Robots Entering Daily Life in Japan

USA Today is running a story about the emergence of robots in common aspects of life in Japan. Many simple yet social jobs are being filled by robots of increasing sophistication. The article suggests that Japanese culture is more open to such interaction than the majority of other cultures. Quoting: "For Japan, the robotics revolution is an imperative. With more than a fifth of the population 65 or older, the country is banking on robots to replenish the workforce and care for the elderly. The government estimates the industry could surge from about $5.2 billion in 2006 to $26 billion in 2010 and nearly $70 billion by 2025. Besides financial and technological power, the robot wave is favored by the Japanese mind-set as well. Robots have long been portrayed as friendly helpers in Japanese popular culture, a far cry from the often rebellious and violent machines that often inhabit Western science fiction."

Comments

Could they cram in any more stereotypes?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll never understand the mindset that stereotyping entire countries, and even all of the Western Civilization in this case, is a rational thing to do.

Re:Robots are everywhere, but

[hughperkins]

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=853

Re:Japan has it right; The rest of the west is

[WindBourne]

It is real simple. If china wants to peg it to ours so that it undercuts true free trade, then we should simply quite trading. It will hurt for a bit of time, but I believe that we will find other nations that are better suited to this. In particular, Mexico has true free trade, and even India is mostly there (they play games to get jobs located there, but the money is freely traded).

Actually, W. does not share my attitude. He would have done something about it. Fortunately, Obama and McCain both share it, and I think that one of them are going to be next. I am not certain what HRC thinks about this.

BTW, the yuan is 7 to a dollar. If traded freely, it would be about 2/1 (and dropping). That means that we would be able to export to them a great deal more. It would also help a large number of latin countries since most are using the dollar or pegged to the dollar.