Are we all going to be replaced by robots?
When discussing the possibility of a dystopian future where humans are subject to synthetic overlords, we have to remember something about robots and A.I.: They are dumb. Really, really dumb.
The question is rather broad. Will humanity in general be replaced by robots? Or perhaps all workers are going to have their jobs replaced by thinking machines? I personally doubt either will happen.
The question is one that mankind has brooded over for several decades now. It prompts feelings of existential dread that are quite fashionable at the moment, and pop media has taught us that robots exist for no other reason than to take over the world and to exterminate/enslave/assimilate the human race. But no, no, I don’t think it’s going to happen.
Sure, A.I. appears extremely intelligent, able to perform tasks and calculations faster than the human mind, but it is input-output. Garbage in, garbage out. A.I. doesn’t possess the capacity for intuition and introspective learning that humans do.
Robots may be stronger and more resilient than humans, but they are machines. Machines wear out and break down, faster than human bodies, in fact, and need to be fixed regularly. Can an A.I. driven system do that? Probably. But what happens when that system itself glitches out? Who repairs the repairer?
The fear is nothing new. Laborers of the Industrial Revolution feared that mills and machines would replace the need for them entirely. Then came computers, and if anything, they need even more careful attention to work properly. A.I. is the next in a long line of newfangled technological innovations that freak people out because they’re new and nobody knows their full capabilities yet. So, people think, “Hey, maybe this time we really will be replaced!”
Again, pop media has conditioned us to expect as much.
People are still needed to operate technology. Technology is dimwitted. It can’t react to sudden surprises. It needs a human touch to function correctly. In fact, the more we rely on technology, the busier we become in managing it. Automation breaks down the moment a single step falls out of place.
A.I. can think fast, act fast and evolve fast, but it can’t adapt to the weirdness of real life like humans can. A.I. and robots both need people to continue working, not the other way around.
As for the big companies who are jamming A.I. into everything they can? They are in the honeymoon phase when it comes to A.I. and its applications. The possibilities seem endless! But the giddy pipe dreams will end, and stern reality will reassert itself. Executives will grow bored and move on to the next big thing. A.I. will become a fact of life, along with interesting new types of robots, and like the once-strange technologies of the steam engine, the computer and the automatically flushing toilet, it will fade into the mundanity of everyday life.
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Many thanks for visiting my blog. I post updates on my writing career, I muse over storytelling and fiction, and I reflect on the curious and wonderful things in life.
“Hermes is not having the best time. He walks a fine line, and his duty as messenger of Olympus weighs heavily on him. Being a god in the modern age means living in a world that no longer believes in gods. How much can one deity accomplish when no one respects him anymore? And why do his instincts tell him that he, the son of Zeus, is losing favor with his own family?
Tensions abound. The upstart Young Gods play dangerous games using entire cities as their boards. Formless monsters strike from the nighttime shadows, terrorizing hapless mortals. Agents of rival pantheons scheme to thwart Olympus’ designs. In the thick of it all, Hermes does what he does best: trick, lie, and cheat his way to victory.“
Jake W. Powell 