homeless humanoids

[Taro Toporific]

Sony struggles to find homes for humanoids
27 Mar 2003 10:46 GMT/ TOKYO (Reuters) - Judging from the cooing at a demonstration of Sony's diminutive SDR robot, few would dispute just how cute the humanoid machine is.... the company is still struggling to gauge what consumers would want from a humanoid robot and how much they'd be willing to pay for it.
"We'll never give up commercialising this humanoid robot," Fujita, principal scientist in Sony's Intelligent Dynamics Laboratory....
He cited the ...Japan's animistic Shinto tradition, which holds that spirits reside even in mountains and other inanimate objects, among reasons why Japanese seem to harbour a special affinity towards robots. But he also warned of potential dangers from the technology. Without strict network security, for example, he noted that robots connected to the Internet could be taken over by hackers and used to spy on or wreak havoc in a home.

[skyline1080]

is this the same robot on display at the Museum of science and Industry in chicago???

[Taro Toporific]

The vaunted social contract of Japan ...
40% of Homeless Found to be Former Regular Corporate Employees
TBS TV / [03/26/03]
A study by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has found that the number of homeless people, who spend the night at a park or on the street, has increased ...Among the approximately 2,000 homeless people who responded to questioning, about 40% said they were regular company employees just prior to becoming homeless, indicating the effect of the prolonged economic recession.

[tidbits]

Does that mean that an average Japanese who do not own a house and do not save much money, might end up on the street in future even he has a job during his working life?

[Taro Toporific]

Does that mean that an average Japanese who do not own a house and do not save much money, might end up on the street in future even he has a job during his working life?

Yes and no. The poor chumps that bought a house 10 years ago now owe more much more than its value (about 50% drop in the worst cases). If they lose their job, they can't make the payments and they can't sell so . . . BONZAI! Jump in front of the train ...and their family gets the house for free paid by their mortgage/life insurance.