Talking to Robots

A ward-winning journalist David Ewing Duncan considers twenty-four visions of possible human-robot futures—incredible scenarios that ponder the impact and existence of new Al, from Teddy Bear Bots to Warrior Bots, Politician Bots to Sex Bots—all grounded in real technologies and possibilities, and all inspired by our imagination. What robots and Al systems are being built right now? How far has our imagination stretched beyond them already? What do they say about us, their creators? Will they usher in a fantastic new future, or destroy life as we know it? Some of the world's greatest thinkers—from physicist Brian Greene and futurist Kevin Kelly, to inventor Dean Kamen, geneticist George Church, and filmmaker Tiffany Shlain —share their hopes, fears, and dreams about our human-robot future. For even as robots and Al intrigue us and make us anxious, our fascination with them has always been bigger than the potential of the technology—it's also what our creations tell us about being human.