12 Reasons Robots Will Always Have An Advantage Over Humans

We puny humans can be depressingly fragile and flawed, a realization that's all the more discouraging when we consider the incredible potential for robots. Here are 12 reasons why machines will always have the edge over us meatbags.

Before we get started, it's important to point out that I took a normative approach to this analysis. For the sake of simplicity, I assumed a sort of status quo among humans, one in which our future selves and descendants have opted out of enhancement technologies. Clearly, should we take the transhuman path to the future, our technologically enhanced minds and bodies would better match those of robots. We may even find ourselves integrating and fusing with them.

That said, we still don't know how safe, effective, and accessible human enhancement technologies will be. It's also an open question as to whether or not human enhancement will ever be socially sanctioned.

The development of robotic technologies, on the other hand, shows no signs of waning. Should we humans stay the same, here are 12 ways robots could come to dominate us in the future (listed in no particular order).

It's easier to build robots than it is to make humans. Currently, robots have to be designed and constructed by us, but that's set to change with the introduction of fully automated systems capable of manufacturing other robots on an assembly line. While still in its primitive stages, researchers at the Modular Robotics Lab at the University of Pennsylvania have already developed a robot that can build other robots with spray foam.

Robots of the future will also be capable of reproduction, or what mathematician John von Neumann referred to as kinematic self-replicating machines. Researchers are the University of Oslo have already developed squirming three-limbed starfish-bots who can produce their own parts and adapt to novel environments, and Matt Denton at Robosavvy has developed a hexapod robot equipped with a cutting tool enabling it to fashion various machine parts including, conceivably, its own parts. Considering these early developments, and given how long it takes to produce and raise a human (not to mention the costs), it's reasonable to assume we could eventually reach a tipping point when robots will start to outnumber us.

As this chart from the International Federation of Robotics shows, we're already on the way there at least for industrial robots. The IFR estimates that, from 2015 to 2017, robot installations will increase by 12% on average per year.

Robots will be able to change their bodies at will. It's an advantage we humans simply won't have (mind uploading technologies aside). In the far future, robots will be able to transfer, or upload, their digital minds from one robot to another. Should a robot body fail, become obsolete, or inadequate for a given task, there will always be another one available.

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12 Reasons Robots Will Always Have An Advantage Over Humans