Issue #31 Vol. 35, September 8th, 2009
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Opinions

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By Grace B. Neptuno

From the country that brought beer vending machines and raw seafood delicacies into our lives, enter Saya, a Japanese elementary school teacher that takes attendance, speaks several different languages and makes that tight frowning face characteristic of anyone who works with children all day. What’s the catch, you ask? She’s a freaking robot!

Saya is just one among many service robots now becoming commonplace within Japanese culture. Mitsubishi’s robotic nurses are being developed to minimize the social costs of caring for the increasing number of elderly in Japan. This kind of emotionally impotent weirdness is not limited to Japan alone.

In England, the University of Warwick has begun a $2.7 million (£1.5 million) project called iWARD to design their own robot nurse with a target operational date of 2020. In true Pop Idol spirit, Canada just had to have its own version. University of Manitoba professor Jacky Baltes has developed his own robot, “Archie,” in the hopes that it may one day be sophisticated enough to assist in household tasks such as chopping vegetables, changing diapers and greeting guests so that suburban moms can finally relax. That’s right. There isn’t a vision more calming than an encased integrated circuitry of copper wires and silicone giving my two year old raspberries on her belly.

While it’s true that machines operating according to their designed computer programs have long existed in our lives, in the way of dishwashers, microwaves and not too long ago, the disturbingly adorable Roomba vacuum. These machines still function within safe and enclosed parameters and if needed, are terminable via an off switch. A robot, once sophisticated enough, is not so easy to turn off. Even Data had his bad positronic brain days.

Aside from the possible physical dangers that large walking toasters might pose, to replace nurses and care workers with robots undermines the value of human interaction that the elderly and children need most. Imagine poor Grandpa Jack and his robotic elderly care-worker during a game of chess;

Jack: “Black pawn to e4, your move E-bert.”
E-bert: “By your command.”
Jack: “Uh, yeah, I said it’s your move.”
E-bert: “By your command.”
Jack: “Right, go ahead and move.”
E-bert: “By your command.”

While the idea of re-booting the instructor to get a few more minutes of arts and crafts time may sound appealing, it is a human teacher that can prevent belligerence from students hopefully ensuring they develop, among other principles of conduct, a sense of cooperation. Without the uniqueness of human social interactions with students, we run the risk of creating children either running giddy with their own ill-conceived sense of right and wrong, or children who retreat to an underground lair to secretly worship a giant dormant nuclear missile.

It is not just this writer’s intent to convey a billboard-toting “end-of-the-world-is-nigh” sentiment about how dangerously close robots are to infiltrating human culture, but to also call attention to what philosopher Daisaku Ikeda once termed, “The Virtual Disconnect.” The social gap between humans is widening. The connection that, at one time could be made, simply by smiling or saying “hello” could go the way of the mini-disc if robots overrun positions where the ability to respond spontaneously is crucial to human interaction. The human desire for companionship and emotional and social interaction shorts out. It becomes artificial.

So I suggest putting down your iPhone and unplugging your Wii. Play tennis with a real person. Share an impromptu story with your students, instructors or colleagues. Go visit your Grandpa and never, under any circumstances, allow a Tickle Me Elmo into your home.