If we’ve learnt anything from the movies, it’s that playing god with technology – whether that be with robots, genetic engineering or artificial intelligence – is sure to plunge the human race into disaster. As artificial intelligence technology improves, Hollywood has flirted with fear that eventually we will create a machine smarter than us – and naturally it will kill, enslave or drive us mad. Recently, both Alex Garland’s Ex-Machina and Spike Jonze’s Her have explored the possibility of a very near future in which mechanised products become a vital aspect of our emotional lives.
But in Japan, it seems that future is closer than we imagined – and nobody seems to fear a world where human and machine live and work alongside one another. With high labour costs and technology that’s years ahead of the west, Japan has embraced robots like nowhere else, to explore the enhanced possibilities of an autonomous, robot workforce.
Motherboard sent reporter Ben Ferguson to stay at the Henn-na Hotel in Sasebo which is staffed by robots. As Ben enters the lobby, he’s welcomed by an English-speaking dinosaur in a bellboy hat and must ask directions from a small robot that looks like a child’s toy. He also checks out one of Japan’s famous retro-futurist capsule hotels (which have been around since the ‘80s but largely failed to take off elsewhere) and takes a surreal tour through Japan’s reinterpretation of the traditional Dutch landscape (hint, there’s tons of neon involved…).
The documentary is the first in a three-part Motherboard travel series sponsored by flights, hotels and car price comparison website KAYAK, which explores cutting edge projects that give us an idea of how technology will reshape our traveling experience in the years to come.
Watch out for episode two, which will be dropping soon.
Latest on Huck
The legendary trans artist & illustrator behind Drag magazine
A new book brings together pioneer Vicky West’s luminous illustrations of fantasy, femininity and fashion.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Why did police taser a Bristol grandfather in the face?
Trailblazing documentary I Am Judah chronicles community champion Ras Judah Adunbi’s horrific treatment at the hands of the police and his fight for justice.
Written by: Maisy Hunter
In photos: Ghana’s complex e-waste industry
A new exhibition explores the country’s huge, unregulated industry, which can be hazardous to workers’ health and the local enviroment, yet provides economic opportunity to many.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Meet Corbin Shaw, Huck 81’s Artist in Residence
The Sheffield born artist talks about the people and places that shaped his practice for the latest issue of Huck.
Written by: Josh Jones
The Blessed Madonna: “Dance music flourishes in times of difficulty”
The DJ talks about her debut album ‘Godspeed’, connection and resistance on the dance floor, the US election and more alongside exclusive pictures from her album release party.
Written by: Ben Smoke
Revisiting the birth of skate culture in 1970s Los Angeles
New photobook ‘Last Days of Summer: California Skateboarding Archive 1975–1978’ looks back at an iconic chapter of youth culture.
Written by: Miss Rosen