When I was editing this podcast, I was struck by how often we impose similarly unrealistic want-lists on companion animals too. In both cases, we want an animal who fills our definition of what is all-positive for us. We want the animals to be tough enough to handle all the environmental and other assaults we throw at them at the same time as we want them to be compliant and friendly regardless how unreasonable our demands. That there are now people working on robotic animals of one sort or another–including pollen-collecting drones–suggests that more people are realizing our demands may be mutually exclusive.
If we had to choose, which would you choose: A well-behaved do-it-all robot, or an animal who asked you to meet him or her at least half way?
“Quest for a Superbee” by Charles C. Mann in the May, 2015 National Geographic provides an excellent view of the commercial honeybee’s life in the US and efforts to make the bees do more better and faster.
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