During class when we watched the tv show, “Humans”, I thought the potential technology that was exhibited was extraordinary and greatly futuristic. However, later on that day, I was on YouTube and came across a video of a human-like robot. It drew my attention and I continued to watch videos of the robot and its abilities. Surprisingly, the abilities and looks of the robot were not far from the capabilities of the robots in “humans”. The robot, while not as real looking, looked like a life size barbie doll. The lips moved when it spoke, there were teeth, and the computer it was connected too was able to hold a conversation. The engineers said that a goal of theirs was to have the robot have a conscious close to that of humans. The importance of this, they exclaimed, was to have them be able to function and in turn aid in our lives as close as possible to us.
As seen through the precariousness of the Anita in “Humans”, a conscious robot is not something that the human race might not necessarily want. When they become as smart as humans and develop feelings as ours, their role in our lives can begin to cause more harm than help. They can rationalize actions as good, when they can really be disadvantageous to what is trying to be accomplished. Hopefully, this complication will not be developed.
Similarly, if self driving cars develop this type of intelligence, the result can be just as harmful. With the absence of human rationality and holistic understanding, the “right” ethical decision by the car can be disadvantageous to the intentions of the driver. For example, in a situation of an accident, the car could decide to kill one person, who is close to the driver, instead of two people who the driver doesn’t know. While this is a dilemma that has no right answer, I would expect for the driver to be more satisfied if the person close to the driver was saved. In “Human” Anita acts similarly when she takes the daughter because she thinks its for the greater good when it is actually for the worst. Its these of issues surrounding the consciousness of robots and computers that worries me. There is simply no being that can make decisions at the level of the human mind.