42: The Answer to Almost Everything — Season 1, Episode 23: Will We Like Robots?

Episode synopsis

It is estimated that there are now more than 1.7 million robots with social capabilities in the world. They feed us, educate us, help us, and entertain us. Highly technical sex robots have existed for a long time. But can these machines actually develop feelings—or even experience love? "We have developed digital artificial hormones for our robot. And we are using artificial intelligence to simulate the changes in hormonal balance in a person who falls in love," explains Hooman Samani, a robotics developer at the University of Plymouth. Conversely, we are also moving closer to a human-machine relationship: For cognitive psychologist Martin Fischer of the University of Potsdam, certain psychological effects indicate that our attitude toward robots will become increasingly positive in the future.

About 42: The Answer to Almost Everything

What would we be without mucus? Can we live on water? How much does life weigh? Finding out the answers is the aim of ARTE's new science show. In a nod to Douglas Adams's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", where the figure 42 is the ultimate answer to all questions, 42 tries to provide the answers.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1Can we dig our way through the Earth?
• E2Could We Live on the Moon?
• E3Should we use lotteries instead of elections?
• E4How Much Does Life Weigh?
• E5Will we move onto the water?
• E6Can Algorithms Make Us Healthy?
• E7What if there were no mucus?
• E8How do we solve the nuclear waste puzzle?
• E9What if Fear Didn't Exist?
• E10What if the ice disappeared?
• E11Do We All hear the Same Thing?
• E12Are we too pessimistic?