70 replies to this topic

[adamh]

Yeah, self driving cars are the future for sure. As you said, we have them now but a few bugs to work out. People will not have to park their cars in the driveway, garage or on the street. They just push a button, and the car comes to pick them up. Next, people will realize that there is no need to own a car, just call a cab. Cabs will become much cheaper once there is no need to pay a driver. Then, its just gas and wear and tear. If they can make a profit charging $2 for a ride across town, why buy a car? People with a car at home will be seen as eccentric much like people with only home phones are starting to be seen today. Why pay a per minute charge for calling a nearby town when you can call anywhere in the country for no cost?

 

These things are part of the everyday abundance that we enjoy right now and it will only get better. An AI doctor will have on tap all medical knowledge, unlike doctors today who only know things about their own specialty and not everything about that. An AI doctor can't be bribed by pharma salesmen, who dangles a free trip if the doc writes enough scripts for the junk they are pushing. The bot will know all the up to date info, and will make the most logical diagnosis and recommended treatment. The bot does not need 8 to 12 or more years of expensive education, they will simply download it all in an hour. Medical bills are a big cost for some people.

 

We see every day crooked judges who make bad rulings that have to be corrected by scotus. We hear about crooked lawyers stealing money. AI lawyers and judges will not be swayed by bias, emotion, greed, or politics. Someone on this thread was complaining about high prices, this should be good news

 

Could we go farther with AI? Could we have robot cops? They would know the law, unlike the majority of cops. There are a ton of videos of cops telling people false things about the law and pulling tricks to arrest them. It would cut way down on false arrests and police brutality. Some day could we have robot senators and reps? We know they take bribes and are cooked as hell. Robot government could cut down on that a whole lot and produce laws that make sense rather than helping someone's buddy who gave them a job or "book deal" which is how politicians often get bribed

 

It will take time, no one likes to give up any power they may have. The good things we have now will get better

[adamh]

By replacing humans with robots, we will eliminate a lot of incompetence. There will be fewer construction mistakes, and medical mistakes. Robot assisted surgery has become commonplace. Using the bot means shaky hands are no longer a factor, everything is done precisely. Robots don't get tired or bored, their concentration does not lapse. They don't fall asleep while piloting a plane and never drink or use other drugs. Which would you rather have, a robot flying the plane with a copilot in the cabin, or a pilot who had to take the clot shot and may have a seizure or heart attack at any time?

 

Another source of problems is thieves and scammers. AI can be set up to alert consumers when a likely scam call or email arrives. Scammers thrive on the uninformed and elderly. Postal workers sometimes steal mail, sometimes lose mail. I've found mail in my yard more than once that the postal worker dropped plus mail for others put in my box. I delivered it to the right houses, but a robot should not make errors like that. Mailmen sometimes get bitten by dogs, its a major concern for them. Robots aren't afraid of dogs and don't sue for injuries. AI powered cameras can prevent crime before it happens and alert the police. Delivery people would become bots and delivery costs will go way down. All costs will go down

 

With hard working cheap farm robots, food will become cheaper and better quality. We already discussed how they can zap harmful insects with lasers while sparing honeybees thereby eliminating pesticides. They will do the grunt work and are already doing a lot of work on farms, planting, weeding, and harvesting. A machine might cost $5 an hour to run and do the work of 5 farmhands @$15 per hour. 

 

We will all have personal assistants to wait on us, cook food and serve it, clean, do the laundry, take out garbage, and anything else we need. They have bots now that are programmed to make conversation and keep people company. Some are even designed for sex. In days gone by, almost everyone had servants who mostly just got room and board. Even poor people sometimes had servants. Homeless people were happy to find such a job. Human help now is expensive so bots will fill the gap 

 

This is the shining new future we are looking forward to and enjoying much of it already

[mag1]

Here's a way to get around the forum rules!

Below is a chat I had with copilot about robotransport.

This way it will not clog up the thread but will add in some high quality content.

Yeah!

 

https://copilot.micr...uBJsXXhJsgVhRoe

[jroseland]

Yeah, air travel sucks these days! But I remain optimistic on the topic of AI and a coming age of abundance. Improvements in society and civilization never come the broad population waking up and adopting better habits, tools, or mindsets. They always come from a small group of motivated individuals yielding some new technology. I see AI as a powerful tool that change-makers can yield to, on balance, benefit society.

[adamh]

@mag1, I'm not sure what forum rules we were in danger of breaking. Your link discusses the many advantages of robo trucks and taxis. One interesting point it brought up was the fact we can eliminate a lot of parking with constantly circulating robot taxis. We could park far away from home since it comes to us but those who don't own a car could take advantage of a fleet of taxis circulating through the city, it should be no more than 5 or 10 minutes to get a ride.

 

I suspect we have barely scratched the surface of the potential benefits. Your home robot, in addition to doing all the household tasks, would be able to tap into medical databases and eliminate most trips to the doctor. It could even take your temperature, pulse and other vital signs and tell you if you need a real doctor, or if it will go away, or perhaps recommend something you can do or take at home to feel better. Your bot will be always alert for anyone trying to break in, fire, or other accidents and alert you as well as perhaps calling for help.

 

People might take their robot with them when they go out. It will help keep track of what you are doing, remind you of appointments and answer questions. It could also function as a bodyguard preventing harm and able to call police. It will record what happened and be your witness. Being always alert and having 360 vision, it could warn you of cars coming, objects falling or other hazards you might not notice. In the past only the very rich could afford this level of convenience and safety. With the price of robots falling, I expect to see more of this. 

 

@jroseland Yes, its good that people are starting to see the advantages of technology. It will take a while to roll out, people are resistant to change but it will filter through society and eventually even the natives in africa will have robots. Air travel too will improve as fallible human air traffic controllers and pilots are replaced by AI bots. Prices keep coming down on robots and capabilities keep going up. 

[Mind]

It is interesting that everyone seems to think that the robo-taxis are going to be free. Or that the home robots are going to be free.

 

Who is going to give them away for free? Who is going to pay for electricity to run them? Electricity prices are already impoverishing the lower classes, Is all of the new technology going to be only for the rich elite among us?

 

If you think you are going to subscribe or rent all of this new technology and live in abundance - think again. Here is one example. I pay a monthly fee for accounting software. 10 years ago, I could buy the program for $200, install it on my computer, and do all of my accounting. The company stopped providing physical copies. Now it operates in "the cloud" and charges a monthly fee - OF $200 PER MONTH! So over the last five years, my company has spent $3,000 on accounting software. 10 years ago, we paid $200 and that was it.

 

You will either sit at home all the time and do nothing, or you will go broke renting robots and taxis to go out and have fun.

 

Nothing is getting cheaper. Nothing is free.

 

Uttering the phrase "robots" will not magically make everything cheap. abundant, or free.

Edited by Mind, 17 November 2025 - 04:57 PM.

[Mind]

Yeah, air travel sucks these days! But I remain optimistic on the topic of AI and a coming age of abundance. Improvements in society and civilization never come the broad population waking up and adopting better habits, tools, or mindsets. They always come from a small group of motivated individuals yielding some new technology. I see AI as a powerful tool that change-makers can yield to, on balance, benefit society.

 

You of all people should know the type of people who are rolling out AI and robots. They are megalomaniacs, drunk on power, money, and sex/action! They have gotten rich lately, not by rolling out awesome products that everyone can afford, but by studying addiction and applying that to their business model.

 

I know just a handful of hackers/technologists who are in it for the "good of the world". They are not the ones driving the future, sadly. 

[Mind]

For everyone expecting really cheap robo-taxis, take a look around.

 

Those Waymo vehicles are extremely expensive to build, maintain, and operate. Uber and Lyft prices are substantially lower. In addition Waymo has to payback billions of dollars to investors. That money - a lot of money - will come out of your pocket.

 

Just take a look at what airlines are already doing - scraping your social media and online footprint to find out when you are desperate to fly - then charging the highest price you can possibly afford (based on what info/data your bank is selling to the airline company). Waymo will do the same thing because they are in it to turn a profit. Your rides will be few and far between - same as your flights. With the help of AI, these companies will be able to manipulate you in ever more sophisticated ways in order to squeeze every last penny out of your bank account.

 

The few things that AI will provide for free is online games, porn, and funny social media videos.

 

In contrast, if you own a car, you can go for a drive anywhere, anytime you like for a fraction of the $/mile than the current robo-taxis.

 

Just saying "robots" will not magically make the world a better place full of abundance. Making a better world for humanity is really hard work. Less and less people are willing to put in the work because they are staring at their phones all day, getting dumber, more depressed, and anxious by the day.

 

 

 

 

[Mind]

McDonald's fries are now over $5.00 in California. 20 years ago they were under a dollar.

 

During the intervening years, farming and processing potatoes has become highly automated. Processing potatoes has become almost completely automated (I used to work in a potato processing facility in the 1990s, so I know what I am talking about). The delivery of the end-product is much more efficient than 20 years ago. There is much less labor involved in the restaurants as well, yet the price of fries has skyrocketed. If we were living in an "age of abundance", the price would be going down and the portions would be getting larger. Just the opposite is happening - just like everything else listed in this thread.

 

I am unsure how adding a bunch of very expensive robots in a highly automated industry is suddenly going to make the price come down. If anything, the price will go up.

[jroseland]

Good points made by all.

 

However, I've grown disinterested in the discussion of trying to fix the world and bemoaning its evils, as my life has been this odd experience watching the world get more and more absurd and stupid while my own personal life got better and better. 

As I write in my recent book...

Where’s the solace in saving a world that doesn’t want to be saved! 

Edited by jroseland, 26 November 2025 - 06:22 PM.

[Mind]

Good points made by all.

 

However, I've grown disinterested in the discussion of trying to fix the world and bemoaning its evils, as my life has been this odd experience watching the world get more and more absurd and stupid while my own personal life got better and better. 

As I write in my recent book...

Where’s the solace in saving a world that doesn’t want to be saved! 

 

True. The more I remove myself from the online absurdity, the better life is. Same as you.

 

Sadly, whatever AI is bringing to the world (positive or negative), it will come crashing into everyone's family and community very soon, whether you want it or not.