Given potential advancements in robotics, will they ever replace other humans as companions?

Question

Given potential advancements in robotics, will they ever replace other humans as companions?

Answer 1

At least you could set them so as not to nag.

Answer 2

yes sadly. I believe we are getting to far into robotics for the fact that we are not perfect and we well make them perfect and will be our undoing

Answer 3

Actually this is a great question. Many dismiss this question as not a serious question, almost treating it as a joke. If anything can be learned from history it is that technology shapes us just as much as we shape technology. Hence, advancements in technology need to be seriously assessed as to their impact on how humans will be socially years from now.

To answer your question concerning robots and their effects on humans, I think pointing to how the Internet has affected us will be quite illuminating. The Internet was first touted as a way to bring the world closer together, and in some sense it has done that. Yet, on the other hand, the Internet has reduced the need for people to interact with each other tremendously.

If we use this as a guide, as robots become more and more human like, it could be possible that robots become substitutes, for a good portion of our population, for other people. We see this happening already on the Internet, where people stop interacting in public settings, and instead retreat into chat rooms, message boards such as this one, and even going so far as to get their sexual gratification from online pornography as opposed to a living breathing human being. A life like robot, and its potential ability, in the future, to mimic human mannerisms, without having the pesky trait of having a will of its own, can be a seductive proposition for those who are either naturally introverted, or for those who don’t want to have to accommodate for the differences of others.

Scientists and ethicists need to ponder the question you have posed seriously, and not cavalierly dismiss it like most people to do.