I've been following the discussions about a future where humanoid robots take on various jobs like caregiving, package delivery, and serving food. Most conversations focus on the ethical side, but I'm more curious about the practicality. Given that these robots would require a significant amount of rare earth minerals and metals, which are finite on our planet, how can we manufacture enough of them? Considering we also need those resources for other technologies like electric cars, it seems like it may be quite a challenge. Are we just dreaming, or is there a viable path forward?
3 Answers
Why not just let robots handle the resource harvesting? That might be one way to solve both problems at once!
We actually have enough resources to make more cars than there are people on Earth. So if you think about it, there should be enough materials to create at least one robot for every person, which is a lot! We definitely have the capacity for this.
Fun fact: Rare earth materials aren’t as rare as their name suggests! They are actually quite plentiful in the Earth's crust. For example, cerium is the 25th most abundant element. The challenge comes from their thin distribution, making extraction costly and complex, not necessarily limited by availability.
LOL! That's a wild thought!