So Patrick Buehler and Andrew Zisserman at the University of Oxford, along with Mark Everingham at the University of Leeds, started by designing an algorithm that could let an artificially intelligent computer system identify individual signs.
Then, they let the system watch TV shows with both text subtitles and British Sign Language. After about ten hours of watching TV - well, watch the video and see for yourself.
The software correctly learned about 65% of the signs that it was exposed to.
Would this have been enough to betray Bowman and Poole in the famous HAL 9000 lip-reading incident in 2001: A Space Odyssey? Hopefully, we'll never know.
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Prairie Madness - And Space Sickness
'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'Old People Began to Cross The Continent In Their Own Cars'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
Starfall Manufacturing Drugs In Space
'The vast spinning sphere of Factory in the Sky loomed above and ahead of us, gleaming white against the unfathomable jet depths of surrounding space.'
The Solar Oberth Slingshot
'And if it doesn’t work,' inquired Lazarus, 'what does that make us? Sunspots?'
'If Anyone Is Watching Earth...'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'