It's such a simple question Rachael (Sean Young) asks Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) in Ridley Scott's 1982 film Blade Runner: "Have you ever retired a human by mistake?" They've just met in Eldon Tyrell's opulent offices, and Deckard, a replicant bounty hunter, has come to interview Rachael as a means of testing the LAPD's replicant-detecting Voight-Kampff device. Deckard's equally simple response-- "no"--comes without hesitation; he nonchalantly shrugs it off as though he's never bothered questioning the supposed difference between humans and the androids he's contracted to kill. The entire exchange takes about five seconds, yet it encapsulates everything that has fueled the public's decades-long love affair with Blade Runner's existential dread: What are humans? What myths do they take for granted? What have they been missing?

Ai Weiwei may be China's most famous contemporary artist and a prolific social justice activist. But at his core, Ai insists, he is simply an observer. Not to mention a relentless documenter -- of the Chinese communist government, of international human rights violations, of the 40-some cats that roam his Beijing art studio and of the longtime team members who populate his Berlin art studio, a 150-year-old underground beer cellar. Tonight it's the moon that has captured Ai's attention. He arrived a few hours ago at LAX and now strolls languidly across his agent's Beverly Hills office courtyard, repeatedly stopping to take photos of the sky.

Crew embark on the first of a trio of October spacewalks to perform maintenance on the International Space Station. MIAMI – As every homeowner on earth knows all too well, every now and then you have to make repairs. There are three scheduled spacewalks that are all about International Space Station maintenance. On Thursday, two American astronauts, Commander Randy Breznik and Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei, exited the air-lock, climbing out into microgravity as the Space Station passed above the eastern Mediterranean Sea. In this frame from NASA TV, Astronauts Mark Vande Hei, left, and Randy Bresnik work on the International Space Station on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017.

In January, Mattel announced that it was developing a child-friendly smart assistant to take on Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri. But the toy giant has said this week that the plans have been scrapped following complaints from privacy groups and lawmakers. Several activist groups and at least two US lawmakers said Aristotle threatened to undermine privacy and could open up children to marketers, hackers and other threats. In January, Mattel announced that it was developing a child-friendly smart assistant to take on Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri. Deemed the'world's first smart baby monitor', Aristotle could order diapers, read children bedtime stories, sing lullabies and teach them a second language.

We are surrounded by hysteria about the future of artificial intelligence and robotics--hysteria about how powerful they will become, how quickly, and what they will do to jobs. I recently saw a story in MarketWatch that said robots will take half of today's jobs in 10 to 20 years. It even had a graphic to prove the numbers. How many robots are currently operational in those jobs? How many realistic demonstrations have there been of robots working in this arena? Similar stories apply to all the other categories where it is suggested that we will see the end of more than 90 percent of jobs that currently require physical presence at some particular site. Mistaken predictions lead to fears of things that are not going to happen, whether it's the wide-scale destruction of jobs, the Singularity, or the advent of AI that has values different from ours and might try to destroy us. We need to push back on these mistakes. But why are people making them?

LONDON – Contrary to popular belief, busy city centers beat suburban living when it comes to human wellbeing, as socializing and walking make for happier, healthier people, according to a new report. Downtown residents -- packed together in tight row houses or apartment blocks -- are more active and socially engaged than people who live in the sprawl of suburbia, according to a report that aims to challenge popular beliefs about city life. Its authors said their findings should encourage politicians to promote the benefits of built-up city living. "If we can convince policy makers that this is a public health opportunity, we can build well-designed communities, and in the long term, you have made a big difference in health outcomes," coauthor Chinmoy Sarkar said. "With evidence, we can plan multifunctional, attractive neighborhoods that promote physical activity, promote social interaction, and shield from negatives such as pollution and feeling unsafe."

Rapid advancements in the field of robotics coupled with the rise of computing power during the latter half of the twentieth century has exponentially increased the breath of tasks that can be assigned to robots and systems based on an artificial intelligence (AI), as well as the autonomy with which such technologies operate. While this can be beneficial for global development and societal change, for instance by contributing to the fulfilment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, it also raises legal, ethical and societal concerns and challenges, some of which may be hazardous for human wellbeing, safety and security. In 2015, UNICRI launched its programme on AI and Robotics. Utilising knowledge and information of experts in the field to educate and inform stakeholders, and in particular policy-makers, UNICRI believes it will be possible to progress discussion on robotics and artificial intelligence governance. Building consensus amongst concerned communities (national, regional, international, public and private) from theoretical and practical perspectives in a balanced and comprehensive manner is integral to its approach.

Two other Special Forces soldiers were also wounded in the Niger ambush; Lucas Tomlinson has the story for'Special Report.' There was no U.S. surveillance drone overhead at the time of the ambush in Niger which killed three U.S. Army Green Berets and wounded two others Wednesday, multiple officials familiar with the matter tell Fox News. In addition, Fox News has learned the dead and injured soldiers were taken from the firefight by French Puma helicopters. Only one U.S. helicopter was available to pick up the Green Berets. It is not clear why it wasn't used.

WASHINGTON – Federal investigators have opened their first probe of a midair collision between a civilian drone and a traditional aircraft. An Army UH-60 helicopter was flying east of Staten Island on Sept. 21 when it collided with a small, consumer Phantom 4 drone, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a press release Thursday. The Federal Aviation Administration, which is assisting the investigation, has logged more than 1,000 reports of drone safety incidents, including cases of the devices flying close to jetliners. DJI is assisting the NTSB investigation, the company said in an emailed statement.

Google acquired the British artificial-intelligence startup DeepMind in 2014 for a reported £400 million (roughly $525 million), a company its cofounder Demis Hassabis once described as aiming at "solving intelligence, and then using that to solve everything else." Since then, the company's researchers have built a system that beat humans at one of the most complicated board games ever, and is now trying to beat humans at complex video games. It's building AI that's learning to navigate 3D spaces as we do, and is training other systems on British medical data, theoretically to spot illness more quickly. It's also started to integrate with teams in the US to bring its work to Google products where they might be useful. All of this research comes at a price.