Yes.

If you're very, very lucky.

Since 1984.

Ah, but see, the point of the article is that, unlike all the rest of us, this guy actually is smart enough to predict exactly how our 1000-times-smarter hyper-advanced post-human descendants will think.

ITYM Sea Bass.

If you RTFS, you might notice that it mentions "replicat[ing] the energy-efficient nature of jelly movement". Any task that's useful to perform in water can be done better by making the vehicle more energy-efficient. Other properties of the design will no doubt make it more suitable for some tasks than for others. That'll all shake out as the technology becomes available to designers of machines for all sorts of purposes. Adding another mode of locomotion to the toolkit available to such designers can only be useful.

As opposed to the real scientists? *ducks*

Essence and seeds perhaps. But look Ye not unto Slashdot for answers, for Ye shall be told both Yea and Nay.

Ah, my kingdom for a mod point! Well done.

You know, from the cat's point of view, it's the physicist who keeps cutting his probability of existence in half every time he performs the experiment. She might wonder why he commits this series of half-suicides. If she cared.

In most cases, no. But if you've achieved true "Strong" AI, and the program is a sentient entity, then yes, yes you are.

1. Find an engineer who has dealt much with tech patent licensing issues. (I haven't myself, but I've performed this experiment and the results were fascinating.)
2, Get a couple of beers into him.
3. Be prepared to duck for cover.
4. Ask him about the phrase "Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory".

Good to know I'm not the only one who has that dream.

The Crossbow Project
There's no defense like a good offense.