So I was thinking about the subject of technology and how many modern technologies we take for granted were taken as being science-fantasy as short as twenty years ago. Not science-fiction, as in possible, but just the technology isn't developed yet, but science-fantasy, as in we'll never develop such technology. Modern cellphones and things like the iPad are an example of this. In the 1980s or the early 1990s, if you had suggested that in twenty years we'd have such technology, you might well have been laughed at. Flat-screen televisions as well. I would imagine the next major "flattening" will occur to air conditioners. Right now, window air conditioners are big, heavy bulky things that you have to stick in your window. But give it some decades, and I bet air conditioners will become flat and light and probably become a form of interior design accessory to rooms in the way the modern flat-screen television has become (so much so that in pictures of rooms from the 1980s and the 1990s, the old big bulky CRT televisions look like a major eyesore).
So anyways, regarding robots, well there are generally two types of robots: practical and the non-practical humanoid robots. Practical robots are what are designed for uses in things such as manufacturing, the oil and gas industry, and military and law enforcement. These robots are not humanoids at all however. There are also some home robot designs, such as an automated vacuum cleaner and some others (iRobot makes these).
Humanoid robots are a robot that is not practical yet because there is no real need for them and the technology is not there yet. The Japanese however are infatuated with the idea of humanoid robots and continue to make major progress in this area of robotics. Despite not being practical at all now, I was thinking that in the future, once the technology gets developed enough, they probably will become very practical in quite a few ways. The technology and the software has to overgo some major hurdles of course, but I believe this will happen because so much of the technology we have now was considered utter fantasy as early as a few decades ago. So what may seem like fantasy capabilities for humanoid robots right now will probably become reality within a certain number of decades.
For example, a personal robot could help elderly people living at home. My grandma used to hire an aid, but usually these were underpaid older women who were crabby about life and their job and who also occassionally stole from my grandma. A personal robot wouldn't do any of that as it wouldn't have emotions. A personal robot could cook dinner for you, do your dishes, and your laundry, maybe even drive your car for you! Better yet, it might even be able to serve as a personal chef with the right programming. Many are aware how many of the things we enjoy today were luxuries not long ago. For example, in the 1980s, having a phone in your car made you a real big shot. And a television, super big-shot. Today, everyone and their grandma has a cell phone and an iPod and possibly an iPad or whatnot, where you can set the thing on the dash and watch a movie right in your car while waiting in traffic. You can carry an entire library's worth of music and books with you nowawdays quite easily. Automobiles now also are equipped with navigation systems and televisions with full entertainment system in them too. And these technologies will only keep becoming cheaper and cheaper, and thus working their way down into cheaper and cheaper automobiles. Cars without navigation systems today will probably get them in future and cars with navigation systems today will probably see them morph into full on-board computers that can do everything from navigate to allow surfing of the Internet to watch television on (some may already do this even).
Well currently, having a personal chef and servants is a luxury of the rich. Modern people, even the poor, have a lot of stuff that used to only be available to the rich (and quite a few things even the richest couldn't dream of), but servants and personal chefs still are exclusive to the wealthy. But personal robots could change all that. All of a sudden, just as with the car phone, something that was previously the domain of the wealthy will probably end up becoming something that every family in middle-class America has access to. This also raises questions of what else the personal robots might be able to do?
I had mentioned driving, but by that point, cars may well be able to drive themselves. We already have cars now with cruise control that can slow the car down and speed it up automatically in response to traffic, and also parallel park themselves. I would not be surprised at all if I was preserved somehow cryogenically, woke up in America in 2100, only to find personal robots are the norm with families, and all cars can drive themselves. As a side-note, I do not think we will end up with a society where all cars can only drive themselves, and humans can no longer drive (as often portrayed in movies about the future). Yes, self-driving cars may be a lot safer, but a lot of people still like to drive their own car as they please. I think it would be seen as too much of an intrusion on freedom if the government tried mandating all cars have to be self-driving by law and that people cannot drive them (and I would agree). Another reason I think this would/will not occur is because by that standard, the government already would probably have outlawed things like sports cars and motorcycles as well. Sports cars serve no practical purpose and can easily be deemed "unsafe." If you could mandate cars only drive themselves, then you could outlaw the production of sports cars and motorcycles altogether for the same purpose (traffic safety). But they are plenty legal. So I'd think people driving their own cars will remain. But it won't become unusual to see cars with their "driver" riding as just a passenger either. There would also be situations I imagine where you will need to drive the car yourself, such as when going to the grocery store, or mall, or a restaurant for example, where do you park? If you pull into a gas station, which gas pump do you stop at? Maybe you could direct the car by voice on these, but what if you have fallen asleep? Or maybe you are approaching a road that is an intersection with a stop sign, but the stop sign has been knocked down, so your car doesn't see it, and also can't see the car speeding down the intersecting road from a distance that you DO see, and thus doesn't know to stop? You'd want the ability to just hit the brakes on your own there.
I am rambling a bit there, but just interesting thoughts on robotic automobiles. Going back to personal robots, I wonder what else they might be able to do? Besides laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc...maybe even hop into the car and drive to the store and buy groceries? Will the personal robot hop into the robotic car which will then drive the personal robot to the grocery store and back? :D What additional industries and jobs will be spawned by this personal robot industry? As with many technologies, I am sure certain jobs and industries will be affected. Accounting software and the personal computer killed the jobs of a lot of accountants, the Internet killed some industries off, and I am sure personal robots will as well. BUT, whole new industries and jobs will likely be created as well.
This also brings up a few concerns, for example, how physically strong should such robots be? If helping elders, you'd need a robot strong enough to lift and help a human. On the other hand, you don't want something with too much strength either, because if something went wrong with it, it could hurt the person. You want the robot where if it tried to harm you for whatever reason (say it was chopping carrots with a big knife, then something goes haywire and you've all of a sudden got a knife-swinging robot in the kitchen), that you could just knock it down and subdue it. In the movies and animes, they oftentimes portray such personal robots as ultra-physically strong, or as having emotions, but it would be extremely foolish to give a personal robot such physical strength and also emotions (the whole point is that the robot has no emotions---and THAT is assuming they ever could have emotions, which no one really knows---software and computers that can replicate an animal brain and have emotions is waaaay down the line and also delves into religious issues as well (do animals and humans have a soul for exxample or are we just biological-chemical machines?)). So I do not believe robots would have such excessive strength or emotions. But even a robot with the strength of the average older person could still be harmful. The average older person could still stab a person for example. there could still be the risk of the robot having something go wrong. And what about bugs in the software? Imagine the Microsoft Windows equivalent of software in your carrot-chopping robot (NO THANKS!!)
Another interesting concern is, if the robot can link up to the Internet for additional software uploads and upgrades, what happens if a virus gets into it? Provided personal robots are developed and go to recharge each night, and also are linked up to the Internet for any software updates let's say, then you can probably be assured that there are folks who will start developing software viruses to infect the robot, and make it start doing things it shouldn't (like go get the kitchen knife and stab the people). Some might think of Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" here, but a virus might erase any such programming from the robot. An emotionless robot, afterall, is going to be just a machine with a computer system running on software in it. A highly, highly advanced piece of machinery with a highly-advanced computer system running on highly-advanced software, but still a computer following instructions within a machine. It will follow the programming in it. So if the programming says get the knife and stab the people, it won't know any better.
I have no idea in the slightest how society will deal with all of these issues as such technology is developed, but it is very interesting to think about.
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