Talking to Robots

lt;b>David Ewing Duncan is an award-winning science journalist in print, television, and radio; and the best-selling author of nine books published in 21 languages. He is Curator of Arc Fusion, a recent columnist for the Daily Beast, and a frequent contributor to Wired, Vanity Fair, MIT Technology Review, The New York Times, Atlantic, and others. He has also written for Fortune, National Geographic, Discover, Life, Outside, and Newsweek. He is a former commentator for NPR's Morning Edition, and a special correspondent and producer for ABC s Nightline. His book Calendar was a bestseller in 14 countries; he also wrote the bestseller Experimental Man. David s work has won numerous awards, including Magazine Story of the Year from AAAS. David [PE1] lives in San Francisco, where he is a member of the San Francisco Writer s Grotto, a writer s society.

Prelude

When the Robots Arrived

In the future we will all remember when the robots truly arrived. Everyone will have their story. Some will be revelatory, recalled as a rush of excitement that a robot could do that thing that was so vitally important to us. Perhaps a robot surgeon saved the life of someone dear to you. Or you had mind-blowing sex with the robo-date of your dreams. And how can you forget when that robot broker used AI-quantum mumbo jumbo to net you a tidy sum on the Pyongyang stock exchange, allowing you to pay for your daughter's master's degree-in robotics?

For others, their first true robot experience will be like getting the best toy ever: a mega-bot loaded with games, jokes, travel suggestions, advice in love, holographic telephones-a robot that's funny and wise and, quite possibly, sexy, like the voice of Scarlett Johansson in the movie Her. Or maybe your inaugural robot moment will be more banal. An instant when you realize with relief that the machines have taken over all the tasks and responsibilities that used to be super annoying-taking out the trash, changing diapers, paying bills, and vacuuming those hard-to-reach places in your (robot-driven) car.

Possibly your recollection will be less benign, a memory of when a robot turned against you. The #%$! machine that swiped your job. The robot IRS agent that threatened to seize your bank assets over a tax dispute. The robo-judge that decided against you in a lawsuit with a former business partner that also happened to be a robot, making you wonder if all these robots are secretly working in cahoots.

You might also remember when the robots began campaigning for equal rights with humans and for an end to robot slavery, abuse, and exploitation. Or when robots became so smart that they ceased to do what we asked them and became our benign overlords, treating us like cute and not very bright pets. Or when the robots grew tired of us and decided to destroy us, turning our own robo-powered weapons of mass destruction against us, which we hoped was just a bad dream-a possible future scenario discussed in the early twenty-first century by the likes of Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX. "AI is a fundamental existential risk for human civilization," Musk once said, adding that AI is "potentially more dangerous than nukes." Great news coming from a guy who made AI-powered cars and spaceships.

Those of you living in the present day can be forgiven if you feel a bit antsy about the whole existential risk thing, even as you continue to love, love, love your technology as it whisks you across and over continents and oceans at thirty-five thousand feet, and also brews you decent triple-shot cappuccinos with extra foam at just the push of a button. It summons you rides in someone else's Kia Soul or Chevy Volt that hopefully doesn't smell funny, and it connects you online with that cute chestnut-haired girl you had a crush on in sixth grade whose current-day pics you "like" but are careful not to "love," because that would be a little weird after all these years.

Yet deep down, many people living in the early 2000s-known as the Early Robot Era (ERE)-feared that a robo-apocalypse wasn't off the table for the future. This despite reassurances from tech elites like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. "I'm really optimistic," Zuckerberg has said about the future. "People who are naysayers and kind of try to drum up these doomsday scenarios-I just, I don't understand it." To which Elon Musk replied, "I've talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited."

Further into the future we will remember when robots became organic, created in a lab from living tissue, cells, and DNA to look and be just like us, but better and more resilient. Even further out in time we will recall when we first had the option of becoming rob