Here's the link: http://www.msnbc.com/news/750150.asp?0cv=CB20
Personally I think that they will... Aibo should be a medicare-coverable expense. ;^) Although not mentioned in the article there one question that I wonder about: Will such effects be limited generationally... In other words will our current crop of senior citizens get more more out of robotics than senior citizens in 50 years? I think that it's much easier for seniors now to anthropomorphize computers and robots and such... There's a (general) lack of comfort with technology so humanizing (or animalizing) those things that seem alive seems like a reasonable defense mechanism. In the article the one woman quoted says of her Aibo "He has a mind of his own". Not only is she applying free thought, but also gender. However will our kids (or us), much more familiar with robots and computers, be as ready to fool ourselves? Of course robotics will continue to advance... Possibly to the point that it will be difficult to tell real from robot. I remember that line from "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep": "It's considered rude to ask if somebody's animal is a synthetic" (or something like that). However the point of that book was that people with synthetics did feel socially less than those with real animals even if nobody but them knew the animals were synthetic. Anyway... It's an interesting study. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Signup for the Fusion Authority news alert and keep up with the latest news in ColdFusion and related topics. http://www.fusionauthority.com/signup.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
