My curiosity endured when I first saw the movie Interstellar. The robots portrayed in the film contained the technology to fully communicate with humans, even as far as humor and sarcasm. This type of potential technology seems
realistic to me beacause humans still have full control over
them—being able to change settings simply with the command of their voice (robots are unable to resist authority).
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| Robot "Lars" assisting on a mission in Interstellar |
Up until recently I had thought basically anything was
potentially possible for robots, as long as their main function was to serve humans. When seeing a movie recently, I saw
a preview that intrigued me. The movie with the title Chappie, about a robot that is born
with the ability to have feelings, to have a human conscience. He is able to learn,
adapt, and form relationships with other humans, even love them.
The preview shows the robot learning as a child, clumsily walking around, spilling drinks and knocking into objects. He's shown as shy and nervous of the new world he now resides in, just as a human would. His 'brain' is able to grow in all aspects, from artistic ability to style and music preference. He is programmed to be a potentially gifted 'person', as a child prodigy would be, and will be influenced in positive as well as negative ways as all of us are when we are young. Different from past films, Chappie has a soul, the first of any robot to have been shown to the world.
After watching the preview, one simple question stuck out to me: Could this even be possible?
To able to replicate the human brain so effectively and produce something like the robot, Chappie, seems like an impossible feat to me. Our minds are so complex that we're still discovering new things every day about our brains.
Technology already exists that allows machines to respond to humans with speech, follow directions and carry out tasks at the command of a voice, but how much further can we develop? The idea of artificially manufacturing a human being out of metal and wire is a bit ridiculous. Keep in mind, I do believe robots will be able to do a phenomenal amount for mankind in the future. We're on track for robots such as Lars to be a reality in the coming years. The game-changing factor for me is the ON/OFF switch. How can we manufacture something that makes independent decisions? How can we develop a technology that allows a robot to think on its own, to make ethical decisions or appreciate life the same way humans do?
We've seen similar technology in movies before. The technology shown in Her is up to par with social interaction and comprehensiveness as seen in the robots of Interstellar. He is able to speak and converse with this digital response system as he would with another human, but still has the power to turn the system off. The machine doesn't function COMPLETELY independently, it's always at the mercy of the human being.
So, even if this technology WAS someday possible? Would it be wise to create machines such as Chappie?
The idea of NOT being able to turn off a robot is frightening to me. For something to be excessively more powerful and with the mind capacity and unpredictability of a human makes it a potential threat to society. With no OFF switch, we risk the unknown.
There have been plenty of movies about robots taking over the world or extinguishing mankind. This idea of fear has fueled countless movies, and why not? Society is intrigued by this idea. The future is everyone's own imagination, and many of us enjoy watching these 'possibilities' unfold on the big screen. I mean seriously, do we really need ANOTHER Terminator? But hey, I know when it comes out the movie will make millions, so I guess I really can't make any fun.
Would it be smart for us to make emotional connections with these robots and machines? Even in the movie Interstellar, humans are hurt emotionally when one of the human-like robots is sacrificed. It seems extreme to think that we would ever consider saving the 'life' of a robot rather than another human, but with these technologies becoming so lifelike it allows people to make these connections, and actually feel an emotional attachment of sorts.
At the end of the day, all of these movies are meant to do one thing: MAKE MONEY. So when I think of Chappie and this revolutionary technology that's being brought forth in this film, I think it is solely a gimmick. It's intriguing to society—the idea of a robot that's one of us? both emotionally and mentally? The idea has been thought of before, but not as in depth as Chappie is shown. It appears to be the most relatable to humans as we've seen yet, almost TOO similar, with the only difference seeming to be skin and organs replaced with metal and wires.
Some may believe it's a realistic view of what the future may hold, but I'm not as quick to agree as others are. I think it's a 'cool' idea for a film, and will gain attention from people solely on its futuristic theme, for all of us are interested in what the future has in store.
Some may believe it's a realistic view of what the future may hold, but I'm not as quick to agree as others are. Could technology advance so much as to make robots lifelike enough to have rights in society? Will they have powers similar to those of humans to vote, work, etc? Humans are already losing millions of jobs to robots that can do it for free, so I'd begin to worry if any of this software and technology does come to be. As for now, I think it's a 'cool' idea for a film, and will gain attention from people solely on its futuristic theme, for all of us are interested in what the coming years have in store.
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| "Chappie" displayed in the upcoming film Chappie |
But is it really a soul? or simply programmed to represent certain emotions? For example, siri is a software developed by Apple to assist users in finding directions, knowing the weather, etc. The software has the ability to react to questions with humorous responses, almost an attempt to connect with us emotionally. A recent story came out about an autistic boy that became 'best friends' with siri.
The article describes how the boy took the programmed responses from siri as a deeper psychological connection. He connects with the software as Chappie is portrayed in the film: they have feelings that are recognized by humans.
After watching the preview, one simple question stuck out to me: Could this even be possible?
To able to replicate the human brain so effectively and produce something like the robot, Chappie, seems like an impossible feat to me. Our minds are so complex that we're still discovering new things every day about our brains.
 |
| R2D2 & C3PO of the Star Wars series |
Technology already exists that allows machines to respond to humans with speech, follow directions and carry out tasks at the command of a voice, but how much further can we develop? The idea of artificially manufacturing a human being out of metal and wire is a bit ridiculous. Keep in mind, I do believe robots will be able to do a phenomenal amount for mankind in the future. We're on track for robots such as Lars to be a reality in the coming years. The game-changing factor for me is the ON/OFF switch. How can we manufacture something that makes independent decisions? How can we develop a technology that allows a robot to think on its own, to make ethical decisions or appreciate life the same way humans do?
We've seen similar technology in movies before. The technology shown in Her is up to par with social interaction and comprehensiveness as seen in the robots of Interstellar. He is able to speak and converse with this digital response system as he would with another human, but still has the power to turn the system off. The machine doesn't function COMPLETELY independently, it's always at the mercy of the human being.
So, even if this technology WAS someday possible? Would it be wise to create machines such as Chappie?
The idea of NOT being able to turn off a robot is frightening to me. For something to be excessively more powerful and with the mind capacity and unpredictability of a human makes it a potential threat to society. With no OFF switch, we risk the unknown.
There have been plenty of movies about robots taking over the world or extinguishing mankind. This idea of fear has fueled countless movies, and why not? Society is intrigued by this idea. The future is everyone's own imagination, and many of us enjoy watching these 'possibilities' unfold on the big screen. I mean seriously, do we really need ANOTHER Terminator? But hey, I know when it comes out the movie will make millions, so I guess I really can't make any fun.
Would it be smart for us to make emotional connections with these robots and machines? Even in the movie Interstellar, humans are hurt emotionally when one of the human-like robots is sacrificed. It seems extreme to think that we would ever consider saving the 'life' of a robot rather than another human, but with these technologies becoming so lifelike it allows people to make these connections, and actually feel an emotional attachment of sorts.
At the end of the day, all of these movies are meant to do one thing: MAKE MONEY. So when I think of Chappie and this revolutionary technology that's being brought forth in this film, I think it is solely a gimmick. It's intriguing to society—the idea of a robot that's one of us? both emotionally and mentally? The idea has been thought of before, but not as in depth as Chappie is shown. It appears to be the most relatable to humans as we've seen yet, almost TOO similar, with the only difference seeming to be skin and organs replaced with metal and wires.
Some may believe it's a realistic view of what the future may hold, but I'm not as quick to agree as others are. I think it's a 'cool' idea for a film, and will gain attention from people solely on its futuristic theme, for all of us are interested in what the future has in store.
Some may believe it's a realistic view of what the future may hold, but I'm not as quick to agree as others are. Could technology advance so much as to make robots lifelike enough to have rights in society? Will they have powers similar to those of humans to vote, work, etc? Humans are already losing millions of jobs to robots that can do it for free, so I'd begin to worry if any of this software and technology does come to be. As for now, I think it's a 'cool' idea for a film, and will gain attention from people solely on its futuristic theme, for all of us are interested in what the coming years have in store.
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