What If? Companionbots with fully functioning “Iron Wombs” were made at the start of 2017?

[King Krávoka]

In hindsight I just said something extremely sexist and stuff

In hindsight it's actually worse in context.

 

[ShieldWife]

Just because they can be used for reproduction, cleaning your house, raising kids, cooking meals, taking care of you

Doesn’t necessarily mean they can do everything else

True, but if they can do all that stuff as well as humans, they will be able to do a whole lot of human jobs. Most probably.

 

[Scottty]

True, but if they can do all that stuff as well as humans, they will be able to do a whole lot of human jobs. Most probably.

Something like "raising kids" or even "cleaning your house" would require some general AI there. But that doesn't mean that such a robot could replace humans for everything.
There are plenty of actual human beings who can cook or clean, but would be clueless if asked to repair something, or drive a car, or teach someone calculus.

 

[ShieldWife]

Something like "raising kids" or even "cleaning your house" would require some general AI there. But that doesn't mean that such a robot could replace humans for everything.
There are plenty of actual human beings who can cook or clean, but would be clueless if asked to repair something, or drive a car, or teach someone calculus.

True, but keep in mind we’re talking about a robot that can be a complete companion for a human, not just a roomba. If a robot had that kind of AI, it could be programmed to do virtually anything that a human could.

Even if the robots can’t do anything that humans can do, if they can replace only 80% of humans, it’s going to have a radical effect on labor and employment.