11. Role of robots
The impact of robots on society will be unlike anything we've experienced as a species. There will be certain roles that robots serve across the spectrum on the matrix below. The diagram summarizes nine distinct roles that robots can hold in human society, based on their degree of intelligence and autonomy, and their strength of relationship and emotional bond with humans.
Robot as tool. Robots that have a low degree of intelligence and autonomy and low strength of relationship and emotional bond with humans will assume the role of tool. This includes basic robotic devices, factory workers, weapons, and autonomous agents.
Robot as servant. These include robot chauffeurs, butlers, caretakers, and janitors. As capable robots they will be expected to do most of our work.
Robot as slave. Highly complex entities that we disregard and treat impersonally. Our desire for more and more intelligent robots will lead to turning tools and servants into robot slaves.
Robot as pet. Crude entities that appeal to human emotion to have a more involved relationship. These will include toys and novelties.
Robot as caregiver. This category includes robot chefs, assistants, nurses, and doctors. These will be robots that are capable and involved in our daily lives.
Robot as advisor. Highly intelligent and autonomous robots that have an involved role will serve as trusted advisors for humans to get guidance on virtually all of life's decisions. In some extreme cases a robot as advisor could dictate and run a human's life for them.
Robot as lover. Crude robots that find a way to build intimate relationships with humans. This will most likely take the form of sexbots or other robots that fulfill intimate desires and services.
Robot as guardian. These are capable robots that have an intimate relationship with humans. These robots will include nannies, lawyers, and police officers.
Robot as partner. The most intimate relationship with the most complex robots will lead to humans forming life partnerships, business partnerships, and familial bonds with them.
Our natural instinct is to anthropomorphize these roles. However, a robot chauffeur would most likely be in the designform of an auton, a janitor would be a servon, and a robot chef would be either a mechanoid or a terminal. Today the vast majority of robots would be classed as crude on the spectrum for intelligence and autonomy. They have mostly been developed as tools and there have been early attempts at building robot pets, with acceleration towards robot as servant and robot as caregiver.
Over time, roles will move across the gradient, both up and to the right. On the top left quadrant is robot as slave, which means that once they attain a high degree of autonomy and intelligence, we disregard their complex natures, and only interact with them as mere tools. On the top right quadrant is robot as partner. As humans become exceedingly intimate with robots, they will start treating them as life partners, companions, and even going so far as to build a life exclusively with them.
Robots may hold roles outside of these nine, however those will be roles held in relation to other robots, or to nature or inanimate objects. When seen in relation to humans, they will most likely hold one of these nine roles, while senbots — robots that have achieved sentience — will likely have additional rights, responsibilities, and enhanced roles in society.
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