The economic, social and political impact

This chapter reviews the different ways robots will influence countries. The effects will be direct, in that robots will directly change society and also indirect via their impacts on the economy. With respect to the former, the most pessimistic scenario is that robots will dramatically reduce the number of jobs, increase unemployment and inequality. The more optimistic scenarios see, in the long run, fewer problems with unemployment, but most see rising inequality. This potentially has political implications with people turning to extremist solutions and politicians. But robots will change people directly as with exoskeletons and indirectly as, for example they reduce the need for human contact. But robots too offer the hope of enormous benefits, particularly for remote and rural areas. They offer the hope of improved care for the elderly, medical improvements, increased mobility to those who cannot drive and to those who cannot walk. Finally we examine the implications for humans of the singularity hypothesis, where humanity in its current form is challenged.