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THE DANCE FLOOR — Humanoid robots have not yet reached the point where they can be mistaken for a real live human.
The time may come one day, but for the foreseeable future it's probably safe to say we will not mistake a robot for a human, nor will we soon be bowing down to our robot overlords.
However, that doesn't mean the sci-fi book genre and the entertainment industry hasn't prepared our brains for just such an event, which is why the featured video in this article may confuse more than one brain.
The video shows a classic dance battle setup with two men surrounded by a circle of people while taking turns showing off their best moves. This particular dance battle is all about the robot.
We're not talking about the kind of robot dance with stiff moves that now seems a little goofy, not unlike the Tin Man in "The Wizard of Oz." We're talking about the robot or mannequin dance that has turned popping into smooth body isolation movements that make humans appear to be well-oiled robots.
The illusion begins with a man behind carried onto the dance floor like he's a mannequin in a department store. The dance begins with tiny movements, then he's walking around like a robot who owns the joint — because clearly, he does own the joint. The other dancer just immediately gives up — that's how much robot man owns the joint.
I don't have expertise to tell how the dancer does this and why our brains feel like they want to accept he's an actual robot. But I can tell you that on your second or third or fourth viewing of the video, if you watch his hands, you'll see his fingers and wrists don't move through the entire routine. So, how is he not a robot?
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