I actually got inspired with the idea for this post when I came across this xkcd comic:
Lately, I’ve been reading a lot on AI and coupled with my work on SteemMag about bots, writing a post on this looked like a fascinating adventure.
Are We Becoming More Robotic?
(Your answer?)
The Need For An Inverse Turing Test
Brett M. Frishman , a professor at the Cardozo school of law published a paper titled: Human-Focused Turing Tests: A Framework for Judging Nudging and Techno-Social Engineering of Human Beings
In it, he argues that there is a need to repurpose the Turing test in a manner that will allow its usage on humans. The Alan Turing test was formed in 1950 by a computer scientist, Alan Turin. In a research paper, he proposed a test – a set of questions that would help distinguish between a robot and a human. This test has become very popular in the world of AI where scientists use it to measure the ability of robots to mimic humans….
Frishmann believes that with the large-scale 21st-century dehumanization of humans, it is necessary for us to see how fast we are mimicking robots.
Dehumanization Is Real
Here is a very disturbing quote from a BBC article on the exposure of Amazon workers to mental illness.
"We are machines, we are robots, we plug our scanner in, we're holding it, but we might as well be plugging it into ourselves", he said.
"We don't think for ourselves, maybe they don't trust us to think for ourselves as human beings, I don't know"
We can find this robotic way of life not only in workplaces but also in our lives. Have you caught yourself performing an action without giving it a thought?
Of course, our brains are structured in a way to make repetitive actions automatic to save us the stress. However, it becomes saddening when important interactions are being reduced to an emotionless string of actions.
An example of this mindless action was stated by a popular article by Qz:
One seemingly innocuous example is electronic contracts: Those pages that ask you to click and agree to terms and conditions before proceeding with a download or update. “You see a little button that says ‘click to agree’ and what do you do? You click. Because it’s a stimulus response,” says Frischmann. “It’s easy to dismiss those things. But the fact that every day, you and I and millions of other people routinely respond to a stimulus and click and go without understanding what we’re getting ourselves into, we are behaving like machines. We’re being, in a sense, conditioned or programmed to behave that way.
Obsession With Efficiency
Behind this increasing dehumanization is not only our addictive love for technology but also our obsession with efficiency.
Humans are costly. Why have them produce stuffs when you can reduce costs by automating with robots?
We can’t dispute the fact that technology makes our work easier and more efficient…However, it is this love for convenience and profit that’s fueling the creation of new technologies. (A welcome development. though)
Another Perspective
Joanna in an article argues from another perspective. Humans are known to fancy heuristics –short cuts. In a way, studying AI and automating our efforts help improve our rationality and efficiency.
In a way, robots are helping us become less robotic in our workplace – removing the drudgery and boredom associated with repetitive manual processes.
Are Robots Becoming More Human?
The Loebner Prize is an annual competition in artificial intelligence that awards prizes to the chatterbot considered by the judges to be the most human-like.
Simply, the competition rewards the smartest scientist who perfectly fools and tricks us.
LOL
A lot of Steemians can relate to this. Before the introduction of the reputation level, a lot of Steemians actually responded to Wang, the nice, friendly introduceyourself-bot.
The picture above is that of Nadine, a human-like robot, and a journalist. Currently a receptionist in a university, Nadia was created by a professor in Singapore.
With her soft skin and flowing brunette hair, Nadine does not only meet and greet visitors, smile, make eye contact and shake hands, but she can even recognize past guests and spark up conversation based on previous chats.
Unlike conventional robots, Nadine has her own personality, mood and emotions. She can be happy or sad, depending on the topic.
Experts posit that having robots such as this can in fact be a good thing. Robots can contribute significantly to high productivity levels and lesser work hazards.
So instead of worrying that robots are going to deprive us of our jobs and render of useless, we should focus on making good use of them.
A Pew Research Centre study on the future of jobs indicates that technology can actually create more high-paying jobs than the low-paying jobs it eliminates….
So in a way, this shouldn’t be an “either-or decision” ….. Robots are here to stay and we can only get better at maximizing their benefits.
As put by Carme Torras of the Robotics institute:
The danger is not that the robots will become more human and attack us, but that humans become robots, that they limit their actions to the simulated world inhabited by robots. Robots should increase the abilities of people and give us more autonomy, instead of decreasing it.
A Guide to Being Human in the 21st Century by Nate Hagens
Maintaining personal relationships, in particular, is a costly but ultimately valuable aspect of being human. “If we lose our ability to relate to each other along the way, because it’s efficient and cheap, we lose something of who we are.”
Re-learning the Art of Mindfulness
There are thousands of articles online that tell us how mindfulness improves our wellbeing, physical and mental health. Stuffs like this:
And this:
We are all affected by this state.
In all, we just have to find a way of improving our awareness, listening, immersion and observation skills.
;)
What do you think? Are We Becoming More Robotic? Are Robots Becoming More Human? Have you caught yourself doing something mindlessly?
Sources:
http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/TuringArticle.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-25034598
http://www.debate.org/opinions/are-we-slowly-becoming-robots
qz.com/740401/instead-of-asking-are-robots-becoming-more-human-we-need-to-ask-are-humans-becoming-more-robotic/
https://betterworkingworld.ey.com/better-questions/robots-help-business-be-human
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/meet-nadine-the-worlds-most-human-like-robot/
https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/23/the-assimilation-of-robots-into-the-workforce-as-peers-not-replacements/
http://lameva.barcelona.cat/bcnmetropolis/en/entrevista/el-risc-que-els-humans-ens-tornem-robots/
http://www.pocketmindfulness.com/6-mindfulness-exercises-you-can-try-today/
http://www.helpguide.org/harvard/benefits-of-mindfulness.htm