Expert Predicts Robots Will Replace Our Pets Someday

Dr. Jean Loup Rault has a bizarre prediction for the future. While it’s easy to imagine many jobs and tools becoming automated in the future, Dr. Rault suggests that having robotic pets will become commonplace within the next generation. To him, it’s a simple matter of resources. He believes that our growing population will make it too expensive for everyone to afford a cat or a dog. And as technology makes these machines more realistic and intelligent, we may start to prefer them over animals that need to be constantly fed and taken care of.

For now, the notion sounds ridiculous. Why would humans prefer the company of a machine, even if that machine is “realistic.” We would still know better right? Only imaginative children and people with mental problems pretend inanimate objects are alive.

In reality, most people are capable of “personifying” objects. When maintenance for Sony’s Aibo robot dog was discontinued, their owners were distraught. They formed support groups and held funerals for their electronic pets as they broke down. Soldiers give their bomb disposal robots names, and are often upset when they are blown to pieces, and they don’t know why. It’s kind of sweet until you realize these people are gushing over something that is not alive. While one might sympathize with them, their love of these machines is still kind of creepy. And if you think this bizarre and unsettling future is many years away, think again…