As pointed out in email

[james_davis_nicoll]

One day, sitting around with a group of undergraduate physics students, I listened as one made the bold statement: “If it can be imagined, it can be done.” The others nodded in agreement. It sounded like wisdom. It took me all of two seconds to violate this dictum as I imagined myself jumping straight up to the Moon. I may have asked if the student really thought what he said was true, but resisted the impulse to turn it into an impromptu teaching moment. Instead, I wondered how pervasive this attitude was among physics students and faculty. So I put together a survey and in this post report what I found. The overriding theme: experts say don’t count on a Star Trek future. Ever.

Comments

[ilya187.livejournal.com]

I think the aging of society will provide (in Japan, is already providing) a strong push toward such robots, in two different ways. One way is obvious -- society with much greater old-to-young ration simply needs such robots more. The other way is less obvious: houses, furniture and appliances engineered for ease of use by old folks, will be inherently easier to use by robots. A shelf or a dishwasher designed so that arthritic fingers can put and remove plates and glasses without pain or breakage, will almost certainly lend itself to robotic hands as well.