JoeJ said:
An example: A group of NPCs has to enter a house. But an explosion has thrown a rock before the door.

That`s a very loose (vague) scenario, is it a physics driven game? If the purpose is to enter the house they must be `geared` to get any type of obstacle out of the way. Also 90% of AI is about movement. If you want them to cooperate (lift the boulder together) it`s about syncronisation of movement.

Has anyone read The Age of Spiritual Machines? In it they highlight the difference between humans and nanobot clouds that replicate humans. Perhaps that comparison is helpful when considering the difference between apes and humans?

Those optimistic futurists like Kurzweil always construct a very narrow path through the tree of possibilities.
In real life, things go wrong, paths become blocked, and progress has ups and downs.

It's hard to ignore his law of acceleration, but… does it look so at every point in time? I don't think so. There were ups and downs. Currently things don't feel like going up. :/

Edit: Is the law of bad events with increasing impact, like world wars, also an accelerating curve?

taby said:
nanobot clouds that replicate humans.

that seems like doing it the hard way, attaching a laptop to a robotic body sounds easier. the bio cell - nanobot association shouldn`t be dismissed with ease though.

Computers - kicked by WW2.
Rockets for Space Exploration - kicked by WW2.
Internet we use right now - founded by the military.
Nuclear power that powers up our computers now - kicked by war.
GPS is a military project.
 

NikiTo said:
kicked by WW2

good points. War led to the refining of lots of technologies.

No, but war gets it first, because Gov can grab your patents, i've learned.

JoeJ said:

No, but war gets it first, because Gov can grab your patents, i've learned.

if it wasn`t for ww2 tanks you would still be driving cars that look/behave like carts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_Secrecy_Act
 

https://www.wired.com/2013/04/gov-secrecy-orders-on-patents/
 

drifting on the making a terminator idea, the main challenge is to make a biped robot that can navigate which is similar to making self driving cars. Once there you could have different types of packs, cocking pack cleaning pack, nursing pack, combat pack (like what you see in Terminator the movie ). I think it`s no accident that Terminator 2 (which is peak of the trilogy) starts with a scene with lanes packed with cars at rush hour.