Personal Robots


When we think of robots in the real world, most of us think of industrial robots used in factories. We rarely think of personal robots. And yet personal robots are increasingly common in… Japan. And for now, only Japan.

Alec Ross explains why personal robots are common in Japan in his book, The Industries of the Future. The one phrase answer: ageing population.
-       25% of its population is older than 65 years;
-       Life expectancy continues to rise; so the above percentages will increase to 29% by 2020, and 39% by 2050;
-       Add to that low birthrates and you have very few caretakers;
-       And Japan doesn’t exactly welcome foreign workers, so using them to fill the gap isn’t an option.

Even as the set of tasks personal robots can do remains low for now, it is likely to increase with time. Some already have “almost-spiritual doubts” over where future improvements might lead to:
“Can, and should, emotional connections be made between humans and robots?”

In case you wondered, the rest of the world is starting look closely at this segment and its associated questions because Europe’s population is ageing too, and China’s one-child policy is leading to a “demographically lopsided” population. The US is an exception and doesn’t face this problem because of their immigration policies. Which is why Ross notes half tongue in cheek:
“Robots will be the rare technology that reaches the mainstream through elderly users first, spreading down as grandma shows off her next cutting-edge gadget for the kids and the grandkids.”

I was surprised by a possible cultural aspect why Japan (and Hindu/Buddhist countries) may be more open to “emotional connections” with robots than their Western counterparts!
“(Eastern religions) includes a belief in animism, which holds that both objects and human beings have spirits. As a result, Japanese culture tends to be more accepting of robot companions as actual companions than is Western culture, which views robots as soulless machines.”
And:
“The threat of humanity creating things we cannot control pervades Western culture, leaving a long history of cautionary tales… (Prometheus, Icarus, Frankenstein’s monster)… This fear does not pervade Eastern culture to the same extent.”

Who’d have thought there was a cultural angle to all this?!

Comments

  1. Ramiah KumarJuly 19, 2019 at 9:41 PM

    Very interesting.

    I too would go the Japanese/Chinese way of accepting robots as companions rather than towing the Western idea of looking upon them as "soulless machines".

    The West is worrying away to hell about robots turning into Frankenstein’s monsters. My question is "Is it possible that the only Frankenstein’s monster is the human mind?" I have been asking this for some decades now, and I am unlikely to get the answer in my lifetime! :-)

    ReplyDelete

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