In today's paper there's a piece about robots teaching humans, and an accompanying video, which shows tiny children interacting with robots made to seem human.
I find this disturbing, because I see it as confusing children about what is real and what's not, doing away with jobs, and really, to my way of thinking, wasting time money and resources on this when we could be working on solutions to cancer, world hunger and war.
The video seems so innocent and wholesome but have we learned nothing from the movies? The Matrix, Minority Report, 2001 and Wall-E clearly warn what happens when the balance of power shifts. Why is this robotic research even being done? Please convince me there's a purpose.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Us, Robots
1 comments:
Maybe we are building robots as mirror images of how we see ourselves, trying to understand who and what we are. Some see robots as useful tools used for good. But, how soon we forget previous lessons about the other side of our nature. A side which can distort what may at first be good intentions. Our track record has not been very good in that regard. One machine in particular has made possible the destruction of the entire world. Total obliteration. Technology is a doubled edged sword that can be used, as we already know, by those with not only no conscience or regard for others, but also by well meaning scientists who don’t see the unforeseen developments of the results of their actions and what it will mean for the world and future generations.
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