> The physically embodied computer of the future will be a humanoid robot, and we will interact with it the same way we do with humans: by gesturing and speaking.I disagree.
First of all, there's nothing particularly "physically embodied" about talking and gesturing at a robot. You can do that just as well with a screen showing a virtual robot and a camera with gesture recognition. Unless you're touching the robot, it doesn't have a body that's meaningfully interactive.
Second, for many human endeavors, social interaction is not the primary way most people pursue it or want to pursue it. Yes, there are definitely some people with, say, an "executive mindset" who love social interaction so much that they want that to be all they do all day every day.
But for many people, the activities they enjoy most are ones that involve solitary direct manipulation. If I'm going fishing, I want to cast the lure myself and feel the snap of it thrum through the rod. I want to feel the tension on the line when a fish bites. Waving at a robot and asking it to catch me a fish would be a strictly, catastrophically inferior experience.
What is gardening if your hands don't get dirty or woodworking if you don't come home smelling like wood shavings?
Here's a way to look at it: When people retire and no longer need to choose their activities based on financial need, how much time to they often end up spending giving instructions to people? I hear a lot of retirees puttering in their garden, playing board games, tinkering on an old motorcycle, or getting better at guitar. Some definitely do join community organizations too, but humans are as much a tool-using species as a social one.