Japanese Find Robots Less Intimidating Than People

bik1979 writes "The Christmas issue of economist has an interesting article on 'why the Japanese want their robots to act more like humans'. The article says how people in japan are accepting robots into their daily life, more so than accepting other people. From the article: 'What seems to set Japan apart from other countries is that few Japanese are all that worried about the effects that hordes of robots might have on its citizens. Nobody seems prepared to ask awkward questions about how it might turn out. If this bold social experiment produces lots of isolated people, there will of course be an outlet for their loneliness: they can confide in their robot pets and partners. Only in Japan could this be thought less risky than having a compassionate Filipina drop by for a chat.'"

America could learn something from Japan

[20th Century Boy]

Why are we so afraid of robots when we have perfectly good safeguards [robotcombat.com] against the possible setbacks?

just wait...

[Anonymous Coward]

wait until the robots are able to give pookake facials... then the robots will really take the country by storm

there is a switch

[Gravis Zero]

see... people arent afraid of robots because you can turn them off or reprogram them. if the situation gets deperate, you can "kill" them because they arent actually people or animals. i look forward to setting fire to my robot friends. i also find it amusing that the article says "[MARIE] is inexpensive." ill buy one! :)

Re:And here's why....

[harryseldon]

You obviously have a defective robot.

Re:Slightly to the West

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet Russia, jokes plead to go just one damn day without YOU!!!

Re:That one droid in KOTOR..

[Dr. Eggman]

awww, robots showing compassion for meat bags, how nice.

Better things to worry about

[servognome]

'What seems to set Japan apart from other countries is that few Japanese are all that worried about the effects that hordes of robots might have on its citizens.

Maybe because they are too busy dealing with Godzilla, Mothra, and all those other giant radioactive monsters.

Re:compassionate Filipina?

[misanthrope101]

compassionate Filipina? What the hell does that mean in this context? Please explain. I don't get it. How is it related to Japanese and robots?

Print comment, show to heterosexual male, ask for explanation, and you will understand. You're either female, or gay. If you're Filipina, then email me directly and I will explain in a sensitive, kind, faithful, strong, stable, caring way.

Damn you batman!!!1!

[Anonymous Coward]

Batman touched my junk liberally. He strapped me in to his batmobile and he couldnt keep his offensive hands off of me. he was performing many red flag touches. I couldnt believe what the fuck was going on. I told batman the city would not approve of a millionaire touching an underage kid for free.

Can you believe it? Batman did all this. He picked me up off the street, strapped my arms and legs down in the batmobile's passenger seat, and just wouldn't stop fondling my cock'n'balls.

They definately were red flag touches. The goddamn referee he had in the back seat kept on raising up this red flag every time he touched my junk but did batman care? NO WAY! He just kept on doing it. I couldn't believe what the fuck was going on, indeed. I pleaded with Mr. Wayne but to no avail. I told him the city would not approve of such a wealthy man touching an underage kid like me (at the time I was 13) without at least compensating me for the trauma and the use of my body as his own personal plaything.

This got to him, worrying about his image. He continued to fondle me, all the while ignoring the referee's red flags. Then he drove the batmobile to my house and *ejected the seat I was in*! It was amazing. But surprisingly, after I woke up the next morning, my bank account had $150k in it! Can you believe it?

Wow. Can't believe it lasted so long without this.

[ScaryFroMan]

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

Re:All Hooked Up

[dhakbar]

"this might surprise you, but Japanese people act in many ways much like Americans, only with a hell of a lot more groupthink."

Oh, so Japan's a lot like Slashdot?

Re:All Hooked Up

[Anonymous Coward]

While I agree with most of your comments, I find that "inject[ing] life into the inanimate world" is a dangerous precident. If the robots come to rebel against their Japanese masters, all hell will break loose. At that point, we can only depend on immigrants. One such great Japanese immigrant who will strike both hope and fear into the Japanese people on the day that the robots rebel is hope Godzilla himself. We can only pray that he will rise from the seas to crush this robotic menace for the Japanese people.

Re:Of course

[Guppy06]

Well, I've got this Nigerian robot that keeps on emailing me...