This article is a follow-up to the previous one on information where I explained that killer robots should NOT be our primary fear. But of course they will!
Killer robots are so much more "real" and understandable than stupidification that they are almost irresistible for journalists and everyone else.
Soon, they will be ubiquitous on the battlefield as autonomous drones and supply vehicles. Soldiers will take longer to arrive. The police surprisingly may be easier to replace. Just look at what's going on in China.
The next generation of factories will be without humans. Farm equipment will become autonomous. It is just a matter of how much and how fast we can invest. Accidents will happen. A world optimized for machines is not ideal for human beings.
Luddites will raise the specter of killer robots so thoroughly described in SF movies without realizing that the real war has already started but the battlefield and weapon of choice is not lead and steel but energy and electricity!
A New Fear Unlocked.
We all understand that mass adoption of humanoid robots is still years out. But the timeline is accelerating—bipedal, autonomous robots and so-called "robo-dogs" are already reaching early adopters. While mass adoption may still be years away, the affordability inflection point could arrive by the early 2030s—perhaps bringing us closer to the kind of household companion seen in Bicentennial Man, the late-1990s film starring Robin Williams.
But warning signs around AI and humanoid robotics are already flashing yellow, with a hint of red. First, a recent study from AI research firm Anthropic warned advanced AI bots could be willing to harm humans to avoid being shut down or replaced. Second, investing legend Paul Tudor Jones issued a stark, apocalyptic warning about AI back in May. And now, in China, humanoid robots have gained the ability to recharge autonomously.
According to the South China Morning Post, Chinese firm UBTech Robotics rolled out the Walker S2, the world's first humanoid robot capable of autonomously swapping its own batteries, allowing it to operate 24/7 without human assistance.
This development underscores China's rapid progress in robotics, drones, AI, smartphones, semiconductors, and electric vehicles—technologies that often share similar production ecosystems. The nation that controls the development and supply chains of these technologies will dominate the 2030s.
The emerging fear isn't just that China is becoming a "robotics powerhouse," as Moody's noted last week—but that its robots are now gaining the ability to operate autonomously and recharge themselves, edging closer to full independence from human control. With a mind of their own, there's no telling what these robots will do if one of them becomes rogue. Remember this...
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