I, Robot

It's finally a reality--robots of manageable size and human form can be created for less than a mere $1,000. While I question the usefulness of its severely-limited feature set, we have nonetheless taken another step towards a robotic age. Science fiction authors have written about "robot humans" for decades. No doubt we will benefit immensely from such a creation! I do wonder what social implications this robot will engender, both in the near and the distant future. Will robots (which are computing machines) ever have the same rights as humans? Will they be able to own homes, vote for a president, or marry a loved one? On a more dangerous note, many ask if sophisticated robots in the future will decide that humanity is obsolete. All such questions are valid, and I don't intend any negative connotations for any of them. Rather, I simply submit questions of this nature for consideration by those with the ability to build robot humans.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/25/tech/innovation/inmoov-robot-3d-printing/index.html

Whaddya mean I don't socialize?! My best friend is always in my pocket!

Technology is so much more important than people. No, really, it's true. Skeptical? How much time do you spend posting to Facebook? Laughing at memes? How about shopping for online music? Some career fair recruiters encourage students to apply online for internships. Suzie's Angry Birds score is 23 times higher than her last exam grade, and her "friends" only know her by her username. And finally, texting while operating a large vehicle traveling at 65 miles per hour is considered acceptable (this should bother most of us, by the way). OK, OK--so I don't actually believe that technology is more important than people.Why, then, do I waste dozens of hours building up my World of Warcraft reputation? Each day I think, "I would be lost without my laptop!" Wow; first-world problems sure are tough, aren't they? I think it's time to reorder my priorities. Somehow I imagine that my relationships with family and friends will be much more important to me someday. Turns out technology does actually have some drawbacks. To quote a friend of mine, "who'da thunk?"