Documentaries that get your attention tend to be the contraversial or unique. No one wants to see a documentary on the mating habits of the North American Common Squirell, however get a guy who tries to kill himself by eating 3 meals at McDonalds a day and you have a winner.
Cinematical has put up a review of an interesting Documentary that deals with machines being designed for companionship called Mechanical Love.
Phie Ambo’s Mechanical Love begins by noting that soon the elderly will outnumber children for the first time in human history. Obviously, this leads to questions about how these people will be cared for — and I don’t just mean how they will get fed and provided shelter, but also who will give them actual care and attention. The older generations already have a limited number of ways to get personal interaction, even though it is something that is necessary to continue their drive to live. In response to these changes and concerns, there are engineers like Professor Ishiguro who are developing robots not for work or sex, but for human companionship.
Now this treads on dangerous ground as there is a growing fear that machines will take over the world should they become too independant. I am not talking about sci-fi fanboys running around with tinfoil on their head, this is a gnawing reality that some people are concerned about. Could creating a machine that will simulate companionship could just be the bridging point to a droid nation?
Consider that today they make an android that can converse and interact mentally with a living counterpart. Why can’t they make one that can perform menial tasks? Then before you know it we have law enforcement and military androids eliminating the risk to human life in ballistic conflict.
Are we really that far from Asimov’s I, Robot? How long after before they establish SkyNet?
Sounds like an interesting Documentary.
