Klara and the Sun is the title of a book by American author and Nobel Laureate, Kazuo Ishiguro. It tells the fictional story of the relationship between a young girl and her robot companion. It is a serious and fascinating story that touches on how people deal with their employees, in this case, their humanoid robot companions. Children love their nannies but have no problem completely discarding them when they grow up.

I read it several years ago. It is very current in that it, in a way,  foretells the future. Robots are developing rapidly and there is a good chance that Elon Musk will eventually succeed in creating a population of Tesla Bots (Optimus) who will replace all the legal and illegal immigrants, as well as many of us, to then elect him to be our 39th President. As we all know by now, voters have much in common with robots.

James?

According to his own estimates, he will have perfected “Optimus” in less than a decade, and they will cost only about $20,000.-. Probably too late for one of them to bring me the comforts of a personal servant — someone to do my bidding at all times of the day. I would be tempted to call him James. “James, my good man, please fetch me a glass of wine and cook me some lamb chops.” 

James would be a very good cook, do my laundry, walk the dog, and mow the lawn. He would call all my family and friends at regular intervals, impersonating me, and tell them whatever they liked to hear. He would also mail birthday cards and pay bills on time — something I often omit to do.

Unfortunately, I was born too long ago to still be around when my type of James would be released by Tesla or Boston Dynamics. Many of you, who are only in your sixties or seventies, will benefit, I hope. There is of course the possibility that by that time, most common people will be redundant, and the elites will rule and buy all Elon’s Jamies. 

Just in case I happen to be wrong, I suggest you invest heavily in robots and that type of technology. Because even if you are not an “Elite” as yet, you might become one and isn’t that something we all strive for?  In my view, it would suffice to just be a stinking rich commoner.

One of your boats?

Speaking of redundancy, with AI and robots advancing, most jobs and even most professions would be superfluous and gradually vanish from the scene. I’m not just thinking of jobs, such as taxi and truck drivers. Lawyers and doctors, stock brokers, and most engineers will all be redundant. They will become part of the unemployed, the “useless class”. They will be replaced by algorithms and we will be able to find all the most detailed answers on the internet, and if Google can’t help us, James will have it all in his clever head, or backbone. “James, I have a terrible pain in my head. Do something!” 

“Let me do a quick scan of your head and see what’s going on. Oh, ahem, not good. You have brain cancer, but I have some pills for that. So, don’t you worry, soon we will be celebrating your 140th birthday.”

“Thank you, James, I love you, and Elon.”

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