Bit by bit, we are growing more comfortable with digital devices in our daily lives. There are robots with human arms and humans with robotic arms. There are robots that provide health care. Robots that clean houses. Service robots take care of us; rescue robots save us; industrial robots build things for us; education robots teach us; phone bots assist us; and military robots wage wars on our behalf.
Artificial-intelligence researchers and code-writing whizzes are rigging up robots to anticipate human needs and desires, to go places where humans refuse to go, and to do things that humans do not want to do. We are apparently facing an inevitable future filled with androids, humanoids, replicants and other part-human, part-machine hybrids.