[extropy-chat] Video of Fighting Humanoid Robots!

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Emlyn <emlynoregan at gmail.com> wrote:
> This is what I was refering to when I said
> "xenophobia". After all,
> the problem of the aging population in western
> countries would be
> easily solved by letting in all the abled bodied
> people from poor
> countries who want in. In a world chock-full of
> people, deciding to
> build robots to perform the tasks people usually do
> is a really weird
> choice. Not that I'm complaining, those robots are
> cool, but come on,
> is that country being run by Bob the Angry Flower??

The availability of immigrants does diminish the need
for robotic labor in America, but even here, robots
are being developed for elderly service.  They're
loyal 24/7, and (once built) they work for the cost of
electricity and maintenance.

That said, you are correct...but Japan is hardly alone
in its stance.  Most nations in North and South
America were founded by immigrants, and remain open to
immigration to this day.  Most nations that were
"pre-existing" before the modern concept of a nation
came around (circa 1700s/1800s, I think) have,
instead, a "we've always been here" mentality built
into them, which automatically excludes those who
weren't.  Even the USA, over 200 years old now, is
starting to show signs of this.

One could do an interesting exercise in theoretical
nation-building, to try to devise a state that would
remain immigrant-friendly even when, eventually, the
great majority of the population were native-born.
Does one destroy the land or otherwise force
emigration?  Impractical to the extreme - and even
then, people might stick together in their travels,
once again excluding outsiders.  Any legislative fix
could eventually be overruled by the natives.  And so
forth.  But that's another topic.