The robots are here — and they look nothing like we expected
When Czech playwright Karel Capek first used the word "robot"
nearly a century ago, it was to describe a coldly calculating
machine, evil in its perfection and scornful of human frailty.
And so began our fascination with the possibility of humanoid
machines designed to be our underlings but destined to be our
overlords. While there are plenty of robots today that do look
disturbingly human, they're more often used as mediums for
research than as functional products. Instead, the robots
creeping into everyday life in industrial manufacturing,
agriculture, and health care don't look anything like Rosie or
C-3P0. But that hasn't stopped their human operators from giving
them cute pet names — and genders. We will see robots taking
over in areas where labor is getting scarce or expensive — which
will help corporate downsizers, at least until robots get smart
enough to unionize. Our current job shortage aside, the US
Bureau of Labor Statistics says that,