Musk imagines humans ultimately transcending our evolutionary heritage through technologies that are beyond-human, or “super” human. Together, these make a formidable toolbox for creating transformative technologies. It’s a future that, judging by Musk’s various endeavors, will be built on a set of underlying interconnected technologies that include sensors, actuators, energy and data infrastructures, systems integration and substantial advances in computer power. In this future, energy will be cheap, abundant and sustainable people will work in harmony with intelligent machines and even merge with them and humans will become an interplanetary species.
Self-driving cars, interplanetary rockets and brain-machine interfaces are steps toward the future Musk envisions where technology is humanity’s savior. As a researcher who studies the ethical and socially responsible development and use of emerging technologies, I find that this plan raises concerns that transcend speculative sci-fi fears of super-smart robots. Yet Tesla’s cars and robots are merely the visible products of a much broader plan aimed at creating a future where advanced technologies liberate humans from our biological roots by blending biology and technology. And as Musk argued at the Tesla Bot’s announcement, successful advanced technologies are going to have to learn to navigate it in the same ways people do. The built environment is made by humans, for humans. The so-called “ Tesla Bot” is a concept for a sleek, 125-pound humanlike robot that will incorporate Tesla’s automotive artificial intelligence and autopilot technologies to plan and follow routes, navigate traffic – in this case, pedestrians – and avoid obstacles.ĭystopian sci-fi overtones aside, the plan makes sense, albeit within Musk’s business strategy. It’s a seeming departure from the company’s car-making business, until you consider that Tesla isn’t a typical automotive manufacturer. Musk’s robot is being developed by Tesla. Initial plans call for the Tesla Bot to stand 5 feet, 8 inches and weigh 125 pounds.
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