Getting ahead of ourselves
KEVIN McCLOUD’S ROUGH GUIDE TO THE FUTURE
C4, 9pm
ERICA is 23, dressed rather modestly in a floral frock and cardigan, and extremely polite. But she’s freaky as hell.
Erica is the most advanced human-like robot ever to have existed – and she can hold a proper conversation.
Thanks to facial recognition technology, speech generation algorithms and infrared sensors, she’s having a chat with Alice Levine – if only Alice wasn’t so scared of her.
“That petrified me,” says Alice, “Her eyes are so real.”
Alice has been sent to Japan by tech-lover Kevin McCloud, part of this series to investigate technology solutions that could save our planet. And it’s a fascinating, futuristic tour.
Elsewhere, fellow cynic Phil Wang has been sent to China, while Jon
Richardson has his own problems over in America. He’s at the world’s first bio-hacking facility, called Upgrade Labs, which looks like a gym full of robotic equipment.
Cheating a proper workout, various treatments from cryotherapy to red light therapy and flotation tanks promise to “start your upgrade” and help your body and brain perform better.
Jon is not convinced though – he’d rather just go for a run. Over in
China, fellow comedian Phil meets a man who shows him his nine-bed mansion that he claims was built in one week by one person.
The mystery builder turns out to be the world’s largest 3D printer – and it’s a sight to behold.
No builders having tea breaks, no cutting corners, they say… but is it a problem that we just won’t need humans at all?
A thought-provoking and astonishing insight into the future.