Robots and Cyborgs and Droids Oh My!
Oh, oh Todo we’re not in Kansas any more.
The upcoming explosion of robot, cyborg and droid technology and their inclusion into day-to-day life is going to dramatically change everything.
Our very definitions of life, humanity and meaning are about to be challenged and radically altered.
Since the Winter Olympics are in the news, let’s start by looking at the effects of emerging technologies on human achievement in sports. If you think enhancement drugs are controversial now just wait a few years for some real controversy.
Currently we have no problem with the bulk of medical procedures conducted on athletes in response to an injury or defect. Yet, soon surgery on legs, arms, and eyes will not only be able to repair damage but improve and enhance strength, performance and skills to levels superior to pre-surgical levels.
Simple procedures could improve visual acuity and hand eye coordination to such a degree as cause a major gain in the performance of a baseball batter, fielder or pitcher. In a few years many body parts will be able to be replaced in a similar fashion to hip replacement surgery, but the performance achieved by these procedures will make a person a far better athlete than they were born with.
If high tech swim and track suits are destroying the record books, just imagine what effect muscular, joint and bone replacement procedures will do to performance capabilities. Finding ways of stimulating or implanting fast twitch muscles could make an average sprinter world class, or a mediocre athlete into a top level leaper.
Robot and cyborg technology is no longer science fiction and will be growing at levels rivaling advances in the personal computer within the next decade. Robots and cyborg technology will be finding its way into daily life and become just as common and vital to everyday life as the internet and personal computer. And it appears to me that we are doing almost nothing in preparation for this.
In a previous post The Great American Education Hoax Part Two, I discussed how robot technology will revolutionize the work force. A quick summation of how robots are better workers include:
1) robots never have to sleep (no down time)
2) workplaces can cut down on overhead due to no need to heat or cool workplace, or protect against human injury
3) robots will not suffer work related injuries or breakdown through repetition (no need for insurance or workman compensation)
4) robots can develop new skills and adapt to new technology almost instantly (via software)
5) robots can perform skills beyond human capabilities (micro surgery, detect material defects, speed and accuracy performance, etc.)
There is almost no area of life in which robots and cyborgs will not make for a more compliant and efficient worker or friend. Robots will be excellent teachers, therapists and physical trainers for they will be able to better read the capabilities of their clients and proceed in the most safe and efficient manner.
As a quick example just think of the advantages of a therapist or a doctor who could read all your biochemical responses to their every intervention. A robot constantly monitoring everything from galvanic skin response to blood pressure, to body language could become a very aware and effective therapist or doctor.
The effects of robotics in health care will not only involve doctors and hospitals, but revolutionize the day-to-day maintenance of health. Soon we will robots the size of a microchip which will be able to be implanted in the body or carried in the bloodstream. These microbots will monitor and maintain the healthy functioning of the body. Some microbots could monitor our vital stats such as blood pressure and heart rate. Some could help regulate blood sugar levels and cholesterol levels, or even erase plaque as it forms in the arteries.
In the not too distant future we should be able to download some of our memories and data from our brains as we do from a computer today. This data could be stored in a number of ways which would be accessible to us when we need it, just like any data file we have on our computer. Such advances could greatly enhance useable memory and depth of experience, as well as provide assistance for people with neurological injury or dementia.
The proper and ethical use of these technologies will and should be an important social debate. Yet, at this point we are just letting this technology filter into our society according to its commercial viability. Just as has been the case in many other modern technologies much of the most beneficial advances will most likely be delayed, modified or suppressed due to its potential economic ramifications.
Over the last few decades many potentially beneficial and life saving inventions and technologies in areas such as medicine, agriculture, ecology, transportation and education have been suppressed or degraded due to protecting the fiscal interests of major corporations.
I must admit it is hard to imagine much of the most humanitarian aspects of robotics being able to be implemented in our current capitalistic economy. Just as truly renewable energy sources are the death knell for oil corporations industry, so would true cures of major illnesses or healthbots destroy the profit base of pharmaceutical companies.
Its hard to imagine a single industry currently thriving in our capitalistic economy which would not be threatened by the free use of any technology that drastically increases efficiency, durability and longevity. It is just as hard to imagine any substantial use of robotics or nanotechnology not drastically improving efficiency, durability and longevity. (Any regular reader of this site is aware of my argument that the first casualty of reducing waste in our society (efficiency) would be the recycling industry whose profits are dependent on waste management and proliferation.)
There is no denying that the age of robotics is upon us. The only question is how it will be used and the role it will play in our daily lives. Though I’m greatly concerned of the ethical issues regarding robotics and its effect on human dignity and self-esteem, I’m even more concerned of how our capitalistic system will pervert and destroy its potential benefits regarding improving the quality of life of the average citizen.
Jim Guido
Not sure how I feel about Robot’s as therapists. It’s not that I disagree that software could be developed for biomechanics, etc, to be read and interpreted, but I see this potential only as a tool that a human therapist could employ.
A machine might be good at saying, “you’re lying” but it takes real human connection for the person to own up to themselves.
Then again, in my imagination I like to think of such technology being used in bathroom mirrors. It could respond to you when you look at yourself (since bathroom glances are so very honest). Then it’s a kind of mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most guarded/in-denial/anxious of them all.
Using a robot as a co-therapist is always a possibility thus accentuating the benefits while removing the drawbacks.
Yet, let’s not minimize the upside of a latter generation robot therapist. Just to name a few potential benefits.
A robot therapist would:
1) have immediate and total recall of all previous sessions and communications
2) be able to tend to any disparities between present session and previous statements
3) never space out, project, or react from personal issues
4) keep healthy boundaries