Land of the Rising Robot

China and India are poised to be the next economic powerhouses of the world. Or maybe not.

In a recent two-part series published by the Globalist, Professor Prabhu Guptara argues that Japan's preeminence in robotic technology may require us to reconsider the economic potential of these Asian giants.

Part One: Why the Next Decade Will Be Neither Chinese Nor Indian

Robotic technology has the potential to enhance human life in numerous ways. However, says Guptara, this technology also has the potential to become the greatest threat to humanity if it falls into the wrong hands.

Part Two: Will Japanese Robots Rule the World by 2020?

(Hat tip to Jose Cordeiro)

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Comments

[Brian Wang]

In the second article the author poses the question, how many cases they can recollect, in the last 50 years, where Japan has missed a nationally-set industrial target.

the main one that I know of is the fifth generation computer project
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_generation_computer_systems_project

Other places will have robots. The USA has the iRobot company which has made millions of household robots. Darpa has a lot of robots.

I actually had just put together my own summary of robot advances yesterday.
http://advancednano.blogspot.com/2006/03/other-tech-robots.html

India and China may have less robots now but that is mainly because they are still catching up in technology and because the economics are different. $500-7000 per Chinese or Indian worker versus $50,000+ in Japan and other countries. The other factors of Japan's aging population and longtime cultural love of robots (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecha) and gadgets explains the rest.

I think that love of robots and the aging population will continue to fuel Japan's robotic lead. (Early adopter market). But that lead will decrease as the per capita wages rise and the populations age in China and India.

I also think that automation and increase in the robot population will be productivity and economic multipliers.

[Zelah]

In regards to the above,

Regards to the impact of Robots on society, read Anime comics or watch movies like Ghost in the Shell!!!

Essentially, the solution to how humans would compete with robots would be to become more like robots! With cheap nanotech, humans in advanced countries would be one step ahead!

In third world countries, robots will not be used because of economics 101.

The real problems are not unemployment, but managing the transition from a capitalist society to an cyberist society!

(the more technilogically advanced you are, the less likely that unemployment is a serious problem! vis a vis India / South Africa unemployment 20% plus to America / Europe below 8%.)

[Jan-Willem Bats]

Talk about robots... I stumbled on something interesting today, and posted it on the blog.

Have a look, it's impressive.

http://tinyurl.com/pbckw

[Nato Welch]

This stuff reads like a high school English paper. 1984? I don't recall any computers, never mind robots in 1984. It sounds like a poorly re-hashed version of Marshall Brain.
http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm

That said, his proposed remedies are not new: basic income paid for by taxation, socializing intellectual property. It's good to hear yet another voice out there "getting it".

[Professor Prabhu Guptara]

Many thanks for your kind comments on my articles in your blog.

If you would like to keep up with other work by me, my personal website is above, and my Blogsite is: www.prabhuguptara.blogspot.com

with best wishes

Prabhu Guptara