Ever since the robot was first invented, there have been people who swear up and down that they mark the first step towards the fall of man. They claim that if we ever manage to perfect the art of creating a synthetic humanoid with the right combination of emotion, mobility, and free will that it’s only a matter of time until it develops self awareness, realizes it’s potential as the superior being, and proceeds to enslave the world. To be fair, their arguments are backed with scientific fact taken from documentary films such as The Terminator, The Matrix, and RoboCop.
I try not to stress about things outside of my control. My suggestion would be to focus on the present and worry about the robots we have in our lives now rather than the ones who may eventually hunger for the destruction of the human race.
More and more we see new devices introduced into our society and households that automate some of life’s simpler functions. You may be familiar with the Roomba, a small disc-shaped robot that will vacuum your floors at a designated time and then return itself to it’s charging station. In the eyes of the robot naysayer, the Roomba would also prove useful in sneaking up onto the owner’s face in the middle of the night to vacuum the final breaths from their lungs. There’s another up and coming robot called the Automower, which is a four wheeled device that will mow your lawn without the need for human steering. Anti-robot activists are quick to point out that pairing a rather unintelligent robot with a lawnmower blade is a guaranteed way to have your body chopped off. You may have heard about the Japanese companion robot designed for the elderly called Wakamaru, which can for the most part, understand human speech and will even call 911 in the case of emergency. Robotophobes will remind us of that one isolated incident during the beta testing process where a Wakamaru laughed and mocked it’s elderly owner as they lay seizuring on the floor.
The aforementioned robots are highly advanced and are pushing the technological envelope but are not readily available to just anyone. Personally, I would worry more about the robots we deal with on a fairly regular basis. There’s one in particular that I think we should keep a careful eye on because you never know when it will turn on you. Of course, I’m talking about the cheeky British robot that lives inside my GPS device.
Global positioning systems are becoming a regular staple in vehicles across America, and nine out of ten cellular phones have them built right in. A few weeks ago while driving into unfamiliar territory, I missed a turn that she was very adamant I take. She had no qualms about letting me know that she was burdened by the task of recalculating my directions and as I repeatedly missed the intersection the more serious her robotic tone became. I was starting to worry that before long she would be feeding me directions that would cause me to unintentionally drive into a nearby lake, or worse, I had visions of the GPS unit turning itself off completely, but not before spouting a final comment of “Now arriving in the bad part of town.”
Buy the Book | Become a Fan | Share this on Facebook | Read More Columns
2 comments
Comments feed for this article
October 9, 2009 at 3:39 am
Leeuna
Now I will never be able to sleep. I’m too scared that our Roomba will sneak up on me and vacuum my breath away…wait! We don’t own a Roomba. Nevermind. I’m good.
October 16, 2009 at 7:47 pm
LOTGK
It’s an inherent flaw built into all robotic devices. It all began with Robbie the Robot from Forbidden Planet. The Krell somehow changed Robbie’s programming and now every robot has the same Krell programming handed sown from generation to generation. It’s only a matter of time before people start dying.