"The MIT Media Lab researcher and robot ethicist offers an optimistic look at our future with robots based on our historical relationships with animals"--

Devastated by the loss of her husband and humanich robot son, Ethan, astronaut Molly Woods is involuntarily committed to a ₁rest facility.₂ Believing her confinement is part of a conspiracy to keep her quiet about the presence of aliens, Molly escapes, but she₂s stricken by an unknown illness...one she believes may be related to the mysterious space encounter that left her pregnant.

What robot and AI systems are being built and imagined right now? What do they say about us, their creators? Will they usher in a fantastic new future, or destroy us? What do some of our greatest thinkers, from physicist Brian Greene and futurist Kevin Kelly to inventor Dean Kamen, geneticist George Church, and filmmaker Tiffany Shlain, anticipate about our human-robot future? For even as robots and A.I. intrigue us and make us anxious about the future,...

"The latest developments in robotics and artificial intelligence and a preview of the coming decades, based on research and interviews with the world's foremost experts. If there's one universal trait among humans, it's our social nature. Having relationships with others is a hard-wired need that literally shapes us and the lives we lead. The craving to connect is universal, compelling, and frequently irresistible. This concept is central to Robots...