(TOPIC)

Machines are becoming too intuitive/intelligent

Are machines becoming too intelligent? Are we becoming to reliant on machines to do the dirty work for us? What is the future looking like for the human race?

These are questions we don’t necessarily ask, but are things that sometimes pop into our heads when looking at the evolution of technology. The push for change and the search for the unknown are key human traits that have allowed us to advance far ahead of the other species that inhabit this large planet. We have constantly tested, experimented and tried new things, looking to change the way we live in order to make our lives easier and more efficient. From the earliest forms of human existence, individuals strove to make their lives more ‘effort less’ as a means of survival. For example when humans first discovered fire, this revolutionised the way food was eaten, how people lived and contributed to an overall culture that influenced many other aspects of human life. When the wheel was invented in approximately 3,500 B.C, this transformed transport across the world, allowing new forms of travel to be born, reshaping how people could explore and communicate with each other across the world. In addition, the harness of electricity in the 18th century was crucial in shaping the many inventions that shape the way we live today such as the internet. These things may seem insignificant, however they are fundamental to how we live our lives today and are at the heart of technology where humans continue to push the limits of what can be done. Now, what I have just said may seem irrelevant, however, it is important to recognise both the many feats that have contributed to where we are today as well as the many human traits that make us want to ‘go further’ in life and push the limits of what is possible.

With this in mind, is there going to be a point in our life where we say, have we gone too far? With the constant progression of technology, we are in the midst of a robotic evolution, something that that once seemed only reserved for science fiction films. In today alone drone technology is largely becoming part of our lives. Not only used for cool ariel shots in films, drones are becoming largely accessible by the public, opening up a wide range of potential uses during this new age of robotics. For example, self automatic drones are being utilised in agriculture, surveying and treating crops by using GPS and other sophisticated tools to measure the health of the farm. Furthermore, in the near future, as close as a decade, robotic pets may become a normal thing to have in a home, substituting the usual hassles of an animal for a pet that is mess free and customisable. However, despite these new advances, we still fail to see any sign of a killer, super strong, intelligent robot that seeks to destroy everything.

In pop-culture, films perpetuate this idea that these kind of super intelligent robots that have ‘feelings’ are something of the near future. However, I cannot see that happening anytime soon, is the need for these type of robots really there yet? Perhaps there is, but despite considerable progression in robotics, I think in the next 30 years we are more likely to see robots that do day to day functions rather than acting independently. The most notably example of this technology is the Asimo robot, something that I can see progressing into workplaces and households. I think that machines have the potential to act like intelligent human beings, but, I do not believe we will be seeing Terminators roaming the streets in the near future. At the end of the day, we are the ones that decide how far we want to push the limits of robotic technology, if things go out of hand there is always potential to limit a robots abilities, it just depends on how fast we act on it before it becomes too late!