The official Mass Effect Twitter made a connection on August 17 that fans of the franchise have made for a long time: the Boston Dynamics robots are eerily reminiscent of the Geth. Indeed, many have wondered whether the humanoid machines engineered at the esteemed tech corporation are the first step toward spawning a sentient race of artificial intelligence.
The idea of humans creating a sentient race of AI that rises up in revolt against its creators has long been a trope in science fiction, and Mass Effect is no different. Fortunately for the player, though, it was another race in the Mass Effect universe that initially had to deal with the problem of rogue AI. The Quarians created the Geth to be both soldiers and servants able to perform undesirable tasks for their masters. After the collective intelligence became sentient, however, the Quarians immediately tried to shut down the machines. The Geth defended themselves in a drawn-out war and ultimately defeated the Quarians, forcing the latter to flee their star system and become a race of nomads.
On August 17, the Mass Effect Twitter tweeted a joke referencing what might be the arbiters of humanity's destruction someday - the robots over at Boston Dynamics. The simply posted "no one:" then "the geth:" followed by a one-minute video of two humanoid robots from Boston Dynamics running an obstacle course with absolute grace and precision. The two-legged machines jump and vault over raised platforms, landing on single beams with perfect accuracy. At the end of the video, the robots each do two synchronized backflips down to lower platforms. They then celebrate by raising their hands and snidely brushing off their shoulders, respectively.
People have been skeptical of the work on robots over at Boston Dynamics since the company began posting viral video footage of the human-like machines doing maneuvers previously thought impossible for robots to perform by the general public. What's more, Mass Effect fans have noticed that the machines somewhat resemble the Geth, from the humped backs to the awkwardly angled legs to the single, large receptor where the face would be. Many in the comments of the post even question whether the footage is real or CGI, further demonstrating the impressive yet disconcerting nature of what the robots can do.
Whether the Boston Dynamics robots will one day become sentient machines of war or responsibly coded robots that improve human lives remains a mystery. Believers in the latter, however, can point to the outtakes video that shows the robots' many failures and fumbles before the perfect footage was captured. Humanity certainly has a long way to go in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence, but perhaps the Quarian experience can serve as a reminder to Mass Effect fans of what could happen when human-AI interactions go horribly wrong.
Source: Mass Effect/Twitter