The first thing a robot plunging into danger needs to do is power itself independently, and for as long as necessary. It takes a lot of electrical power to drive devices that are usually so heavy, and the heavier they are, the more power they have to carry on board (which makes them heavier, which requires more power in turn, and so on…)

The concepts of self, story, emotion and empathy are closely linked in the human animal. Whatever they can teach us about what we are and where we’re headed, it’s certain they’ve played a pretty big part in getting us this far.

“Electromagnetic radiation causes increased risk of disease by causing DNA strand breaks,” says Dr Michael Wald, a director at US-based Integrated Medicine & Nutrition, “that’s what causes cancer.”