Happy New Year! Today’s episode continues the Big Conversation between John and Martin Rees, the astronomer royal. In this part, they respond to robotics experts who welcome the arrival of non-human machines which could take over care work, healthcare, and even become our lovers. Is it healthy to replace jobs done by people with robots, especially when that work involves interacting with vulnerable people? How will we re-order society if widespread super-capable AI renders a lot of our white-collar industries redundant? And are the risks of blurring the lines between the real and the virtual, the human and the machine, being underestimated in our dash towards progress?

This discussion was first broadcast as part of the Big Conversation podcast, hosted by Justin Brierley, which is also part of the Premier Unbelievable network - https://www.thebigconversation.show/

• Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173