Final Exam

Bethany Brown
4/29/08

In a previous entry I discussed how computers were taking away our contact with other humans. We don't need to leave our houses to shop, pay our bills, or go to the library. We don't have to talk to people at the grocery store or gas station. And probable most annoying is the fact that you never talk to a person when you need customer service. Now I will point out some reasons why loosing contact is just progress. Our lives have become so busy that anything that can save us even a few minutes is welcomed. The lines in the grocery stores seemed to be getting longer due to fewer cashiers. Often the self-check lines are shorter and I don't have to make small talk with the person checking me out or tell her whether I found everything I was looking for. Would she really be able to get it for me anyway? Pay at the pump tanks are great. Stopping for gas with small children can be a headache. It is very inconvenient to unstrap a two year old and newborn from carseats just to run in to pay for gas. However, without being able to pay outside, parents have no other choice. It is too dangerous to leave them in the car. Shopping online is a great way to save on gas and avoid long lines and crowds. I can click on what I want, give my information, and have my purchase delivered right to my door. Anything that can make live more convenient is a plus. I can get more errands finished and spend more time at home with my family, they are the important people to interact with every day.

In my entry discussing the AI movie I stated that it seemed that a robot would need to be a child in order to become like a human. My thought was that it should be even younger than David was because human children learn from their environment from the time they are born. Now I would like to talk about why even a young robot could never be more than a machine. A robot is a machine created by humans, nothing more. It would be no different than this computer that I am working on right now, it would just look different. We would not think about how we treat a computer ( many times I would like to take a ball bat to mine! ) or worry about their rights. A robot is nothing more than a walking, talking computer that some one has programmed for a certain purpose. No mater how young of a robot is created, it will never be able to "grow up" like a human child does. It will not be free thinking and be able to grow and learn from life experiences. In the movie, the creators wanted to have a robot that could love. Love is not something that can just be programmed. David didn't really know anything about love, only that it was programmed to respond in a certain way when the mom read certain words. A love between a parent and child is instant and unconditional ( or rather, it should be ) this was certainly not the case for this family. Robot children will never be able to take the place of human children. I don't think there will be a shortage of children who need homes any time soon. Trying to make robot children who can love is not necessary and will never happen.