100-Year Starship some way off

Al Globus wrote:

Try this thought experiment: would you like your children to be
raised by a robot with extensive video libraries?

- - - -

My answer to this question would lean on my interest in 'Human Posture' ....
websites www.humanposture.com .... www.humanposture.blogspot.com

When discussing this subject, most disciplines (and there are many of them)
focus on correcting the posture of adults; they conveniently ignore how the
problem is created in the first place. From observing how children are being
brought up by modern parents it is quite clear to me that children's health
is being seriously compromised even within their first year of life. The
problem arises at multiple levels:

1. The problem of toilet training:

In the olden days in India, children would most probably roam free, at most
they would have a cloth lightly tied around their waist. Probably grand
parents and large number of people in a joint family would be around to
clean up as and when the occasion rose. Nowadays this is not possible in
modern homes because the place is too clean to be soiled and it is difficult
for busy parents to attend to their children... So naturally, nappies must
be used and manufacturers compete with one another to manufacture the ideal
nappy, which of course they are not able to do since the knowledge level of
modern science on this issue tends to ... well, zero. I have come to know of
late that some children are being forcibly toilet trained by dumping them in
suitable receptacles attached to western type toilets.

An interesting phenomenon is also emerging, even as older people are
throwing their clothes and footwear to the wind and stepping out 'in the all
together' it is considered indelicate for children to remain unclothed, so
they are clothed to the hilt. Since the advent of elastic a couple of
decades back manufacturers of children's clothing make liberal use of the
stuff ... they could not care less whether this could potentially
destabilise a child's musculoskeletal system.

2. The nuisance of caring for children:

I was surprised to learn that many modern parents dose their children with
sleeping pills so as to make life convenient for parents. Children are also
artificially confined to keep them from hurting themselves.

It is quite obvious that modern parents are finding their children a
handful. Either we must go back to more tribal ways of living, or ...

ENTER THE ROBOTS:

I would expect a robot to do a good job, in some ways a better job than
adults in looking after children, so it is worth developing robots for this
purpose even for terrestrial use. Children unlike adults know precisely what
they want, so it is unlikely that robots will be challenged in terms of
finding out what is required of them.

I am not too worried about robots looking after children in the initial
phase on Alpha Centaurus. Perhaps there could be some concern regarding the
provision of medical care ..

Regards,
Selvaraj

P.S. Regarding extensive video libraries ... the video libraries will deal
with the real world, not the hyped up world that the world's children are
currently being inundated with. And we would expect the robots to create a
natural world with birds, flowers etc. suited for children to grow up in.

On 19 February 2011 07:02, Al Globus wrote: