From The Three-eyed One
As people come to use computers more and more, humans are freed from the tasks of production and intellectual work. Or perhaps they are actually banished from it, becoming mere slaves of computers. That means that robots may actually become the humans, that they may actually become the "people," including you, of the future.
From "The Android: Astro Boy's Futurism," an essay that appeared in the Weekly Yomiuri
Pet robots are already on the market, and helper robots are soon to make their debut as well. Maybe the next robots we'll see will be "educational" robots and "childrearing" robots. People will herald the new system, praising it for making schools obsolete, for making education uniform around the world. It will also be welcomed for "freeing" women from childrearing tasks, enabling them to maintain their own independent lifestyles. Are you enthusiastic about this kind of scientific "progress"? Well, we might think, why use a washboard when you have a fully automated washing machine? Some people might say that the same goes for childrearing. But bringing up kids involves more than this, because people also learn about themselves as parents in the process.
We learn important lessons from making mistakes in raising kids, or, for example, in disappointing a teacher that we love. And we're now in danger of being robbed of these "intangible gifts" by cutting edge technology itself.
