Are Humanoid Robots the End of Human Work?

A roomful of robot experts just voted against the robots. At a recent conference in China, thousands of robotics researchers were asked whether humanoid robots would replace most human workers by 2050. Nearly 90 percent said no.

Kenneth Goldberg, a robotics professor at UC Berkeley, helped make the case. His argument: robots can do backflips and run half marathons, but they still can't tie a sneaker or chop vegetables. Dexterity, he says, remains a profound limitation.

Goldberg also points to a striking historical pattern. From the automobile to the internet, transformative technologies haven't actually raised unemployment. "If you look at the unemployment rate in the U.S. over the past hundred years, it's pretty much stayed constant," he notes.

And with an aging population creating a shortage of human caregivers, Goldberg argues we may need more workers, not fewer. The robot apocalypse, it turns out, may be less imminent than your social media feed suggests.