Hello, Robot！

1. “Finally, we ourselves meld with the robot: prosthetics and implanted chips bring the robot inside us, while robotic architecture pestering instructions from his intelligent devices; on day two he simply ignores them”(Vitra Design Museum 12).

Comments: This reminds me of a recently-released game “Detroit: Become Human”. Basically, it tells the story of several humans, with chips inside of their heads. They suffer from abuse and eventually, their emotion is recalled, and fight against the authority, which is us, humans. It reflects that in this fantasy world, we view them as objects, as a huge collection of different components. This is one huge concern of the future human society, we treat the “createes” unfairly, even though they have intelligence. We always want to put chains on them. We step on our feet and defend our privileges in any way we can to show that we are superior to robots. By the way, It’s also my research direction for my Capstone.

2. “The boundaries between well-intentioned concern, surveillance, and outright espionage are blurry”(Vitra Design Museum 13).

Comments: From my point of view, the reason why the border of each action is so vague lies in the immaturity of the whole robot industry. Laws and regulations are always lagging. So the tech companies are wandering in these areas to make sure their interests get maximized.

3. “All of us – humans as well as robots, smartphones, and artificial intelligence of every kind – are slaves of digital capitalism” (Vitra Design Museum 14).

Comments: This is true so far. There is no way that a product or anything can be promoted to the public without the support of capitalism. That also might be the reason why in the cyberpunk stories, the biggest enemy is always the big tech companies, which represent the existing order of the old society, digital capitalism.

4. “Yet even though it was built using what was then a fantastic new material, its construction rigidly follows the principles of wooden bridge design”(Vitra Design Museum 16).

Comments: This points out the importance of innovation. Admittedly, a more “free” environment can be advantageous to new ideas popping up, no matter whether they are right or not. This could be the cornerstone for establishing the new order.

5. “Error is human and to blame it on a robot is even more so” (Robert Orben).

Comments: After all, all the robots are programmed in advance, following the 3 primary principles, which are also made by humans. So there is no point in blaming the robots for what they have done. The algorithm is what a robot follows. So even if the result is disastrous, we should admit it’s our own mistake.

6. “In the story, astromech droids such as R2-D2 serve as mechanics with highly intelligent computing capabilities for repairing starships. Measuring 96 cm in height, “Artoo-Detoo” can communicate only by means of beeps”(Vitra Design Museum 62).

Comments: Finally! Here it comes! My favorite R2D2! Honestly, it’s hard to imagine that such an intelligent robot can only use beep sound to communicate. I think only Luke SkyWalker and C-3PO can understand it. Sometimes I really think it doesn’t want to talk to people because we are too “low” and cannot understand its meaning. But I understand it as some mysterious helper on the journey of how the hero grows, in our case, which is the SkyWalker. And the most important property of R2D2 is a helper, not a robot.