Robots are becoming more human, but are humans becoming like robots?
Social media, college admissions, work: these are all aspects of our daily lives where we are exemplified for perfection. A human appearance, facial recognition, and individual thought: these are traits thought to encompass the most intelligent robots. But what draws the line between the two as our society reverses the role?
As we advance both science and technology, we forget a fundamental aspect on what it means to be a human and what it means to be a robot. As humans in this ever-increasing fast paced world, we are setting the bar higher: no longer is a 4.0 gpa exemplified the way it was before, no longer is 200 followers enough, no longer is a having a stable and well paying job appreciated the way it was before. In society, we must hide many of our shortcomings, hide our emotional and physical barriers and like a robot and be resilient through sleepless night in order to ace a test or finish a project.
Robots, on the other hand, are expected to behave in human-like ways: from humanoids that have an uncanny resemblance to their human counterpart to robots that can detect human emotions and touch, robots are acquiring more and more human-like qualities. Not only are they expected to nail simple tasks, but they are also expected to engage in conversations and potentially gain the ability to fall in love in the future.
So what conclusions do we arrive at from this?
Carefully considering actions and taking a pause to assess the situation in our world. We must take on a finer view on both stress in students and adults and come up with a solution instead of pinning the all the blame on aspects such as social media and “overwhelming anxiety”. As humans, we must address these issues rather than putting them on the back burner. This issue is not one that will take days or months, but many years. We must start now.
Bibliography
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Mar, Alex. “Are We Ready for Intimacy With Androids?” Wired, Conde Nast, 5 Mar. 2018, www.wired.com/2017/10/hiroshi-ishiguro-when-robots-act-just-like-humans/. https://www.rdmag.com/article/2017/07/creating-robots-are-more-humans
Goldhill, Olivia. “Instead of Asking, ‘Are Robots Becoming More Human?\” We Need to Ask ‘Are Humans Becoming More Robotic?\”.” Quartz, Quartz, 24 July 2016, qz.com/740401/instead-of-asking-are-robots-becoming-more-human-we-need-to-ask-are-humans-becoming-more-robotic/. https://qz.com/740401/instead-of-asking-are-robots-becoming-more-human-we-need-to-ask-are-humans-becoming-more-robotic/
From both ends of the polarized political spectrum. “The Dangers of Blaming Social Media for America\’s Problems.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, money.cnn.com/2017/06/30/media/emily-parker-social-media/index.html. http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/30/media/emily-parker-social-media/index.html
Fieldstadt, Elisha. “Creepily Human-like Robots.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 2 Aug. 2017, www.cbsnews.com/pictures/creepily-human-like-robots-2/. https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/creepily-human-like-robots-2/
Cover image source: TELYUKA
About the Author
Gloria is currently a high school student in sunny California. Besides writing, she takes interest in subjects such as Science, history, and art. Her hobbies include playing chess, tennis, and napping whenever possible.
