Eastlyn Koons Robots Are Better Than Humans

In the short story “Better than Human: Why Robots Will-and Must-Take Our Jobs” by Kevin Kelly on Page 299 in They Say/ I Say with Readings book there are various of positive and negative aspects of the story in which areas develops two sides to the argumenting point.In the short story “Better than Human” by Kevin Kelly there is a big conflict point in whether humans will end or create better jobs.

Technology is defined as machinery and equipment developed from the application of scientific knowledge. Its original use was meant solely for the service of humans, however overtime it has evolved into something much different. What was originally meant to be an assisting piece of machinery has changed almost every aspect of our culture. The way we think, communicate, lie, and even love has been impacted by the use of technology, and all of this is has made for interesting pieces of literature. In pieces such as Her and I, Robot, we see the evolution of robots and artificial intelligence into a more empathetic and humanlike creatures. This gradual change in our views of robots overtime speaks volumes to the evolution of technology. Technology in literature has become a reflection of human beings themselves, mirroring the very qualities of ourselves that make us human. By looking at the personality that technology takes on in literature, we can greater understand the aspects of ourselves that truly make us human.

In “Better Than Human,” Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick of Wired Magazine, insists that automation will allow us to become more human. When society grants automation the permission to complete the most menial tasks, it will allow individuals trapped in dead-end careers such as fastening bolts onto cars, to search for their true passions which only humans can accomplish. More people will be able to pursue jobs that robots, for now, can not complete with ease. Kelly believes that as artificial intelligence and the creators of it advance, more jobs will be created to fulfill society's growing needs. The simple tasks of assembling new machinery can be completed by the already established automation; while the job of developing software that controls

When humans created artificial intelligence, the machines believed they were superior than humans and rebelled. They survived by imprisoning the humans, thus believing that their lifestyle and culture was superior to the humans. This “slavery” of the humans is similar to the slavery that happened in the nineteenth century, where some people believed they were superior to others. Once the machines in the movie believed they did not need to labor to the humans.

Humans are far more worse than robots and we should fear humans more than we fear robots. In the article “In Defense Of Killer” author Rosa Brooks states “humans, not robots, came up with such ingenious ideas such as torture and death by crucifixion” what Brooks is trying to say is that why are we fearing robots when they haven’t killed anyone or have done nothing. We should fear humans more than we fear robots because humans are the ones who came up with the idea of killing for pleasure and killing with such cruel techniques. Robots should not be feared at all. Robots are getting a bad rep even though they are better than humans and robots in our future can really help us with medical issues.

Sherry Turkle begins the book by talking about our relationships with robots and how it is going to change our society. Robots are another way for us to interact. We can interact with them as if they are people and they can assist us in our day to day lives. This is an example of our society being fragmented as it is another way for us to interact in society.

These terminal logs, the remnants of humanity, “the creation of multiple archives (for redundancy) in safe locations that will contain, in digital form, as much information about our species (including all cultural works, scientific insights, history, DNA) as can be gathered in the given timeframe” (Archive IMPORTANT.eml). These messages add to the circumstances of humanity’s downfall and help push the player to become more introspective on the concept of ‘self’ and ‘machine intelligence’, “If, then, a machine may have all the properties of a man, and act as a man while driven only by the ingenious plan of its construction and interaction of its materials according to the principles of nature, then does it not follow that man may also be seen

Human interaction is mechanized. When Paul’s wife tells him she loves him he never fails to robotically reply: “I love you, Anita.” In an endeavor to mask the erratic stages of one’s mind desiring to progress through life, relationships, friendships, and even communication has boiled down to contain no real love or emotion. Humankind has become robotized with no profound bonds to other beings, as machines are. In efforts to live a more comfortable and easy life, a routine way of interaction has been established between a married couple. In this portrayal, Vonnegut reveals a thematic aspect of machines slowly depleting humanity from mankind as he displays a society which is sanitized of human like qualities.

In the story “Who Can Replace Man” the author, Brian Aldis, is trying to get a message across to people. I think that what Brian is trying to say is that humans are being too irresponsible with the technology we have today. Also that no matter what man will always control machines because that's what the machines were programmed to do, obey and serve man. Overall, the message is about the relationship between man and machine.

Finally, there are people who will always be complacent about the conflicts that deal with technology and society. It is much easier for people to look the other way and pretend that conflict doesn’t exist than it is openly admitted there may or may not be a problem with technology. Dr. Lanning, another character in “I, Robot” shows his disdain for the computational brain by stating, “Suppose, there is no dilemma. Suppose Consolidated’s machine broke down over a different question, or broke down for purely mechanical reasons” (Asimov, 182). The part of the story happened when Dr. Susan Calvin and Dr. Lanning were discussing the possibility of the “brain” contemplating a human’s life and death scenario. People today do not think about the possible attacks that can be done to them because of technology. People’s complacency about technology

In many ways, robots are a lot more efficient than humans for a variety of reasons. First of all, whenever robots are working they commit fewer errors in a different number of ways. They are very helpful to the community and environment for those who have physical disabilities. With the economic problems, we have in the country at this moment, having robots for workers will solve different world problems. It will also be less costly for the country to buy an intelligent robot than to hire an employee or a helper.

The writers Point of view is to stop worshipping the machines that have enslaved us

In 1948 a sci fi movie is released in theaters everywhere, the movie’s premise is that robots has dominated the human race and inserted their dominance on rest of the world. That story sounds not real and couldn’t be a future for today’s society. However, even though “evil” robots are not real technology taking control of the world is not so far fetch as the movies presents. In the article “The Robot Invasion” by Charlie Gillis the authors presents the growing reality of robots becoming functional tools or gadgets for people. The article also touches on a controversial topic of robots removing ordinary workers from their jobs.Which could cause problems for many individuals whom feed or survive in generally because of those jobs. The author uses three writing techniques to convey & strengthen his opinion to the audience, which includes an informative tone,credible facts, and multiple bias source inclusion.

Despite these advances, we do not become robots because we retain the most important human trait; intelligence. The ability to rationalize and make independent decisions not based on a set sequence of events and reactions is what keeps human. Still, it would appear that modern society has unknowingly accepted its fate of global cyborgization, yet the question that science fiction writers, such as Philip K. Dick in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and William Gibson in Neuromancer, pose is if the opposite transition be accepted. We accept humans taking on robotic characteristics, but what would happen if there were robots taking on human characteristics?

Future development of technologies means the increase of sophisticated machines that will test the notion of man’s supremacy. The development of new technology has an endless effect on the post-human notion of what it means to be a human being. Giesler (2004) suggest that in recent studies many articles on posthumanism indicate the arrival of a new era with concerns about how we conceptualize human bodies and mental structures. These ideas are explored through the shift in thought from humanist to post-humanist worldviews contextualising using the ideas of advancement in technology in artificial intelligence and how this could affect the human and machine division. Looking at artificial intelligence and the human machine divide in ‘Her’, ‘Robocop’ and Transcendence’ these films can be analysed on how the posthuman ideas could possibly affect both our society and the environment. Movies are a great way of portraying futurist concepts in a believable and immersive environment that assists in extending our knowledge in an area which can sometimes appear incomprehensible. We can only begin to try to understand some of the implications of human technology for the current moment and future.