recording of our our Star Wars Celebration Japan panel "Droids, Artificial Intelligence, and Sentience"

Panel description: R2-D2 and C-3PO. BB-8. Battle droids. Star Wars isn't Star Wars without its lovable droids. We'll examine the science of robots, the programming of personality and the ethics of sentient mechanicals in society, plus go behind the scenes on designing droids for the movies. Why do droids in Star Wars look the way they do? Why do we all love R2-D2? How close are we to having droid intelligence and personality in our own world? Let's go inside the gears and processing units to explore all the possibilities. Our team of experts includes Yukie Nagai (Project Professor, International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo), Fon Davis (ILM Model Maker - Star Wars), Chris Kempshall (author, Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire and The History and Politics of Star Wars) and Joel Welch (PhD Law candidate at Western University, Emerging Technology Policies & SciFi). Moderated by James Floyd (Star Wars Insider; Star Warsologies, Star Wars Crossword Puzzles).

Show Links:

Check out Yukie Nagai's robotics website.

Check out Chris Kempshall's website.

You can order James's crossword puzzle book now! For a free puzzle, download the activity kit from Star Wars Reads!

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Star Warsologies is a podcast about science in a galaxy far, far away. Hosts James Floyd and Melissa Miller combine their love of storytelling in the franchise with their keen interest in all things academic.

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