In response to question three:

1) The competence between humans and machines:

This reading argues that one of the greatest myths of our modern ecosystem is the myth of competence between humans, as humans now compete against machines for jobs, instead of themselves. However, this is an extremely unfair advantage as men don’t evolve, but machines consistently do, which increases the productivity of companies. Competence and productivity is no longer human nor to improve mankind, which is why unemployment worldwide continues to rise, as machines of energy or information works better. People now compete for the minimal supply of jobs that machines can’t yet do. The introduction of the Chip can now perform higher intellectual tasks of man, which not only replaces the average worker, but also managerial jobs. It is the most complex machine, which substitutes our brain, the more complex organ. When man and machine work together there is actually a negative outcome because when we consume machines we are not permanently attached to them as organs of energy or information. When we consume them we atrophy our organs, and substitute them by organic machines, and the new organ takes over. In conclusion, as the use of machines grows, the more humans atrophy and diminish their intelligence, as machines do the jobs for us e.g. calculus, spelling, science etc. Machines extinguish humanity as they evolve, as they make the human mind and body obsolete.

I believe that this reading shares a lot of relevant information about the relationship between humans and machines, however it is an extremely biased argument. It focuses only on how and where machines have damaged humanity physically and environmentally, though it neglects to mention where machines have improved society such as in the medical field, saving millions of lives; and how over time the relationship between humans and machines have slowly diminished, as we become more unified. Although it is true that machines are replacing jobs that man used to perform all over the world, the author should have considered that many governments don’t use all the available machinery, as they’re completely aware of the economical consequences, and that the people would put up a fight, which could lead to an over throw of government; so the likely effect of machines taking over most of the worlds jobs are unlikely. Therefore, I believe there is an issue of biases in this reading, and that not all aspects of the argument were considered, which lessens the quality of reading.

2) Do humanlike machines deserve human rights?

The new Elmo live toy that Fisher-Price have developed is more animated then ever; imitating more human emotions and actions, such as shivering when he gets scared. Being an immediate hit with the children, Elmo was treated as if he were part of their family. The previous Elmo’s were subject to robotic-toy torture, were people would set them on fire, laughing as he writes in a painful death. Because Elmo was given human qualities and lifelike abilities, Daniel felt uncomfortable, even physically sick while watching the incineration of this toy. The cheaper and more commonplace robotics become, the greater the issue is on whether we should care if they are mistreated. Isaac Asimov established his Three Laws of Robotics, which stated robots shouldn’t disobey or hurt humans or themselves, however the more robotics grow and come aware, the tougher it will become to say the technology doesn’t deserve the same protection as animals. If people start caring about robot ethics, might we then go one step further and grant them rights?

3) Robotics Integrated with human body in near future? Technology gulf between ‘have’ and ‘have nots’ predicted by 2020:

During the next 15 years we will see mass hybridization between humans and robots because by then robots will be able to see, act, speak and our relationships with them will have become more constant. Robots will be intelligent machines to be incorporated into both domestic and industrial life, having artificial intelligence that we can have emotional and even intimate interactions. Even sexual robots are being designed to carry out pleasurable personal interactions, equipped with sensorial abilities. Most significantly, robots roles in humans lives physically and social will dramatically increase, as they will be able to insert robots into our bodies, such as intelligent implants in the brain, which will improve our rational thought, and nanorobots to be released into the blood to clean our arteries. Studies have also looked into the repercussions of incorporating robots into society, such as the cultural distinction being drawn between people who can and cannot afford to buy robots, and the effects of unemployment if robots take over the human labour tasks.

A problem that arises in this article is whether or not society would want these robots to play such an intimate role within humanity. Do people truly want an implant in their brains to improve rational thought? And does this prove that machines are atrophying the human mind and body, as we become less able to think for ourselves with machines simply doing it for us. Or does this simply emphasise that we have always been cyborgs, and found the technology to heighten this?

4) Robots created that develop emotions in interaction with humans:

Robots have been developed through modeling the early attachment process that human and chimpanzee infants undergo with their caregivers, in order to learn how to interact and respond to humans in a similar way as children learn how; allowing the robots to form attachments, interact and express emotions through bodily expression. The robot expresses all human emotions such as excitement, anger, pride, and if a caregiver fails to provide comfort when in need or failing to cope in a particular situation, the robot becomes distressed. Therefore the more interaction and engagement given by the human caregiver, the stronger the bond developed and amount learned by the robot. Creators will further adapt the prototype to enable the robots to learn how to be a companion for diabetic children in hospital settings, being combined with non-linguistic and linguist communication to interact with the children and become increasingly adapt to their individual profiles, so they can support the therapeutic, social and emotional wellbeing aspects of the individual children.

An issue that arises in this article is the expanding communication between machines and humans. In order for this robot to be successful, people have to be willing and open to interact with this robot as if it were a human being. If accepted, the lines between robots and humans existence will become blurred and ethical issues of protection and treatment will arise.

5) Human or machine, can you see a difference?:

Since 2002 scientists have been developing a system to detect if an intelligence is machine created or comes from a real human, in order to prevent machine intelligence from using web sites. Bots on the Internet have become so intelligent that they have been able to successfully post online by posting fractions of sentences other people had previously posted in the same context, to make it appear as though the bot was reinforcing statements that appeared natural. One bot once posted 200 posts on a forum, where the humans didn’t even realize they were discussing with a machine. Androids are the next step forward in machine intelligence, so if you imagine 40 years into the future where technology has further increased, it would be more difficult to distinguish a human from machine, and systems may have to be invented, like we already have on the internet today but more advanced, to determine if your human even for a job interview.