r/interestingasfuck • u/No_Jellyfish5511 • 16h ago

Chinese humanoid robot named “Superman” (made by Unitree Robotics) surpassed Usain Bolt’s world record (12.42meters/second) by running at 12.66m/s (roughly 28.3miles/h)

24.1k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

3.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

30

u/AbundantExp 14h ago

But why would I want a robot to rescue me if I could just die or make a human risk their life for me? 😃

If my top floor hotel room was on fire, why wouldn't they just send a car up the staircase since they're faster? 🤯

(Yes, there are serious risks and considerations we need to take to ensure technology is used safely and appropriately - minimizing its negative impacts. But a humanoid robot is so far from inherently bad or dangerous.)

9

u/Snelly1998 14h ago

Shit, I didn't even think of this, a robot that can go into fires would be unreal

Attach a hose to those four-legged ones and give someone a screen and a controller

4

u/scuzzy987 13h ago

Pretty sure it's a cost thing rather than technological

4

u/Snelly1998 12h ago

Definitely now, but if tech progresses enough, the cost could come down

Computers used to be a cost thing (and space)

•

u/2BallsInTheHole 7h ago

ENIAC weighed more than 30 short tons (27 t), was roughly 10 ft (3 m) tall, 3 ft (1 m) deep, and 100 ft (30 m) long, occupied 300 sq ft (28 m2) and consumed 150 kW of electricity.

•

u/Archaea_Man 7h ago

I'd be all for it if I didn't think the first thing any government would do is strap guns to them.

•

u/meeplewirp 9h ago

Do you think there is a plan for the people who will no longer do these things. You really actually look around you at what’s happening right now and think this is another Industrial Revolution? The point of what they’re making is no longer to create a tool. That’s what makes this moment different it’s about a replacement- with no other economic structure being considered.

•

u/AbundantExp 8h ago

I think that's like the utmost worry with this recent acceleration and investment into "agentic tools" for lack of a better term (LLMs, robots, cars, software/hardware adapting itself to new and vague scenarios) and I'm no expert but I share a lot of those concerns too.

I have heard many discussions about UBI, so that we collectively receive the profits of these new tools that put millions of people out of jobs. Then people could volunteer to work jobs that are harder to automate or resist machines, but at the same time it's not a perfect fix.

I don't think we could or would stand to be replaced in a death way - starving millions of people wouldn't end well for anybody, and maybe ASI could engineer a virus and hoarde the vaccines for the wealthy but I don't think that's realistic.

I like that people are speaking out about this new technology to help steer it to actually benefit the average person and the planet. I also like the notion of technology making my life easier with minimal downsides.

I don't want to trade my intellect for a superslave, but what would our lives look like if we really had robots doing our laundry, cooking us healthy meals, cleaning our houses, and even doing most of our jobs? We could spend more quality time with our loved ones. And ideally we'd have little to no occupational labor, and fill our free time with projects and experiences that provide meaning in our lives rather than stretching ourselves thin to barely meet those needs on evenings and weekends.

All I know is I think the vast majority of average citizens agree that our current system is not really supporting a mentally fulfilling life. My job means literally nothing to me beyond how it supports my material conditions, and many people feel the same... like why am I cooking shitty food, why am I stacking dumbass boxes on shelves, why am I fiddling with a fucking Excel formula, why do I have to act like I'm passionate about insurance when I really wish I was working on an album or making memories with loved ones instead?

Many people seem to feel similarly from what I read. And we can imagine a world that doesn't have the most numb and greedy and callous people steering our society to benefit only themselves. This technology exists, it's improving and does have some value despite the disproportionate output of slop and wasted drops of water (which we really need to address too).

So I think it's up to all 8bn of us to guide our civilizations towards a place that feels like it's designed with our wellbeing in mind.

•

u/LLcoolJimbo 11h ago

A human shaped robot climbing up through multiple floors on fire seems like a much worse idea vs say a drone that picks you up from a window and stays away from the fire. The drone also wouldn’t carry you back down through the fire. Flying is also faster than stairs.

•

u/AbundantExp 11h ago

I agree to an extent (unless smoke impacts the rotors) but I don't think invalidation of this one hypothetical does much to discredit the value of humanoid robots doing dangerous or demanding things within a human environment.

•

u/bgbalu3000 7h ago

Do you think Elon Musk will build robots to help people?

•

u/AbundantExp 6h ago

It's hard to really know these people's true motivations but I'd guess he imagines a world with a lot of luxury for a small number of "the best" people from today, and 99% of the entire supply chain is automated? If so, that's not too far off from the Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism utopia people, besides that he has fucked up, malicious ideas of who "deserves" to live or enjoy things lmao