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The Robot Revolution Has Snuck Up On Us

posted by martyb on Friday September 04 2015, @07:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the What-would-you-call-a-machine-that-paddles-a-boat-for-you?--A-rowbot! dept.

microtodd writes:

A while back we discussed robot furniture. Now a restaurant in San Francisco is trying to build and run a restaurant run entirely by robots. Now granted, these are not robots like in Asimov's Robot Series. Instead of humanoid-style robots, these are highly specialized, single-purpose machines.

I can foresee a future populated by many, many robots, in which we didn't notice that we were surrounded by them — we were looking for Rosie the Robot and instead got inconspicuous robots that act as automated furniture and interactive surroundings.

What do my fellow Soylenters think? Are we on the verge of a "Robot Revolution" — even if it doesn't look like how 50s sci-fi imagined it would?

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  • (Score: 1) by terryk30 on Saturday September 05 2015, @11:02AM

    by terryk30 (1753) on Saturday September 05 2015, @11:02AM (#232581)

    Am I the only one rolling their eyes when, predictably, someone brings up Manna in discussions like these? (And if it's now obligatory, how can it be insightful to do so?)

    That's it; here's the off-the-cuff version of something that's been brewing...

    Manna starts off interestingly, with the software managing the restaurant - and it all seems within the realm of possibility. But the settings and people portrayed later on, even though intended to be seen as equally plausible or inevitable in the sense of the overall theme, just seem ridiculous if you widen the scope. Two examples:

    • The apartments/complexes for those rendered idle (that the main character finds himself in before being "rescued" to the Star Trek paradise): Yes I'm being cynical, but what about the political structure of those that still have a role? Why would they be so accommodating (i.e. nice) to those without? Yes, even though it's all done with robots and cheap energy, presumably the incremental resources required and nonzero amount of directorship would still be subject to the vagaries (and denials) of those with power.
    • The 2 women from the Star Trek paradise who introduce the main character to their society: why are they so evangelical and professional? In this no-work paradise, don't they have their own agendas to pursue? How were they assigned to do new member orientation? Do they have performance reviews? Done by who?

    (More to flesh out...) In short, as much as I'm intrigued by new configurations of a post-scarcity economy, people are complicated and messy.

  • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Saturday September 05 2015, @02:50PM

    by isostatic (365) on Saturday September 05 2015, @02:50PM (#232625) Journal

    True. I think the first such story is an optimistic view of the future, more likely it will be sealed off cities akin to escape from XX, and only because bullets will cost too much.

    The second part of Elysium makes no sense - why wouldn't such a superior society allow far more refugees than those who happen to have inherited some good fortune.