It seems like we’re facing two major challenges: elderly care and population crash. The first is figuring out who will take care of the growing elderly population once they reach the age of 70 or beyond. I’m heading in that direction myself, barring an accident or some other misfortune, so this issue concerns me directly. I believe robotics could play a key role in helping younger generations care for the elderly—and eventually themselves as they reach the same stage of life.

The second challenge is sustaining the human race. Personally, I think we could achieve this with far fewer people on the planet. To be honest, most of our environmental problems and resource depletion issues stem from overpopulation. Global warming, for example, is primarily an issue with nine billion people on Earth. It only became a concern in the 1970s because smart minds were grappling with how to feed six billion people. If there were only 500 million people, we could all drive gas-guzzling trucks, and the planet wouldn’t heat up by half a degree.

My point is that just as we found a way to feed a growing population decades ago, we’ll likely find ways to encourage sustainable population growth in the future. It could be as straightforward as incentivizing people to have children by socializing the cost of replacing those aging out.