Expanding our horizons to reach limitless possibilities
Brief
Overview/Summary of the themes/topics
addressed during the session
We face a world of unknown and possibility.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited
to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world,
and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
Albert Einstein
Our knowledge is limited. But, our imagination can
take us further beyond our realm of understanding or what we think we will
(future). Session 9 covers the surface of what we perceive to come true in our near
future. It is truly exciting to watch some of our childhood science fiction
fantasies come true.
But, I think the future that awaits us holds more
than what we know may happen. Yet, to get to that stage, I believe we need take
a step away from practicality, and attempt to see things from a different
perspective so that our imaginations can, in fact, be achieved, and not be
limited by our perceived boundaries of reality.
Interesting
Observations and Ideas (ideas and
concepts that captured your attention)
One interesting topic that I believe caught the
attention of the whole class was the idea of “Perfect Woman”. Apart from being
a little frightened due to appearance of the “Perfect Woman”, I was amazed by
how real the robot looked. It actually occurred to me that that demonstration
was a show and that the Perfect Woman may really be a woman rather than a
robot.
(In class) Someone even whispered, “It’s fake right? She’s not a real
robot right?”
It seems as if Artificial Intelligence (AI)
robotics technology has indeed advanced to the stage that the robots are not
only able to empathise, they also look like a real-life human being. Of course,
some may argue that we are watching from a video and did not go through any
first-hand experience, and thus, it may not actually resemble a human that
much. But, from the expressions and its actions, it was rather real to me.
a sexbot from "Almost Human"
We have seen many past shows and movies (iRobot,
Terminator, Almost Human, etc.) depicting issues when such technology becomes
prevalent. Indeed, with such a technology
that is able to act like a human, that is able to empathise and understand
human behavior, the potential application is limitless.
This may certainly help to solve many issues of
companionship, especially for old folks who live alone and require constant
care as well as attention. If further developed, this technology may be able to
confer us more comfort, or even become a form of defense we use to protect
ourselves (if robots could engage in a fight and defend us).
However, this will definitely bring along another
set of problems. Because if robots could defend us, will our lives be
endangered if they were to attack us? We will ultimately be vulnerable if any
layman were to be up against a fully metal-constructed robot.
Another issue that was raised in the session was
the possibility of developing emotional attachment to these empathetic
non-living things. As human beings, we are emotional beings with the capability
of returning the care and concern to another who does the same to us. If we do
that, I think it may change our whole concept of family and companionship. We
may become even more reliant on technology.
There will be many controversial issues raised regarding this issue,
but I think this may not be scary or bad per say, as it is subjective in the
way we see it. The thing I feel that we should be afraid of is the AIs turning against
their creators (human beings). I think it is then when we should fear, and we
should be prepared for this situation.
Key Take Away
Points (the 2 or 3 key messages from the
session that you intend to keep in mind going forward)
There was an important point raised in class –
supply creates demand. I think the Professor said it quite right, that very often,
it is the very existence of a product that creates a need for it. Nobody
thought that we would have any need for smart devices until it was created.
In this article, the
author mentioned how and why he felt that smart devices are useless. However, I
felt that Professor Shahi’s words resonated with me in this matter. After using
smart devices for such a long time, technology is integrated into my life so
deeply that I cannot imagine myself surviving without it.
Everyone uses their smartphone everywhere
Indeed, in this inspiring video, a man shared
about his experience away from the Internet for one year. What caught my
attention was that he felt disconnected from the world and had lost the chance
to experience many precious moments. I think that we have come to a point today
that our smart devices as well as the Internet are deeply connected with our
lives, such that living without them may be the equivalent to losing touch with
the world.
I think this shows very clearly that supply has
indeed created demand. Before the invention of Internet, we may question the
need for it when we had information in books and when we had the means to meet
to have a conversation. But, in truth, technology has made our lives easier by
changing the way we behave. It is not the question whether we find any use of
the device or the technology, but actually a question of how fast we adopt the
technology and how open we are to it.
There was another matter that caught my attention.
Research in various technologies is surfacing. We see more applications of
technologies like Biometric, Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Smart Grid and even
robotics. And what this means is that we will be expecting a lot of change in
the near future. But, I think the key thing to note are how we will react and
how will our lives be changed.
I think our lives will be significantly different
from how we are living now. But these changes may take place so rapidly, so
much so that we do not realise. These changes will happen such that it is
integrated in our lives, such it will not be much of an effort to adapt to the
changes. It will be easy and effortless to adapt to the changes because that is
what innovation of new technology strives to achieve.
But, a question was raised in class about how long more we have to wait
for such technology to become eminent. For this, I strongly stand by the view
that we would not have to wait long. I think an optimistic estimate would be
that within the next ten years, we would see significant changes in our lives
caused by these technologies. This is based on the saying that “technology is
already existing”, and it is simply about how we apply the technology in our
lives.
Issues for Further Discussion (stuff
you wish had been considered or given more air-time in class – and why)
Imagination takes us to
great places. I think it would have been interesting to discuss whether all our
ideas are feasible. Can all our ideas all work? Can every dream that we have
come true as long as we try to make it possible? From a practical perspective,
it is impossible to fulfill every dream or imagination, because sometimes,
reality simply does not accept such existence. But, I think that there will
always be a way to make an imagination or an idea become real. We may think it
is impossible to achieve because we simply do not have the knowledge to do so
now. However, I believe that it is all about making the effort to rethink and to
look from different angles.
Personal Ratings
for Session (how you would rate the session on a
scale of 0 to 10. Feel free to be as subjective as you like in your assessment)
I think it has been very
exciting to hear about all the future emerging technology. It is something very
enriching and something I would very much look forward to. I think that when it
comes to the future, there remains a lot more to be discussed and explored. It
should be noted that in order to do so, one should dare to imagine, rather than
to focus on the boundaries of reality, because reality is only existent based
on our limited knowledge, which was, in fact supplied by some of our
imaginations. This session gave me much insight, and I would rate it a 10/10.
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