I think we're very susceptible to being manipulated for the same reason that I've talked about

over exaggerations of capability.

We see a human form and we start treating it like a human.

I think that's very dangerous.

And it's something that's going to be a real conversation we're really going to have to

consider seriously over the coming decades.

Thank you. Hello and welcome to Tech Won't Save Us made in partnership with The Nation magazine.

I'm your host, Paris Marks, and this week my guest is James Vincent.

James is a journalist and writer based in the UK, an author of Beyond Measure,

the Hidden History of Measurement.

He's also a former senior editor at The Verge.

Now, I'm sure that you have seen all of these videos circulating online for the past number of months,

the past year of humanoid robots dancing and trying to do housework and doing various other tasks, right? Because there are so many companies that are now working on these humanoid robots,

certainly inspired by Elon Musk and what Tesla has

been doing with Optimus, who are trying to create a market for these things, right, and who are

trying to convince us that humanoid robots are the future, that they're going to be a really

important part of our lives, or maybe even going to take over a lot of jobs.

But to be honest, that narrative seems a bit far-fetched to me, and probably to you, too,

if you are a listener of this show.

And so James recently wrote a feature piece for Harper's, where he really dug into what is

behind these humanoid robots and where they actually are on the curve of

innovation or whatever. You know, are these robots a technology that are really about to take

...