Fair points, but this is obviously a prototype.

Ultimately, the price of these will come down and even if you need to swap out the batteries, there's no reason that can't be automated too. Hell, a roomba basically does that now. The point is it doesn't need sleep or meal breaks and it doesn't care about working hours. Or you just leave it connected to a permanent power source (if you can teach it to drywall, you can teach it to avoid the cable).

And yeah, my numbers are obviously estimates, since this isn't commercially available yet, and you'd need to factor in capital investment, maintenance, etc. But you don't have to pay it a salary, it doesn't need medical and it doesn't have to comply with health and safety regs (at least, not for the robots H&S).

I find it difficult to believe that something like this could ever be less cost-effective than a human.

Of course, that's assuming a steady rate of improvement. Bipedal robots (like self-driving cars) have been "90% there" for many years now. It might be that the last 10% is REALLY, REALLY difficult.

My gut feeling is that we will see a tipping point. There will be some really challenging engineering/programming obstacle that stops these going mainstream, but eventually, someone will solve it and then the rate of progress will be exponential.

But you're right in that, that's certainly a few years away yet. I'm fascinated as to how we as a society/civilisation deal with mass automation.

Listening to Elon Musk and Joe talk was fascinating.

It isn't that enormously clever, this video. Mildly so.

However, I became fascinated at his acting ability.

It isn't easy, being that natural.

This is a great acting reel.

Yep I read up on him, thanks. These people are fascinating but they are also crazy . There is a fine line between them being inspirational and them dragging you into their craziness.

I recently watched an award winning documentary about fungi that mentioned this phenomenon.

Fungi is the third form of life but is sadly not as well known as flora and fauna, as it is every bit as diverse and fascinating as them both.

Am i the only one that finds these crazy bastards fascinating? I could watch these nutters all day. *promote

Totally fascinating video, but with an ugly transition to an advertisement at around 5:55.

Wow, that a fascinating statistic you pulled out of your ass.

Let's see what literally THREE FUCKING SECONDS of searching on Google produces

(search term: "Australia homicide rate")

Oh, look!

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4510.0~2016~Main%20Features~Victims%20of%20Crime,%20Australia~3

Aaaaand I quote:

"Across Australia, the number of victims of Murder decreased by 4% between 2015 and 2016, from 236 to 227 victims

A weapon was used in 69% of Murders (157 victims). A knife was twice as likely to have been recorded as the murder weapon (71 victims), when compared to a firearm (32 victims). (Table 4)"

So there was a DECREASE in the murder rate in 2017. Furthermore, of 227 murders, only -32- were from firearms, or ~14%.

Let's look at mass shootings in Aussieland.

Oh, that's right, we can't: BECAUSE THERE WERE NONE!

How about the good ol' USA where any idiot can purchase a gun?

In 2016, there were 10,182 murders by firearms. (https://www.statista.com/statistics/195325/murder-victims-in-the-us-by-weapon-used/). A total of 17,250 people were reported killed in the US in 2016, with the number of murders increasing by about 8.6% in comparison to 2015. (https://qz.com/1086403/fbi-crime-statistics-us-murders-were-up-in-2016-and-chicago-had-a-lot-to-do-with-it/)

Let's see here: ~14% of the murders is your maligned Antipodes were committed with a firearm and the murder rate was down while ~60% of the murders here in the US were committed with a firearm and the murder rate is up.

What conclusions can we draw from this?

Oh, yeah, there's this as well:

https://www.snopes.com/crime/statistics/ausguns.asp

And a nb: I know you're going to howl and wail that Chicago has the most restrictive gun laws in the US and people are getting mowed down there left, right and center.

From NPR:
(https://www.npr.org/2017/10/05/555580598/fact-check-is-chicago-proof-that-gun-laws-don-t-work)

"A 2015 study of guns in Chicago, co-authored by Cook, found that more than 60 percent of new guns used in Chicago gang-related crimes and 31.6 percent used in non-gang-related crimes between 2009 and 2013 were bought in other states. Indiana was a particularly heavy supplier, providing nearly one-third of the gang guns and nearly one-fifth of the non-gang guns."

(actual study here: http://home.uchicago.edu/ludwigj/papers/JCrimLC%202015%20Guns%20in%20Chicago.pdf )

In conclusion: maybe do a little research next time, hmm?

These video are fascinating and scary. I guess it's time to finish the home EMP generator.

What I find most interesting is that these fancy watch companies really are trying to make good watches despite their technology being entirely obsolete insofar as making a tool for keeping time goes. Though there are surely a lot of people who are fascinated by and appreciate fine clockwork, they probably aren't the ones buying $50,000 watches and keeping the watchmakers in business. The people buying them are buying them as jewelry for the sake of conspicuous consumption, so for them it's really enough that it's fashionable and expensive enough to be exclusive. I find it so curious because the watchmakers are still doing actual engineering rather than just saying "art" the way a fashion designer might and just trading on the exclusivity of the brand.

Fascinating. They've lived there for an unknown hundreds of years. And are hostile to any outsiders. One estimate was 40 people live on the island? What about inbreeding? It looks like a fair number of children in the videos.

I think we should parachute some cameras in. Park some drones in some trees for observation. (kidding...but not kidding)

*fascinating. There is a real-life Star Trek Prime Directive thing happening here.

Obviously, we don't want to introduce disease to these people, but I'm pretty sure we have some stuff (medicine, plumbing, refrigeration, Stephen Colbert, etc) that would make their lives better. Interesting ethical conundrumm.

Cheers I find it fascinating. just crazy times hey. I was going to post this lecture next but my submissions aren't going to move for a couple days. lol. curious what you think. Feel free to submit it if you'd like

This is absolutely fascinating. Thanks for sharing.