Brave New World

In the last couple of decades, the world has changed drastically. One of the major new ways of the world is that devices of all sorts, i.e. machines, have invaded our lives. They have replaced humans in all spheres of daily living.

            Machines certainly make banking easier. They are a marvel when you travel and can access a machine to withdraw money from your bank account and receive it in the currency of the country in which you find yourself. No need to talk to a human teller. The machine is the teller.  

            Machines have also invading neighborhood grocery stores, not only by keeping track of inventories as items are sold but also by encouraging customers to scan their own purchases. Right now, there are only a few check-out points in each store for customers to add up their own purchases, but how long before there are no employees in grocery stores and we have to do everything ourselves? Or maybe grocery store clerks will soon be robots. One advantage, I guess, is that they don’t go on strike and they are not offended when people criticize them.

            Robots are already very much part of our lives, even if we do not necessarily see them. When you renew a prescription by phone, a robot rather than a human notes your request for the pharmacist. And I’m sure we’ve all received phone calls from robots. They’re used by stores to call customers to let them know that ordered items are now ready to be picked up. They have replaced humans in companies of all sorts, such as credit card issuers, as they try to sell you insurance or other products. One advantage for those who receive such calls is that you can simply hang up without hurting anyone’s feeling, something many people were reluctant to do when an actual person made sales calls. Of course, some still do.

            But my question is: how long before we have robots that can engage an actual human in a heated debate? Or have robots with the emotional dimension of humans? Boggle the mind, does it not? One thing is certain machines are taking over our lives little by little and will continue to do so at an even faster rate. 

            I find it all scary. When humans ruled the world, our private information was reasonably secure. Today, machines control information, communicate with each other, and never delete or update data. Case in point, after doing research on the Internet, your computer will be bombarded at nauseam by ads from the visited websites. Annoying to say the least.

            Of course, we still do have some measure of control. When we fill out some forms on the Internet, to prevent robots from accessing e-mail addresses, we have to prove we are not robots by inputting a series of numbers or letters that look fuzzy. While it’s not always easy to read those and we may need good eyeglasses, at least some information will not be broadcast.

            That is, of course, until robots can read through the fuzz. I’m sure someone somewhere is working on such a machine!