"This is not a toilet - this is a fukig spaceship" (overheard on a toilet at Kobe University Inter`l Center)

Nah, more probably one of these vending machines anyway.

Toto Washlets are sure to transcend before Panasonic :)

PS http://www.cleanishappy.com/

I met a toilet seat by Toto. The control panel scared me. (Mind you, I also saw some Japanese kitchen cooking ranges with scary control panels too ...)

Ah yes, but will YOU be sitting on when it happens?

Yet another case of the AI being given all the crap jobs.

We meatbags are going to be made to pay for that, I can tell...

Essential toilet reading:

Dragons, Grasshoppers, & Frogs!: A Pocket Guide To The Book Of Revelation For Teenagers And Newbies! (Paperback)

http://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Grasshoppers-Frogs-Revelation-Teenagers/dp/0595366686

and for those who take their toilet rapture in powdered form: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaMq_YOJ4TE

I think you are probably right! I was in the design centre of a big brand electronics company in Japan a few years ago, and used their "facilities"

Now, the loos in the hotels had these high tec loo seats too, but at least they had helpfully labeled all the functions in English and Japanese. In this particular facility I was struggling to figure out which control actually operate the flush, as it was only in Japanese.

Then I spotted a large rectangular button on the side that looked pretty important and thought that must be the one (Not wanting the hot spray, perfume, cool air option)

I pressed this large button. It clicked, and out sprang a full QWERTY keyboard! I kid you not! I have no idea what that might have been for!

Let's just hope it will not be an evil AI ! I can't imagine what would happen ... Loads of sh!t probably.

They've advanced?

Damn. I was there in '89 and I remember being seriously intimidated by the controls on the toilet there. And at the time I was a C64 hacker!

Fortunately, they have a weakness: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6559373.stm

Hmmm, hope they don't add a fan or there are going to be some serious feco-ventilatory consequences.

The worst part won't be if the AI toilet seats get mad.

The worst part will be if they decide that they want ALL of the excrement, RIGHT NOW, and start extracting it the hard way...

@12 cirby

You win! Crying with laughter here...

And it won't take no shit, either.

'and for those who take their toilet rapture in powdered form:'

Shades of "Robots are everywhere, and they eat old peoples' medicine for fuel". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVnkd7ot_pw

Here's a question:

Does self awareness imply ego and/or drives outside self preservation and self replication? AI's might be functionally superhuman and self aware, but without any form of desires, pleasure seeking or gratification what would be the point of expending any energy apart from ensuring survival or adherence to programmed parameters?

.... and what on earth would be the digital equivalent of the garden of eden and a certain apple...?

This isn't really related to anything, but I opened up my copy of this month's Wired, and they have "Halting State" as number five in their Playlist section.