What’s Driving the Push for Humanoid Robots—With James Vincent
Paris Marx and James Vincent discuss why we’re seeing humanoid robots everywhere, the motivations to pursue an all-purpose robot, and the social implications of achieving it.

Attendees interact with Elixis-W, a humanoid robot made by Addverb Technologies, at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, India, on Feb. 20, 2026.
(Ruhani Kaur / Bloomberg via Getty Images)Paris Marx is joined by James Vincent to discuss why we’re seeing humanoid robots everywhere, the motivations to pursue an all-purpose robot, how close we are to achieving that goal, and the social implications if we were to achieve it.
James Vincent is a UK-based journalist and author of Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement from Cubits to Quantum Constants.
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We are often told that resisting technological development is impossible and ‘progress’ is inevitable, but history says otherwise. Thomas Dekeyser joins Paris Marx to discuss how understanding radical resistances of the past can help us rethink our modern relationship with technology and reshape our vision of the future.
Thomas Dekeyser is a lecturer in human geography at the University of Southampton, author of Techno-Negative: A Long History of Refusing the Machine, and co-creator of the documentary Machines in Flames.
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