30 January

Helping to care for the vast and growing number of old people in the world is one of the major reasons humanoid robots are under development. I’m sure many will have an immediate reflex ‘ugh’ to the idea, but this could be wonderful, particularly with the capacity to assist 24 hours per day. And with modern AI they could also be great companions in conversation. Again, the default reflex will be tedious narratives about that being impersonal and dehumanising. But people already happily allow the old to sit chattering every day to cats and dogs. Similarly semi-autonomous driving technology can dramatically increase the capacity of the old to remain on the road. We’re already at the point where cars can drive themselves for most journeys.