Synth when are we not Humans?

Life imitating art, or art imitating life, is nothing new but there are a few drama series that are coming a bit close to the bone when it comes to predicting the future. The Handmaid’s Tale (currently on RTE Two) depicts a dystopian world where fertile women are enslaved and it’s a chilling scenario that’s not beyond possibilities. Likewise Channel 4’s Humans, which returns for a fourth series next week, throws out a few uncomfortable questions about robots, or synths. At the end of the last season every synth in the world was given consciousness – creating a new species on Earth and prompting a power struggle with humans. Playing on robot paranoia is a stroke of genius – let’s hope it’s just that, paranoia.