After watching The Great Robot Race video, I am a little more convinced that robots can think and make judgments. Although, it took many people to build these complex robots over a long period of time and with a lot of money, in the end it was up to the robot to figure out how to make it through the maze. These robots were equipped with many different lasers, cameras, and GPS systems that told them how to take the information given (about the terrain) and decide what action to take in order to not get stuck or run into something. After the first obstacles at the California Speedway where none of the robots made it very far, I did not think that the robots would be capable to drive through a desert. The robots were given tunnels, terrain changes, obstacles such as cones and hay. When combined it took a very ‘knowledgeable’ and skilled robot to make it to the end. The whole time I was watching this movie, however, I just kept thinking of the ethical implications that having such advanced robots would do to our society. On one hand, it would be a great thing to replace military vehicles with a robot that does not have a person inside who is in danger. This type of contribution would greatly help the military especially in this time of war. However, there are other ethical questions that we need to think about before replacing other common items with a robot. Technological advancement can make it possible to have a robot do many things that humans do everyday. Driving to work, assembling a car, or doing household chores can all be done with a robot, which I then wonder if it is such a good thing to be doing. People lose jobs when robots can do it faster and for less money which can hurt thousands of people and their families. Also, if a job is done by a non-human, the person then is not responsible for it anymore (for example, a robot vacuum) which could either lead to more productive things in the human or more lazy behaviors. It’s hard for me to be completely pro-robot but as with any new technology, there are always complications that eventually people look past.
2.28.07
Krystal Kniep | 26-Feb-07 at 5:14 pm | Permalink
I think you’ve made a great point, because technology is the main reason why people keep getting more lazy. Technology can be thought of a “necessary evil”, because our world can certainly not advance without it. Technology advancements seem to make people less motivated than they used to be. For example, a long time ago in order to get a class of milk you might of had to get up at 6am to milk a cow. Now you just have to go to the fridge. Also, college students do not really have to go to class, because most notes are posted online. However, technology is rapidly evolving, and we know advancements cannot be made without motivated and intellectual individuals. So, it definitely has more advantages than disadvantages. I think the only main concern is health and obesity issues that technology as allowed us to cause.
Daniel Estrada | 27-Feb-07 at 2:40 pm | Permalink
I think that the issue of ‘responsibility’ is one of the main reasons why people are so skeptical of AI. I’m going to do my best to combat this fear in the coming weeks.
Brian Horn | 27-Feb-07 at 6:38 pm | Permalink
I agree that AI brings up many fears about what machines can do when given the ability to think for themselves. The fear of job loss is very real, ask the thousands of factory workers who have had to try to find new work when their companies went to an automated workforce to save money and time. Also, with the idea that machines could do our fighting for us to reduce the risk of human injury, images from movies such as the Terminator and Matrix can’t help but pop into my head.
Ryan Marshall | 28-Feb-07 at 5:22 pm | Permalink
I think that the advance of technology and robots is only helping the human race. When robots can take over tedious and dangerous jobs it is better for humans. It puts more of a precedence on education which only helps our overall success. The technological advancements among others that our generations and ones previous to it have been solely because of education and what it can help us accomplish.
Jaren Gaddi | 28-Feb-07 at 5:25 pm | Permalink
No doubt machines have changed the way we live. These great advances in technology have made our everyday lives extremely easier, and our workforce more productive. Yes, as machines improve, people do lose their jobs since the machines can meet the need better than the workforce can on its own. But, as new technology makes itself apparent, new jobs will also be created. People will need to be trained on machine maintenance and repair, and more people may be needed to help design more machines.
But because we can get a machine to do work for us, does it necessarily mean that we lose responsibility for getting the work done? If you work as a dishwasher at a restaurant, your job is fairly easy since the machine does the washing for you (all you need to do is load up the machine). But if the machine breaks down, does that mean you have nothing to do? Someone needs to get the dishes washed while the machine is down - and you’d have to do it by hand or get the machine fixed quick, since its your responsibility to get the plates out clean and ready for customers.
I do worry about the fact that one day machines can do the fighting for us. Obviously the amount of human life saved from keeping people out of war would be tremendous…but that seems to take away from the reason we try to avoid war in the first place - avoiding the massive losses of human life.
Fernando Londono | 01-Mar-07 at 2:32 pm | Permalink
I don’t think that technology is making our species necessarily lazy. Like your example of the vacuum, the oppurtunity costs associated with this machine is being able to do something that is not vacuuming allowing you to be like you said more productive in something that is important to you besides cleaning. Responsiblity is hard to grasp, like the new Lexus vehicles that have the automatic parallel park feauture (which to me is for people who can’t drive)but what if the system fails and it hits another person’s car? Who is responsible the driver or the machine? The driver wasn’t in the physical sense driving the car the machine was? But then how do we go about punishing the machine if it doesn’t understand or will never understand its implications?
William Barrett | 14-Mar-07 at 9:31 pm | Permalink
On the point about the robots being used in society, I think it is a bad idea. As you said, the robots would take jobs away from people. Robots would definitely be preferred over people in certain non communicating jobs such as fixing something or even cleaning perhaps. Robots would be preferred over people because it has been proven that robots would make very few mistakes if any at all when they are programmed to do a specific task, like they would be programmed for that specific job. Humans, however, would make mistakes, at least probably more than the robot because as it is commonly said, “part of being human is making mistakes.” Companies, etc. would see these robots as much better for business.
John Creger | 26-Apr-07 at 2:26 pm | Permalink
military because of physical or mental dysfunctions that are not compatible with certain health expectations. The Military does not want walking liabilities fighting their battles. One might argue robots will be perfect and more liable than humans and my response is Havent you seen star wars episode one? All those battle droids were shut off by Anakin skywalker destroying the mother ship. I know George Lucas is a genius, but this for real could happen. A malfunction in these robots and one country could be at doom forever. I dont know, this might sound a little too sci fi, but I can see it happening.