There is little doubt that robots, in one form or another, are embedded in contemporary culture. They are most often encountered as disembodied voices/responders in the initial screening of calls to a business, in using a voice-activated device like the Amazon Echo Dot, or in the pop-up chat boxes that appear while searching a commercial website. Some can be useful in handling conventional matters, but they can also be totally useless and frustrating in dealing with special or uncertain inquiries. When robots are embodied in physical form, especially a form that is unmistakably human, the character of the interaction changes significantly because there is another “being” with whom a person is engaged.

This book is a comprehensive, fast-paced survey of the sociology and psychology that may be emerging in the nascent robot society. The book is divided into an introduction and 11 chapters. The introduction is required reading for establishing a perspective for the entire book. The topics covered in the book include: the extensive presence of robots in society, the emotional uncanniness in dealing with human-like robots, the effect of the simulation of emotions in robots on human emotional intelligence, the meaning and implication of robot “smartness” on human self-appraisal, the role of deep learning on developing robot intelligence, the possible implications of widespread use of robots on the future of the human species, loneliness and eldercare, “love” and sexbots, robotic nannies for children, and the risks of using robots in combat.

Several questions run through the presentation and discussion of these topics, and these are the threads--or cables--connecting the content areas. Will the widespread inclusion of robots coarsen or dull the ability to relate to or care for each other? If robots can be expected to be submissive and obedient, will the experience of robot submissiveness encourage an increase of human abuse of each other? How will robots learn to relate to human beings--embedded explicit programming or semi-autonomous deep learning? Will human beings lose control of robots if they are allowed to learn knowledge and skills through deep learning? Can malefactors corrupt robots so that they can create mischief and injure human beings? Will close contact with robots make people more like robots with their social and cultural limitations? Will people lose skills as robots take on more and more tasks?

In a discussion of the possible “personhood” of robots, Herold mentions comparing robots to “commodified human property”--historically, enslaved people and women in many cultures. This is a worthy perspective for discussing the questions raised in this book. Even without slavery, human history is replete with class and caste social systems that elevate some people over others. The ones at the lowest levels do all of the work and are subject to those higher on the social scale. The relationship between and among the social classes is a central dramatic (or comedic) feature in Wodehouse’s “Jeeves and Wooster” stories, in television series like Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs, or in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. The servants/peasants live in a world different from that of the aristocrats (and are regarded much like robotic servants or peasants). It is interesting to note that the lower classes have important skills and do all of the useful work, while the upper classes have nothing to do and all day to do it. One may conjecture that the issues discussed in the book are primarily relevant to wealthy societies in North America, Europe, and Japan. Non-military robots with general human-like capabilities could only be affordable in these economies, and then only by those with the wealth to enjoy ownership. Whatever may be your conclusions to these questions, this book is worth your time.

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