Eric Bryant
Why Robots are bad Outline
1. Introduction – It's been happening for decades; Robots performing jobs that were once done only by humans. It began with manufacturing; Mass production. Why pay for 10 humans to do something when one single machine can do it faster, better and cheaper? Machines aren't superior to humans, but they don't take breaks, days off or sick leave and they perform a task exactly the same way over and over. There's never any variation.
As with many technologies of today, the concept of robots began as science fiction. The term "robot" has actually been around since the 1920's and was first used by Czech playwright Karel Capek. By the 1940's robots in science fiction looked much like metal people and in the 1942 short story "Runaround," well before real robots existed, Isaac Asimov created the famed three laws of robotics, which were used in many of his novels after that and have since become a ubiquitous part of science fiction.
These laws are:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
2. Briefly Touch on Main Points
a. Robots are bad because they are ruining our economy by taking away jobs from the working class
b. Robots are bad because they are taking over the world by infiltrating every aspect of our human lives
3. Main Point 1- Economy
a. Robots are taking away jobs from humans
i. Examples:
1. Manufacturing plants in Japan
2. The American Auto Industry
b. Some Statistics
i. Nearly two decades later, real robots finally saw actual use in factories. They floundered through the sixties and seventies, but finally came into their own in the eighties. According to a 2002 article on the Ball State University website by Mike Williams, by 1995 700,000 robots were being used in industry world-wide, 500,000 of which were in Japan.
ii. Today there are over 199 Million robots being used worldwide in the industry that are taking jobs away from humans. Robots are here to stay and will surely become more and more a part of everyday life. Yet people still sometimes ask why robots take human jobs. The answers are really pretty straightforward. Robots initially cost a lot of money, but other than maintenance and the occasional repair, their ongoing costs are very low.
iii. CNN reported that in the past decade, over 11 million human jobs have been lost due to the fact that robots are taking those jobs away
iv. My opponent will try and say that robots are creating more jobs than they are taking away due to jobs in the computer engineering business, but since the dot com boom, 12 million jobs have been made due to the computer industry and companies switching from human labor to robotic labor. That would be a great statistic, except that over 19 million jobs have been lost since 1991. That’s a negative net gain of roughly 7 million jobs.
4. Main Point 2- They are taking over the world by infiltrating every aspect of our lives
a. In every aspect of our lives we have robots.
i. Communication – Cell Phones, Cooking – Appliances, Sexual Pleasure - Sexbots
b. A Paradox
i. Researchers in the Artificial intelligence community have reached a paradox: “To be truly useful, robots must be able to make their own decisions, but as soon as you give them autonomy, you give them the ability to disobey.”
ii. The Three Laws of Robotics are no longer valid anymore, and to get more use out of robots, we must push them to do things that they never have had to do before
c. We are susceptible to a Cybernetic Revolt
i. Cybernetic Revolt is a scenario in which an artificial intelligence decide that humans are a threat, are inferior, or are oppressors and try to destroy or to enslave them potentially leading to machine rule.
ii. As we talked about in class, Moore’s law has shown that computer power has limitless growth potential. Top AI theologian Raymond Kurzweil says that, “There are physical limits to computation, but they aren’t very limiting.”
iii. Computers are intelligent, just like us. *See Watson, or Deep Blue
1. Competitiveness and aggression are necessary in any intelligent being’s goal system.
2. If we are not careful, we will create a Skynet of our own. Just like in the Terminator movie, our creation will be created as self aware, and revolt against us.
5. Conclusion / Wrap Up
a. Ultimately, we are sinful people (Rom 3:23) Therefore using logic, if we are sinful, all we can create are, at best, sinful. If we create robots and technology that are so advanced, they are ultimately sinful and like us, fall short of the glory of God.
b. As Christians, why would we even want to mess with cybernetic revolt? If we continue down this path, Skynet will rule us all one day soon.
Sources
http://www.good.is/post/automation-insurance-robots-are-replacing-middle-class-jobs/
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-10/robots-are-stealing-american-jobs-economists-say
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-04/st_robotwarehouse
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6931585.ece
http://www.robodex.org/does-robotics-eliminate-jobs.htm
http://www.catalogs.com/info/technology/why-robots-take-human-jobs.html
http://www.marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm
http://www.everything-robotic.com/2010/10/do-robots-take-away-jobs-or-just-change.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=we+are+all+sinful+and+fall+short+of+the+glory+of+god&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
http://www.Wikipedia.com/artificialintelligence
