IRobot Android
I think that the android in the movie IRobot as a lot of
similarities with our worlds’ social structures. The android in the movie was
created to eliminate the jobs and work that are considered to be undesirable.
Such as mailmen and janitors, but also the rich are able to buy these androids
to do tasks around the house. In doing so there are less jobs available to the
artisans or skilled workers. I think this is an overdramatized version of what
our society is seeing as well. With all of the new technologies that have been
invented many jobs have been eliminated, especially the skilled labor jobs.
This is due because some of these inventions are robots that can eliminate
human error and the speed at which the commodity is produced is significantly
higher. I think that this does create a fear for not only the workers that are
having their jobs removed but also society as a whole. Will there be a time
where there are very few human workers? And will that time be something that
caused a lot more problems than anticipated. I don’t think that we will have the
problem that IRobot had where the androids have a mind of their own and want to
exterminate all the humans to try and make the perfect utopia, but issues along
economic class division may be a serious problem. I think that if we approach
the extreme at which only the people that have been educated and schooled for
science, engineering, and medicine will be able to strive.
I had also written about the I, Robot, and I did also mention robots in this movie took over all the jobs and work that people are unwilling to do. But I missed the issue that human will be lazier that gradually throw all the work to those robots itself. If androids won't burst into revolution, maybe hundreds years later, human will evolve to the extreme that they have a well-developed brain with atrophic arms and legs. I don't know whether we should call it 'evolution' or 'degenerateness'.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see different perspectives when robots or machines take over job from the people. On one hand, machines reprieve harsh, intensive, manual labor from humans. This may protect workers since the dangerous or difficult tasks could be perform by the robot. For instance, when the robot dove in the water to save Will Smith’s character in the car crash. If a human worker did this, more lives could be at risk. Robots are expendable compared to humans, so the risk of human death is reduced when the robot performed this task. Like you explained, robots are also more accurate and more efficient in production compared to humans. Factories use machines to mass-produce resources at rates higher than what human labor could do. The machines save time and effort and allow more products to be sold at cheaper rates, therefore, playing into the capitalist mentality. In addition, new technology allows more opportunities for future jobs. I have often heard recently that the jobs of the future haven’t even been made yet. New technology allows for forward advancements in all areas of civilization. New doors will open as society progresses.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast, as more doors for the future open, doors from the past will close. Your insight that society has a fear about loss of jobs is accurate. Machines are replacing people and taking jobs. Examples are phone customer services and telemarketers. Customer services calls are almost always a back-and-forth exchange between listening to a robot and pushing sequences of numbers on the dial pad. It is apparent that advancements in technology affect the job industry. And not everyone can excel in the sciences and technology fields. Jobs of varying skill sets are needed for all of society to survive, otherwise class distinction will grow farther apart.