“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a luxury—until it’s not.”

In the early 1920s, if you wanted a refrigerator, you were part of the elite. The first electric fridges—bulky, loud, and experimental—cost the equivalent of $7,000 to $15,000 in today’s dollars. They were marvels of innovation but inaccessible to all but the wealthiest households.

Fast forward to today: 99.8% of U.S. households own a refrigerator. They’re so commonplace that we hardly think about them—until they break.

Now imagine we’re at the beginning of the same curve, not for food storage, but for household robots.

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📈 Historical Tech Adoption: The Refrigerator Curve

Take a moment to explore this interactive chart from Our World in Data. It tracks the adoption of various home technologies—from refrigerators to microwaves to dishwashers—across the 20th century.

Here’s what the refrigerator’s rise looked like:

• 1920s–30s: Early adopters only; ~10% of households
• 1940s: Over 50% adoption, thanks to Freon technology and mass production
• 1950s: Ownership skyrockets past 80% after WWII
• By 1960: Nearly universal in U.S. homes

In roughly 30–40 years, refrigerators went from a rich man’s curiosity to a household necessity. Price dropped. Reliability improved. Social expectations shifted.

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🤖 Robot Labor Is on the Same Curve

Elon Musk has claimed that every household will eventually have a humanoid robot—a general-purpose machine that can walk, see, understand commands, and perform physical labor. His company Tesla is building “Optimus,” a robot intended to work in factories first, then homes.

This might sound futuristic. But so did refrigerators once.

Currently:

• A robot costs $20,000–$100,000
• Only companies or the ultra-wealthy can afford one
• Reliability is limited, and functionality is narrow

But if history is a guide, we might see a similar trajectory:

Year	Phase	Approximate Robot Cost
2025	Early adopters only	$20k–$100k
2035	Middle-class adoption begins	$5k–$15k
2045	Widespread, household norm	<$3k

Just as refrigerators eliminated the need for daily ice deliveries and manual food preservation, robots could eventually eliminate repetitive home labor—cleaning, organizing, even assisting the elderly.

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🌍 The Inequality Question

Of course, global access will vary. In the U.S., even $1,000 robot labor might feel cheap. But in parts of India or sub-Saharan Africa, it could be out of reach for decades without intervention—just as electricity and refrigerators took far longer to reach the developing world.

This raises critical questions for post-labor economics:

• Will robots become tools of empowerment—or deepen the divide?
• Who will own the robots—individuals, corporations, or governments?
• Should we envision public “robot libraries” like we once had rural electrification programs?

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🔁 The Past is Prologue

When we think about technological change, it’s tempting to view each new device as unprecedented. But the story of household refrigerators shows a clear pattern: steep initial cost, followed by mass adoption and ubiquity.

Robots may follow the same arc. And if they do, the fridge might just be their closest ancestor—not in function, but in social and economic impact.

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Explore the data here:
📊 Our World in Data – Technology Adoption Chart