The Roomba, for those unaware, is a little deep-dish-pizza-sized automaton that roams around your home and vacuums the floor before returning to its charging station. The Roomba's only requirement for human interaction is to empty its dust collection vessel occasionally. I think the Roomba wonderfully illustrates the modern culture we have grown accustomed to.
Like all technological innovations, the Roomba was created to improve our lives. In this case, by sparing it's owner of the tedious task of cleaning their home. I think quite a few people would scoff at something such as this and complain about how lazy people are. I've never quite understood this mentality. It always seemed self righteous-- would you really prefer to sweep your floors when you could be doing anything else you want? For me, its hard to imagine a future where many simple tasks aren't completed autonomously, and I would definitely let a robot sweep my floors (maybe not for 500 dollars but that's a different question).
Commonly, people argue that devices such as this will progress and people will be out of work because a robot can do their job much better. Again, I think this is a bunk point. I am no economist but I would think that if manufacturing becomes cheaper then the cost of commodities goes down. Lower prices mean people work less but continue to live the same lifestyle. Sounds pretty good to me.
Ultimately, this would progress to a world where commodities are of little to no value. Without economic competition, international relations would improve drastically and perhaps even world peace could be achieved. Humanity would be left to its own desires. "If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars", a rather fitting quote from Carl Sagan.
That is the nature of progress. Think of it this way; the majority of humanity’s inventions have likely already been invented. Every “new” invention is just an improvement on or a combination of inventions. Modern innovations on technology are directed toward making life easier. This can end up having a negative or positive effect on the user. In the case of prosthetic limbs, improved control and precision are a plus that can in some cases allow the user to return to a life they once knew. In the case of the Roomba as you described, a plus would be a clean house and more free time. This however can lead to increased laziness as one may end up with too much free time. An interesting thing to note is which type of “creator” we remember the most. Is it the inventor that first brought us this new idea? Or is it the innovator that improved on that idea and made our lives easier? We all know who Steve Jobs is, but have you ever heard the name Martin Cooper?
ReplyDeleteAs someone studying artificial intelligence, I find the topic of robots fascinating. (I mean come on; it’s my field of study. How could I not?) In my blog post I mentioned the requirements for being sentient: self-awareness, consciousness, and intelligence. What is interesting is that most robots have these characteristics, in a very loose sense. Bear with me as I try to explain this. If a robot has knowledge that it is distinct from its environment, then it is self-aware. With the Roomba for example, you could say the robot knows it is moving through its environment and thus knows it is distinct. A robot that has any form of a sensor (camera, laser, IR, etc.), knows its environment and thus can be considered conscious. And finally, a robot can be considered intelligent as it reacts to its sensor inputs or displays some sort of logic. So in a sense, a Roomba can be considered sentient. An odd thing to think about as its only purpose in life is to clean your floors.