Throughout history, humans have been infatuated with the notion of artificial intelligence. But now the moment is fast upon us when super-intelligent robots are poised to arrive for real. Not the lumbering industrial-grade bots that have been churning out paper clips, Prozac, and Volkswagens for years. But the real deal: robots that we can truly talk to and interact with, and have at least simulated intelligence if not actual artificial intelligence. Teddy bots, Sex bots. Robot psychiatrists; robot lawyers and judges; super AI machines with powers both evil and good: for techno-optimists, the quest to upgrade people and improve our behavior circles back to a religious-like veneration of technology, including robots and artificial intelligence. For these true believers, robots and AI will diminish or even end humanity's travails such as war and hunger, plus allow us to live longer (possibly much longer). Drawing from his own expertise, as well as extensive interviews with robot experts, famous engineers, entrepreneurs, philosophers, and thinkers, David Duncan will explain how these robots function as machines, and also what they say about us as humans: our hopes and anxieties; our myths, stories, and ideas about life and artificial beings. And while we continue to be equally intrigued and apprehensive about the impending robo-future, our fascination with robots has always been less about the potential technology, and more about what robots can tell us about what it means to be human.