More on Robots

Since so much has been said about robots in society, I thought I might add my two cents. I see nothing wrong or dangerous about it. It may very well make things safer. We already live in a very automated world. Many of the robots we have today put many people out of work in the past. In the end, however, more jobs were created because more skilled workers were needed in other areas. If anything, having robots in society only helps the economy and encourage humans to work on more important things.

One fellow blogger was concerned about an automated car accidently running over a child because it could not distinguish it from a fox. I understand the concern, but in the event that a fox were to run out in front of a car, the automated car would save the driver's and passengers' lives by not swerving and flipping the car. So while there is potential for the loss of human life in that situation, there is even more potential to save it. The same may be said for airplanes.

Should we turn our lives over to machines? Of course not, like humans, robots can make mistakes too. It would just be nice if humans used robots more often to make the quality of life better. I say let the robots bag our groceries or perform open heart surgery. If a robot is capable of doing something, I say why not. Let us not forget that their are jobs that robots could never hold: lawyers, teachers, CEOs, inventors and much more. Then there are many jobs that robots could do, but humans would much more prefer a human to do it for them (i.e. bartender, waitress, maid, grocer, etc). There is huge potential for robots to help us human beings live a better life and be more efficient.

I think what we should be afraid of is a self-aware robot. A robot that is self-aware and can evolve is dangerous. We know that because so many SF stories have told us. We just need to be sure never to create such a machine that could compete against in everyday life.