Elon Musk has said that he will have a humanoid robot within a year. Let’s ask why we would want one.
We already have machines that work for us, such as our washing machines and our cars, and we don’t expect them to look like humans. Looking human would be very difficult to achieve. Stability and balance are hard for humans. Walking, running and jumping, even manipulative work might be much easier if robots did not have to look like humans. And we must also think about the uncanny valley. Would we feel comfortable with robots that look almost human?
On the other hand, there are so many stories about robots that look completely human and so many companies want to achieve that. Is it what we all want? Robot butlers, robot maids, robot cooks? How do you feel about it?
Bring your feelings and your prejudices and talk to us in GeekSpeak.
IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday at 1pm SLT in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.
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