Ashton Radvansky Journal #5

After reading Asimov’s Caves of Steel, and discussing it in class, I began to think more about the future roles of robots in society. In the simplest terms, countless robots are already part of our daily lives through machines, computers, and cars. Although we have yet to make the jump from machines to humanoid robots, we are just beginning to see the early stages of development today. For example, the ‘Google Home’ and the ‘Amazon Echo’ have been released into the market within the last year, and they are devices that you can ask questions to and a voice talks back answering your question. This is one of the most recent developments in technology, and one of the main concerns is that Google and Amazon is storing information based on what individuals ask the devices. This is a large fear because it is an invasion of privacy on the owner of the device. I see this fear as a main limitation in the production and development of humanoid robots because I believe that people would be afraid that the device is remembering things about them, storing it as data, and spying on them. Also, there is the issue of gender identity with the robots. What gender would the robots be? What would they look like? Would they have a feminine or a masculine voice? Amazon has addressed the last of these issues by naming their device “Alexa” and giving it a feminine voice. In conclusion, I do not believe that our society is ready for humanoid robots because we have too many issues that we are currently sorting through, and if there was a humanoid robot rebellion I do not think that we would be ready.