Rise of the Sexbots

Some years ago I found myself working with a bunch of very bright management consultants, all with impeccable educational records. It was around the time of the dotcom boom, and conversation frequently veered towards the next big craze – which stock to buy/company to invest in. One of the group was a bit of a computer nerd – actually, he was a lot of a computer nerd – our go-to guy for deep technological problems. So we're having a quiet beer one night and he offers up some confidential advice from a successful entrepreneur he once worked with. "You only need to ask one question of any technology, to know whether or not it will be successful," he said.