Call me a control freak, but I like to trust myself in performing a task over anyone else. An autonomous vehicle? No thanks.
With the resources this week, it’s made me ponder a lot about the effects that robotics have on the future of mankind. Not only in the way we create art and perceive reality, but even in the way we think.
Recently, Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceEx, invested $10 billion in “preserving AI friendliness.” With such a prominent member of the futuristic niche investing so much in the public’s safety, it’s worth thinking about the danger of artificial intelligence.
Even back in 1936 when Walter Benjamin wrote about mass production and it’s effects on society, he predicted the harm it could cause. The problem with assembly lines and mass producing an “original” into “copies” is it takes away the creativity and imagination of the general public to become absent- minded and rely on new ideas of few for the next new thing to produce. This in turn, makes the creator of the thing to be the one in power and the ones making the thing simply absent minded followers. Sounds like a “robot” doesn’t it?
So are we the ones becoming robots? Are machines becoming the ones who are taught to think on their own? It’s an interesting idea to ponder.
When artistic genius comes together with technological mastery, the result is speed. Seamless, efficient, attractive. Human beings love speed. On the football field, on their home WiFi, in getting to one place to the next… As hard as it is to deny that I don’t love speed, I think it’s destroying us.
If you are one who believes in the Big Bang Theory, the universe didn’t evolve within a matter of seconds. It took time.
If you believe in God, the creation of the universe didn’t instantly happen. It took God seven days. It took time.
The point I try to make is that good things take time. Lasting relationships, great businesses, good food, all of them are not based on the principle of speed. Robotics is a matter of cutting down the time it takes for a task to get done in order to make our lives easier.
Does mankind want things to be easier or do we want something sustainable and wholesome?
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Works Cited
Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Www.marxists.org. 1 Feb. 2005. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Best, Jo. "IBM Watson: The inside Story of How the Jeopardy-winning Supercomputer Was Born, and What It Wants to Do next." TechRepublic. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Hanson, David. "Robots That "Show Emotion"" TED-Ed. TED, 1 Feb. 2009. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Mack, Eric. "Why Elon Musk Spent $10 Million To Keep Artificial Intelligence Friendly." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 15 Jan. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Robinson, Howard. "Dualism." Stanford University. Stanford University, 19 Aug. 2003. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
The inverse relationship that you drew between time and robotics is very interesting. In general, the more technology that is involved in a task, the less time it requires to complete the task. You argue that "all good things take time", but is this really true? I agree that in the past this is an accurate idiom, however, I'm not sure of its validity if we look proactively. We live in an era where the opportunity cost of time is so high, that we take all the shortcuts we can to maximize our productivity. As long as we can maintain similar quality in our actions, I think its necessary to utilize all available technologies.
ReplyDeleteI find your explanation and perspective of this week's topic to be very interesting. We do live in a society that is filled with technology and new gadgets. Our lives revolve around our phones. Social media consumes our minds on a daily basis. We live in a world were we connect online more often than in person. The vehicles we drive are even changing. The entire under-bed of a Tesla is the battery pack. On top of a Fisker, there is a solar panel. We drive cars that behave like our cell phones; they need to be plugged in at night in order for them to be charged and ready for you in the morning.
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