Love thy neighbour, as thy Robot!!
By: Spandan (April 30th, 2008)The latest buzz in the field of science, technology and particularly robotics is: Will machines overpower man?
Recently while watching NDTV, I saw about robots possessing human emotions of “love” being created! The highlighted question was: Now that the robots are being advanced to the extent of being capable of expressing human emotions, along with superpower, strength and intellect, will robots replace humans?
So man does seem a bit bothered about whether machines will overpower and replace him. Ironic as it is, the existence of man is under question, and that too by his own creation! (Can I take the liberty to imagine God saying, “Now man will know how it feels.”)
Researchers working with the U.S army have developed a new exoskeleton that gives the wearer superhuman abilities. This could one day lead to a full fledged robotic army as proposed by them. Picture this: a robotic flying soldier shooting off missiles right, left and centre and smashing far off enemies within seconds. Bionic soldier is their identity. Sounds like terminator” or the green goblin in spiderman - fiction becoming fact! These new exoskeletons(XOS) designed by a robotic firm in U.S.A impart great degree of strength and endurance to the wearer and enable them to do works that cannot possibly be performed by humans.
When worn, the XOS senses every move of the person wearing it & moves along just like a shadow or a second skin. When fully charged, it may enable the weaver to pull down weights of more than 90kg. Initial models of XOS are proposed to be used as work horses. However the army is planning to use later models for fighting or carring heavy weapons. While it is still early to have a full fledged robotic army, the designers are already imaging future versions more reminiscient of hollywood.
Sounds cool? Well to me it clearly looks scary. It appears as if man is plotting the death of his fellow human beings on a technological scale through the creation of the exoskeletons.
Whether machines equal man or not, man does seem to be tending towards a robotic nature. Proper solutions to global warming may not yet have been implemented, but bionic soldiers to bring down the opposing army in a heartless manner are being created with a sense of urgency. I hope they are incorporating the factor of global warming into these robots, because, by the time they are up and functioning, the globe would be surely hotter than ever!
Well, is man bring inviting his own doom?
We have been given the freedom to explore, adventure, think & create by the creator. But are we not stretching our limits a bit too much? Is it only the development & advancement factor or are the hidden evils of jealousy, hatred, greed, power & competition that are propelling man to produce creations meant to hurt his own fellow beings? We have become capable of producing robots that can love, but do we, the creators of these ‘love robots’ nurture the feeling of love ourselves?
Millions are invested in these kind of developments but is it worth all that investment? Man can expand his knowledge level and exercise but if it threatens the existence of his own race, is he not behaving like a fool then? The love for money, powerful gadgets, worldly comforts et cetera has blinded man & hardened him to such an extent that he is indirectly inviting his own catastrophe!
Well, only we can answer all these questions. Have we in the search of materialistic power, lost the power to love & feel which we are now trying to inculcate in robots? Is it not time to decide to put a stop to this hardening of hearts & spiritual dryness that his taking place? Is it not time to pause & instead of being fascinated by the robotic world take a peak within ourselves & discover the beautiful creation of God?
The Bible says..the kingdom of god is within us. Let us break the hardened covering and not just cry in movies like “Tare Zameen Par”, but cry for those people in need & reach out to help them. To advance & discover in the field of science & technology is agreeable, but to be blind to the cries of people around us & just running the rat race like a robot without feeling is foolish.
As the Bible says,”Be not conformed to the world, but transformed by the by the renewing of your mind”, let us not imprint ourselves into the negative worldly paterns but through creative usage of all resources and knowledge benefit and help those around us. For the bible warns that “where you have envy & selfish ambition, there your find disorder & every evil practice”.
So let us decide and strive to bring a change in our hearts & stop spelling doom & destruction through our own creation. This choice is ours… peace or destruction. Let us turn from our selfish, thoughtless deeds that seeks our own good. Lets us invest our knowledge, resource wealth & time, in robots (not robots that are produced to produced to kill); but also in people & their welfare.
A transformation is required by the renewing of our minds & enhancing our sensitivity towards the needs of those around us. Let us awake & rise to safe & beneficial development and advancement.
It’s time that the researchers and scientists go by, “Love thy neighbour, as thy Robot”!!
April 30th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
To think tht da world is aware abt tis latest intention of America and da european countries as well as da middle east wud be sittin hand-on-hand wud be foolish if not lacking discretion. To think of a robotic war as if da Nuclear weapons and Bio-Weapons were not less to make life a desperate struggle.
Why da need or urge to invent a foreign body tht emotes love? Is it not a sure sign of man being deprived of love? …or is he still pretending to be ignorant of da love of Jesus’ towards him…? Well, they say, Ignorance is not an alibi!! Time for mankind to accept da love He gives - love tht is unconditional…
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:49 am
This is interesting because according to studies done in the field of psychology it has been shown that children learn through imitation/modeling. The interesting factor is that they imitate human beings not mechanical objects. I think God created us in His image - relational beings!!! Robots can be mechanically tuned in to give responses, but lack authenticity (which is ultimately what humans desire in relationships).
June 12th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
You have put it up beautifully and concretely the real problem of the world. The important thing is to decide till what level should we work to develop means and technologies towards our objective of greater comforts. But are robots necessary for improving our standard of living?
We have develop escalators so tht we dnt hve to walk, one day will cme when we dnt hve 2 eat, we culd well have a pill for it? Is this what we are here for? Speakin about the robots and how to stop them. Well then make thm intelligent only to the extent that they are not able to proliferate themselves. Secondly keep the source of energy that enables the robot not accessible to them and neither should they able to do it on their own. I guess this is it !!!!!