The public fears robots. The taste makers want to be them.

Will we see a rise of robotic looks and influencers as we accept our fate of a robot-run world?

Yesterday I was driving through the streets of Hollywood and for the first time ever, saw Waymo cars left and right. Waymo is the new start-up that has driverless cars that act as an Uber or Lyft, minus needing to pay a human driver. I don’t know if I will ever get used to looking into a car and seeing an empty driver’s seat.

The first thing that came to mind for me is the ethics. How can a robot car be held accountable if it runs a pedestrian over or causes a pile-up accident that kills someone?

Humans are social creatures and we use laws and rules as away to shape behavior. If not due to empathy, people will abide by certain rules as to not be ostracized and exiled from the pack.

A person is going to focus on the road when driving because they don’t want to hurt another human and be arrested for manslaughter. But if an app like Waymo is driving a car, who is held accountable if it causes in an accident? The police can’t arrest an iPad.

Here is a video of a Waymo car being pulled over in Phoenix:

For this reason, robots scare me. But I also see the silver-lining. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day in 100 years, humans think it is ridiculous that humans used to drive and operate motorized vehicles. Planes, busses, cars and ships will all be run by robots and, potentially, will be safer than naturally flawed humans.

We will tell our grandkids about how we used to drive our own cars and they will think it is just as crazy as when my grandparents used to tell me how they weren’t required to wear seatbelts and had back seats that faced the back window instead of forward.

But ethics aside, I believe we are seeing the rise of robotics and their influence with the taste makers of society. While most people fear them, some at the top are embracing them.

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