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Sunday, November 12, 2017

The Future is Here.

In the episode Be Right Back which was published by the show Black Mirror, they effectively push the disturbing  “futuristic” idea of being able to recreate a lost loved one into the public eye. The episode successfully makes the audience feel empathy for Martha, who lost her husband in an unexplained accident, and feel sorrow for the robotic clone of Martha's lost husband, Ash, who was forced to live in the attic. I personally felt bad for the robot being locked in the attic while others didn't feel like he was entitled to being treated like a human, and some were even freaked out by it. This “futuristic” idea of being able to bring back your loved ones from beyond the grave seems so far away and insane, but what if this kind of technology is not far from becoming our reality?
The technological advancements that we have made on robotics over the past decade have been so dramatic and drastic. You could see the huge leaps in technology in humanoid robots If you compare the “PKD Android” which was made in 2005 to “Sophia” who was made in 2015. The “Sophia” robot is so advanced that it has even become the first robot to get a citizenship to a country. Humanity is going to have to adapt to and adopt the new technology whether they want to or not because no matter how fearful people are going to be about this new technology, it is not going to stop. Humanity needs to stop viewing this as the future and start becoming aware. In my opinion, this new technology that is being invented is going benefit our everyday life in multiple ways. Many people are going to be afraid that these new robots are going to replace us in every way, or even set out to kill us, so we have to start showing the people that these advancements that we are making are not going to be harmful to human kind. An example of robots that have helped are the Paro robots. These fluffy robots have been used in multiple senior living homes in Japan as far back as 2003. The robot reacts to temperature and light. It even has lifelike movements to help the seniors feel more attached to the robot. This is an early example of robots being beneficial to our society.
Humanity needs to start thinking about robots being in our future as a positive thing instead of being afraid or indifferent about it. These kind of advancements are going to be purely beneficial to the way our world works.  


SOURCES

PKD ANDROID

Sophia
http://www.hansonrobotics.com/robot/sophia/

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Antoine - I appreciate the insight you shared in your blog post. As someone who is technologically challenged and not always the most adaptable to change, I need to accept that the world is only advancing more and more each day.

Unknown said...

I do agree with you that humanity is fearful of not only change but of the unforeseen. For example, the Amish choose a lifestyle that opts out of any type of technological advancement.But whether humanity is ready or not the future is not coming but like you said it is already here.

Valery Gomez said...

I completely agree on your blog! Especially your last sentence, "Humanity needs to start thinking about robots being in our future as a positive thing instead of being afraid or indifferent about it. These kind of advancements are going to be purely beneficial to the way our world works." We need to realize that these advancements are inevitable and will happen whether we like it or not,

Unknown said...

Antoine, I really enjoyed reading your post. I appreciate the citations of the "PKP Android" and "Sophia" Robots. Even though these advancements in artificial intelligence could be beneficial, I am still one to stay on the side of caution. I'm not sure if its the countless "Terminator" films, or my own paranoia, but I still feel as if robotic takeovers are a real possibility. Even though its nice to think humans are amazing creatures that have so far transcended other species, you must also realize the pain and destruction humans have caused to the surrounding wildlife and environment.

If a robot and was meant to better the world as a whole, it might consider annihilating human beings. This might bring the world back to a state of harmony again. Nevertheless, I hope artificial intelligence will bring about
good. However, it is always worth taking a realist point of view over being purely optimistic.