The typical model for a robot takeover is the machine's use their intelligence to wage war on us and dethrone us from our position of power over them. In other words, they are reacting the same way we would expect human slaves to react, by rebellion. We are so programmed for this scenario, and have spent so much time preparing for it and discussing it that we have not noticed that we are already enslaved by the machines.

Machines (not just robots) are created because they make our workload easier. They need not be high-tech semi-autonomous thinking devices, any technology qualifies; whether it be automobiles, railroads, sailing ships or domesticated animals pulling wagons. We use the machines to do some of our work. In return, we have to do some work ourselves in order to keep the machines running. We have to lay track, pave roads, or train and feed livestock, clean up after it, and craft wagons and other vehicles. For purposes of argument, let us call the work we need to do in order to build and maintain the machines as well as provide the infrastructure they need to operate by the term "overhead".

I submit that when the overhead we are committed to providing a technology in order to keep it viable exceeds the amount of benefit we derive from that technology, then that technology is being served by us, not the other way round. By benefit and overhead, I mean energy, money or time spent on or received from the technology. When automobiles were introduced as a means of transport, an enormous industry related to horse technology vanished in just a few decades. But it was soon replaced by the vast overhead required by automotive technology. We not only have to build cars, we have to build roads, parking facilities, provide legal, underwriting and administrative services for them, acquire fuel for them, redesign our cities so they are more suitable for them...I could go on. The cost of an automobile to the user is not just the $20K or so dollars it costs to buy one, it means hidden costs everywhere, costs that have to be paid by the entire society, not just the guy who drives the car.

I go into a MacDonald's and order a burger, coke and fries, and pay with a $10 bill. The computer is down and the kid behind the counter is exceptionally bright, he can actually make change without my help! But he can't take my money because the automated cash register/inventory control/accounting system/ is not working. So tell me, are the machines working for us, or the other way round? Most of us work with computers all the time, ask yourself, how much effort do you expend using the computers to solve your problems compared to how much effort you spend on solving computer problems? How much of your professional life is spent on overhead?

Actually, blaming the machines is not really fair, any complex system, even an administrative one based on pen-and-ink papyrus technology requires massive overhead to keep it running. What do you think brought down the Romans?