Robot Smog – Reading Response
By analyzing six areas of innovation where six robots are breaking through – mechanics, hardware, electronics, software, connectivity, and control – the author predicts a terrifying scenario of a future where robots proliferate. I would like to quote a wonderful depiction from Nourbakhsh.
Robot smog is a technological portmanteau: the visions of people, usually communicated through pen and voice, will soon adhere to the sidewalks and atmosphere of our physical world in literally invasive forms. There is a danger that we might suffocate in this world of dreams gone real. Could commercial robot such as solar-powered toys become both so autonomous and so easy to modify that we find our parks infested with robot inventions that will not leave us alone?
Nourbakhsh calls the mix of visual clutter and noise pollution caused by robots “robot smog”. I strongly agree that if robots penetrate society on a large scale, they will pose a huge challenge to privacy, security and legality issues. In the era of big data, the privacy of people’s information on the Internet has become an issue. In the future, it is scary to think that not only the web, but also people will need to face robots in physical public and private spaces. They can infiltrate society pervasively and change people’s daily life. It is difficult for any for-profit company to suppress the desire to collect commercial information. Our lives become transparent behavior data so that companies can better target messaging and marketing. Unlike our traditional smog, “robot smog” is a living, breathing form of pollution that acquires an economic value that justifies its existence. If the company’s dream world comes true, don’t expect it to disappear.
Among the factors affecting the explosion of the robotics industry, I think sensors and the Internet of Things are important. People are human because they are rich in “sensors” and can sense and react to the world. Now and in the future, however, machines can detect and sense temperature, light, sound, images, distance, color, smell, rays, everything. A robot begins to have some human characteristics, but it is not a human. It simply processes the perceived data and reacts to changes in the outside world in a human-like manner. The robot is not a completely independent creature, but a machine connected to a large database. Thus the uneasiness that humans feel when confronted with robots stems from information inequality. I know very little about the robot, but the robot knows everything about me. It is not under my control and I do not know what kind of interaction to accomplish with it, at the same time it occupies the physical world, demands our attention and is buzzing with secondary analysis of me.
Our concern should not be when robots will change human daily life – it is already happening. Today, robots can be found almost anywhere, whether it is an operating room or simply in a smartphone. What tasks can robots undertake in the future? Only what can’t be created no what can’t be thought of. As artificial intelligence evolves, we may no longer need to think about setting up new applications for it, but rather figure out how to control it.
It is normal to feel excited yet scared about the explosion of technology that can change the way we live. Will introducing autonomous robots into everyday life be a smooth leap into a more convenient future? Will it be loud, uncomfortable, and very annoying? The sooner people start thinking about this potential future, the better. Moreover, in addition to the suffocation and isolation that “robot smog” can bring, I can’t help but think about the threat of automation technology replacing workers. This also leads to a more realistic question: What if technology replaces us?