“The Beginning of Your Tomorrow” The headline got to me.

I’ve been a science fiction fan since reading Jules Verne as a kid. I’ve always loved the idea that science and technology make the world a better place, but lately, I’ve started to feel that the future might belong to the dystopian subgenre.

With CES currently underway, it has been entertaining to watch all the new tech being unveiled. Specifically, Boston Dynamics and Hyundai presented their humanoid factory robot, Atlas. Before watching their CES keynote, I watched their “product manifesto” video.

The questions that kept surfacing for me were: How many people will these robots replace? What happens to the people who potentially become an “economic burden” to society? And if no one has work or money, who is left to buy the goods these robots are manufacturing?

I highly recommend checking out the keynote. A few facts I found particularly interesting:

• Strategic Partnership: Hyundai is fully supporting Boston Dynamics in the development of Atlas.
• Exclusive Launch: The entire 2026 production run is designated for Hyundai.
• Collective Intelligence: Whatever one Atlas unit learns, the others learn automatically.
• Superhuman Perception: It features 360-degree vision.
• Human-Scale Dexterity: The hands are designed to match the scale and utility of human hands.

The way Atlas walks is truly mind-blowing.