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[princec]

More toys for the rich, who seem permanently hell-bent on making the poor poorer, or indeed, just redundant and therefore presumably expendable. There's a sort of shadow being cast by "AI" (quotes intentional) as it attempts to make actual humans redundant in many roles. Fortunately it's total shit but that isn't getting in the way of the suits gleefully sacking everyone.

If you want to speculate where it's all heading, look no further than moltbook.

Cas

[Richard230]

More toys for the rich, who seem permanently hell-bent on making the poor poorer, or indeed, just redundant and therefore presumably expendable. There's a sort of shadow being cast by "AI" (quotes intentional) as it attempts to make actual humans redundant in many roles. Fortunately it's total shit but that isn't getting in the way of the suits gleefully sacking everyone.

If you want to speculate where it's all heading, look no further than moltbook.

Cas

Or how about all of the science fiction robot books that have been written in the past? While human-like robots might not make a lot of practical sense, the general public seems fascinated with them and I think they should sell fairly well - provided Musk has the bugs worked out of them.  But they will need cuter looks and maybe some makeup.    I bet they, or more likely Chinese robots, could sell well in Japan.

[TheRan]

I'd rather a dog, give me a present day Aibo

[Specter]

you know damned well they will make a porn bot with a fleshlight jammed up it's digital ass, and every incel across the globe will want 1 or 5.
they'll stick a sausage on the front and every purple haired nose ring wearing hog will want one or 5.   they will be a many many billion dollar market.  people will pay subscriptions for slut of the month to have it talk dirty to them and act out a different fantasy weekly.
think im joking, just look at all the pervs now who dress up like animals to fuck, or wank off to cartoon porn.  yah it's coming.
the porn industry is already a many billion dollar a year industry, this will just send it into hyperdrive.

aaron

[TheRan]

Even the Optimus's highly optimistic cost of $20k is far more than most degenerates who would want a sex bot could afford, when they can get a decent doll for probably a tenth of that. Again it will be limited to the ultra rich, should they get tired of high class hookers.

[Specter]

high class hookers seem to have this habit of coming back years later and crying rape.  They can also extort and bribe you too, but then again, i can see that happening too if someone let the cat out of the bag that you are hunching a doll.   you'll probably see a lot of them in business' for menial tasks, customer service droids, maybe maids, busboys, butlers etc.  newer more efficient, able models will come out, they'll go on the second hand market, just like used cars and bikes where us normal folks can afford one...although i think ill pass on the used sex doll  but someone to make breakfast or do the dishes might be nice. or in my case, yell at the rottentoo when he starts screaming on a sunday morning because he want's attention.  once mass production hits the price will crash.  look at desktops when they first came out in the early 80s, they cost as much as a car, now they are a hundred bucks or so for a fairly ok one that does most mundane tasks ok.  the price of the bots will probably come down similarly.
Aaron

[princec]

Actually you are probably right ... biggest market will be sex bots, not washing up and laundry bots. Even so ...  bit of a niche.

And as for a robot dog ... gimme a real dog any day too

Cas

[Richard230]

I think there could be a very good market for robot home-care services. Right now in California it costs at least $35 an hour for someone to take care of an elderly or infirm person in their home. I have a friend who has 24/7 care in his home by a series of helpers. I also had a neighbor who had a woman living with her for months 7 days a week, until she finally passed away recently. Before my mother passed away in her apartment 8 years ago at 94, she had a woman take care of her 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for which I was paying $18 a hour. Costs have easily doubled since then, along with a lot of new rules and regulations relating to the home service industry. Care like that could easily add up to $100K a year, which would make the purchase of a home service robot look cheap.

[ESokoloff]

I think there could be a very good market for robot home-care services. Right now in California it costs at least $35 an hour for someone to take care of an elderly or infirm person in their home. I have a friend who has 24/7 care in his home by a series of helpers. I also had a neighbor who had a woman living with her for months 7 days a week, until she finally passed away recently. Before my mother passed away in her apartment 8 years ago at 94, she had a woman take care of her 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for which I was paying $18 a hour. Costs have easily doubled since then, along with a lot of new rules and regulations relating to the home service industry. Care like that could easily add up to $100K a year, which would make the purchase of a home service robot look cheap.

^^^^^^^^
This is where the majority of human like robots will be utilized initially before costs drop.

[princec]

I think ... I'd rather just die than be left abandoned to the care of a robot, knowing nobody human gave a shit about me.

Well I say that now because I can still wipe my own arse but I might feel a bit more desperate to cling on to my miserable lonely existence when the time comes, but still. It's bleak.

Cas

[Curt]

And it took a good 3 decades for computers to become common in homes. Optimus isn't a Dell desktop it's an IBM 5100, although arguably less useful and worse value for money than even that, and so my point still stands. Maybe in a few decades similar robots will be cheap enough that they have some use and value to mere mortals but this isn't it.

You're forgetting that we're on an exponential curve. It's going to take WAY less time! In a few decades, you will not recognize anything and it'll all be like magic.

[Curt]

More toys for the rich, who seem permanently hell-bent on making the poor poorer, or indeed, just redundant and therefore presumably expendable.

Toys to make the rich richer and the poor poorer? Just like books, refrigerators, radios, phonographs, TVs, cars and EVs? That's such a communist mentality: holding back the best in the name of pure jealousy.

There's a sort of shadow being cast by "AI" (quotes intentional) as it attempts to make actual humans redundant in many roles. Fortunately it's total shit but that isn't getting in the way of the suits gleefully sacking everyone.

You've hit upon the true problem. On the one hand, life gets much easier for everyone. On the other, when life is too easy that's when the trouble starts.

[Curt]

[Or how about all of the science fiction robot books that have been written in the past? While human-like robots might not make a lot of practical sense, the general public seems fascinated with them and I think they should sell fairly well - provided Musk has the bugs worked out of them.

Purpose-built might perform better with specificity to their shape, but apparently we are skipping directly to general purpose. We have evolved to have a certain physical shape for coping in the world. We might as well not start from scratch in that department -- although they are adding 360 swivels to the joints to spice it up.

I'm absolutely amazed at what's going on. That thing where Captain Kirk is saying "Computer, what's that on the viewport?" is already freaking here. The technology where humanoid robots walk among humans is nearly within view. It will solidify as the training and inference slowly (5-10 years) blend together.

[TheRan]

I think there could be a very good market for robot home-care services. Right now in California it costs at least $35 an hour for someone to take care of an elderly or infirm person in their home. I have a friend who has 24/7 care in his home by a series of helpers. I also had a neighbor who had a woman living with her for months 7 days a week, until she finally passed away recently. Before my mother passed away in her apartment 8 years ago at 94, she had a woman take care of her 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for which I was paying $18 a hour. Costs have easily doubled since then, along with a lot of new rules and regulations relating to the home service industry. Care like that could easily add up to $100K a year, which would make the purchase of a home service robot look cheap.

As amazing as it would be to replace human carers with robot ones it will be a very long time before these robot are human in anyway other than shape. A robot can't be trusted to provide medical care, emotional support and deal with mental health issues, and be 100% reliable in handling delicate people. They could maybe do it via telepresence and maybe that would be a little cheaper than just sending the person out to the place of care, but that's not what everyone is striving to achieve. Shit just look at Tesla being embarrassed and trying to cover up for using telepresence.

[princec]

Extrapolate out out long as it takes... maybe not my lifetime but probably within the next century. We can now build robots that can do anything humans can do. What happens then?

Cas