Once upon a time there was an international artificial intelligence conference. I was a kid, before the boom, working as a researcher.
I remember there was this guy who had built a sort of robotic lobster, and he used this lobster to explore the sea floor, corals - and it had plenty of economic implications too. That robotic lobster had become famous in that circle. You start talking about Roomba-style robotics as well, because there’s a whole spectacular scientific line of reasoning behind that kind of robotics, which I’ll tell you about another time.
Anyway, I watched this guy’s talk about the lobster and I said to myself: I have to talk to him. So I went over.
I was a bit undecided at the time about whether to do research or go do something else, but I was in the middle of that PhD. So I walk up to him and I say - with English that made me sound like Super Mario, and still does - “Listen, can I ask you something? With what you’ve invented, why don’t you also aim to make money, to get rich? You could take this stuff around the world, no? To help with exploring the sea floor, pollution, water monitoring.”
And he turns around. He was a greying guy with a big beard, friendly, always in Hawaiian shirts, a really spectacular character. And he says to me:
“My boy, I grew up among rich people, and I can assure you they weren’t happy.”
