Have you watched the movie Surrogates? It portrays a future in which pretty much everyone has a robotic surrogate that looks and feels exactly like them except better and which they control via a brain interface from some dark room in their home. Surrogates are like their avatars in the real world.

I think this is a great idea, BUT so long as it's not overdone. I wouldn't force a regulation of any kind that would limit the use of this technology, but rather I think pointing out the dangers of overusing it would be a good thing. Surrogates would allow paralyzed people to live a relatively normal life and they would allow ordinary people to have experiences in the real world they otherwise wouldn't. However being in your bedroom all life while controlling a surrogate is overkill.

That said, I would love to have one. How about you?

So the robot goes skiing and I end the day without pain in my knees? Cool!

Can I have one robot to go skiing and another to do paperwork?

Will.Spencer wrote:
So the robot goes skiing and I end the day without pain in my knees? Cool!

Can I have one robot to go skiing and another to do paperwork?

I don't see why not, but one would have to be inactive while you control the other. The thing is though it would be you who goes skiing or doing the paperwork. You would just use another body to do it, but you still sense everything just the way you would if you were there.

Of course though if your surrogate's body is perfect knees are unlikely to hurt so the experience is arguably even better.

I don't see why not, but one would have to be inactive while you control the other.

I wonder if one could do paperwork while the other one was stuck on the chairlift?

The thing is though it would be you who goes skiing or doing the paperwork. You would just use another body to do it, but you still sense everything just the way you would if you were there.

That's great for skiing -- not so great for paperwork!

Of course though if your surrogate's body is perfect knees are unlikely to hurt so the experience is arguably even better.

It couldn't be worse!

The military implications are very interesting.

"On no, I got my head blown off again. I guess I'll have to take a few days R&R while I wait for the new body to arrive."

Tom wrote:
The military implications are very interesting.

"On no, I got my head blown off again. I guess I'll have to take a few days R&R while I wait for the new body to arrive."

It would be sort of like first person shooter games. You just wait to "respawn" and continue on.

But if the other side doesn't use surrogates, but rather real people I think that would be incredibly cruel. If both sides used 100% surrogates on the other hand it'd be sort of like playing a sport more so than waging a war, just to see who has better skills or something, which makes war utterly childish (which it is anyway ). But there would still be material damage.