Why the robots will never take over
Somewhere in the back of our minds, we all wonder how long we have before the robots take over the world. Books have been written, movies have been made and there has been much speculation over the past four decades.
A different perspective
A while ago I heard John Sanei debunk the myth of robots taking over by clarifying the following. Humans aren’t one dimensional; we are not our job, we’re multifaceted, unique, interested and interesting creatures.
We have hobbies, meaningful relationships, baggage from our past – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There will never be a machine invented that is as multifaceted as a human being – it just wouldn’t make sense to even try to create an AI with so much complexity if we’re only planning to use them for several tasks.
Artificial Intelligence acquires knowledge / research on a particular topic however, looking through a human lens often means that we defy logic, and rather rely on intuition and creative thought. A rational outcome verses a human outcome often differ.
Who am I?
To use myself as an example, can you imagine that an AI could be programmed to possess brief knowledge about a diverse set of topics like chess, tennis, knitting, communications, film, property, investment banking and vegetable gardening mixed with complex emotional triggers, intellectual quirks and a sporadic sense of humour? Seems unlikely, right? No robot would ever be created with all that context and colour and therefore would never be able to think or create exactly like me.
I am a combination of my genes, experiences, environment, teachers, emotions, intuition and intellect.
According to a reliable source, in one of Yuval Harari’s books, he explains that soon AI will know us better than we know ourselves. I find this too challenging to comprehend and given the capitalist society in which we live, I hope that if he is correct (and let’s face it, the man is a genius), that this tech isn’t sold to the highest bidder, because oy vey, the havoc that could be caused is staggering.
Humanity
I think humanity is grossly underrated. Humans are capable of an incomprehensible amount of unity, kindness and compassion that cannot be taught or programmed.
There’s a story I love that goes like this:
“A student once asked anthropologist Margaret Mead what she considered the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected the anthropologist to talk about hooks, clay bowls or sharpening stones, but no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture is evidence of a person with a broken and healed femur. Mead explained that in the rest of the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You can’t run away from danger, go to the river to drink water, or hunt for food. You become fresh meat for predators. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal. A broken femur that has healed is proof that someone took the time to stay with the one who fell, healed the wound, brought the person to safety, and took care of them until they recovered. “Helping someone go through difficulties is the starting point of civilization,” Mead explained. Civilization is a community aid.”
The future
When considering the future, we need to view AI and robotics as enhancing the human experience rather than making humans redundant. We will co-exist, and each have our place in the world. This is just a reminder to ensure we don’t get so wrapped up in our work that we forget to nurture our creative side, because one day, our interests and skills outside work may become our much-needed unique differentiator.
Luckily, South Africa is behind the times compared with first world countries, so robots will probably be confined to the task of directing traffic for a good while longer.
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