CAN WE EXIST WITHOUT MODERN TECHNOLOGY?
In1947 during a public lecture mathematician Alan Turning said, “what we want is a machine that can learn from experience and be able to solve new problems”, Copeland (1993). Turing’s concept of such a machine is now known as the Turing Machine and was the forerunner for modern computers today.
Since Turing’s time computers have become so integral to our everyday lives that most businesses cannot function without them. Their benefits are endless from managing client meetings, creating presentations to controlling heart and blood pressure monitors and analysing software to aid the discovery of diagnosing patients.
We are now living through a new technology age, and just like the industrial revolution of the 18th century our lives are about to change. Our future lies in Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is a term used to describe a machine that can simulate human intelligence. For example, learning, logic, reasoning, perception and creativity. We have already developed reactive AI which uses previous data to draw conclusions for current decisions such as playing a game of chess, and limited memory AI which uses live data to read a situation and make decisions such as self drive cars.
AI will have the ability to replace humans in the work place in a variety of jobs such as delivery drivers, customer service, health care and assembly line workers. Self driving vehicles are already being tested by major automakers, and google are developing an AI called Duplex which is capable of making phone calls to customers and copies voice inflections, pauses and interactions that you would find in a real person. Amazon has over 100,000 AI robots assisting workers and is experimenting with a cashierless grocery store called Amazon Go. The John Radcliff Hospital in Oxford has conducted a recent experiment using AI robots to assist with eye surgery, and many countries are now talking about lethal autonomous weapon systems that can make their own decisions.
The advancement of AI is ongoing, resulting in machines with the ability to understand that every entity has its own motives, intentions and emotions. Eventually they will be able to react to each one. In his book Carruthers (1996) said, “theory of mind is the term given by philosophers and psychologists for the ability to predict the actions of self and others”. This advancement in AI technology will enable machines to understand other’s conciousness and have a concept of it’s own awareness.
The prospect for AI is endless and could bring great benefits. In health care AI could assist with diagnosing patients and reduce the risk of human error, menial work could be carried out 24 hours a day with no wages to pay. But not everybody will be able to transition into the new technology age smoothly and a great many people will lose their jobs.
In his book Forbes (2015) says that we are, “headed for a future of technological unemployment”, and plans are already in place for a post work era. Data from the McKinsey global institute shows that by 2030 AI could take away 30% of jobs which could affect up to 800 million people. Our mental health could be impacted by this according to the study carried out by psychologist Maria Jahoda, she said, “Working offers more than just money, it also offers social contact, status and time structure, so losing jobs could cause misery”.
In a world of little work the gap between the rich and poor is expected to grow. With only a small number of people needed to occupying the few remaining jobs. Governments would have to provide a universal income, and with the launch of Sam, the worlds first AI politician in New Zealand, humans may not make that decision.
We are moving more and more to a world where we can not exist without modern technology, but could modern technology exist without us?
References:
Carruthers, P. (1996) Theories of theory of mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University press.
Copeland, J. (1993) Artificial Intelligence. New Jersey: Wiley and Blackwell.
Forbes, M. (2015) The rise of the robots. New York: Basic books.
Jahoda, M. (1933) “The Marianthal study and contempory studies on unemployment in poland”, Sociological Review, pp. 3 -25. https://www.jstor.org/stable/
