Robots In our Lives

In Japan, at an elementary school today there is a robot teaching math to students. This robot has motors that make it seem like it has facial expressions and she can speak in multiple languages. This robot is one step that Japan is taking to put robots in every day in the life of Japanese.  I believe that a world, in which robots replace the human touch in our lives, is not worth fighting for.            

A recent news segment reporting on people’s opinion of using robots at school had the following  to say about it- “(the robot) favouritism or get snappy, but isn't there something about human emotion-something no facial motors could ever replicate-that students are supposed to learn from a young age? If Saya (the teaching robot) gets rolled out to other schools, what would we be unintentionally depriving these children of?” Hence using robots as teachers will cause children to miss out on the essential emotional learning from the teachers. And, as is often expressed, this shows how humans cannot be replaced by robots, as teachers since they basically do not possess emotions that are key to humans.

Also, robots are not that effective in teaching humans because they can only teach what is told (written in the hard drive). An anonymous comment in a debate agrees with this thought and says, “It basically dictates according to the information stored. The fun and room-to-think-for-every-student is lost.” Each individual student has a particular learning style and hence needs a different teaching approach. “Teachers also need to adapt, learn, feel, engage with pupils, have experiences - some can even be friends to pupils.”  However when questioned on adaptability, the inventor of Saya responded to a journalist saying, “The robot has no intelligence. It has no ability to learn. It has no identity, it’s just a tool” In order to effectively teach one needs to have experiences and learn from them to connect with the children and to give them useful information that will help the student. Therefore, without such ability robots cannot take the place of teachers because they cannot connect with the students they teach.  

Given that robots don’t have our emotions, or our adaptability, when our everyday lives are affected by robots, I am afraid we could lose control of happenings. For example, if a robot becomes a President or a Prime Minister, will it know what to do in the event of natural/man induced distress? How risky would it be if computers were put in charge of affairs of nations? I dread to even think of such a situation where a robot without emotions or human adaptability to situations makes important decisions. Hence, you can see that robots can’t take the place of humans at a workplace or represent a country at a political level as appropriately as humans do.

Another reason why a world where robots take over our jobs is not worth fighting for is that robots just cost too much. The robot Saya costs about $51,000. This price tag comes for just a function of 700 words and 300 phrases. This amount could actually rope in better, professional teachers who would not only teach, but also connect with the students helping them with emotional growth. The handling costs would also be high for this robot. The da Vinci  surgery robot costs about $1.5 Million. Due to this steep price some nations cannot have this technology. Hence, robots in everyday life may be too expensive to deal with.

In 2010, robot sales almost doubled compared to 2009 to 118,337 units most of these robots were labour robots. On the contrary we look forward to convenience and freedom from hard-work. To conclude, while robots may make things a bit easier for us. They are way too expensive and do not possess emotional qualities or capacity for natural learning from situations that are needed to effectively replace humans. Hence, robots in everyday life, for decision making, teaching, or functions that require personal interaction, is not worth fighting for.