Today, Paul McCartney announced his first artistic collaboration with a robot. Newman, the robot, has teamed up with Paul for his new music video. It evokes many levels of human/robot symbiosis.
The video sees Newman on patrol in a museum of humans. Newman is drawn to one exhibition in particular. In a dimly lit sound studio he sees Paul McCartney sitting on a stool holding his iconic hofner bass guitar.
Paul twitches making a sound on the guitar and to Newman's astonishment he starts to come to life as the song 'Appreciate' starts up. Paul comes closer to Newman staring at him through a force field that encloses him.
Newman reaches through the force field and literally pulls McCartney back to life.
Is it possible Paul gives an early hidden warning of the danger of the rise of the robots? As Stephen Hawking predicts that rise of robots may be disastrous for mankind and it could one day spell the end for mankind.
At least, Paul McCartney (and Microsoft!) is helping to popularize the notion that robots will be a part of our society. ats