Walter Benjamin explains in
his work,The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, that each
human sensory perspective is not only biological but is also historical. This
coincides with what professor Vesna brings up in her lecture when she says that
culture formed the imaging of the first robots we saw. It’s interesting to note
that the first robots looked similar to human form because of this cultural
impression. People didn’t find these robots to be threatening at first probably
because of the way they resembled another human being and their inability to
compute new information on their own. Instead they used them as entertainment
and weren’t seen the same as they are now in society.
Machiko Kusahara discusses
the idea that people have grown to think of robots as evil or something to be
afraid of ever since the industrial revolution. This comes from people being
forced to work with machines during the revolution where factory workers were
forced to operate these large machines. This made these people apart of the
machine and began a fear of machinery and therefor robots. It’s interesting how
the idea of a powerful robot wasn’t feared before the revolution but since then
robotics and machinery has developed far beyond a simple use of entertainment.
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The prevalent fear of
robots in today’s society is shown through movies such as IRobot. As technology has advanced over the years, a robot in human
form has become more eerie and feared than it was when robots first emerged.
This is most likely derived from the development in a robots abilities and the
mechanical run world we now live in. The robots in this movie are shown doing
every human task imaginable before they violently try to take over the world.
Since robots can now do more than a human in a faster and more efficient
manner, people believe that robots are slowly going to invade our lives starting with toys and simple household appliances. This intimidating feeling robots give people shows our cultures projection on this advanced technology.
Works Cited
Benjamin, Walter, and J. A. Underwood. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London:
Penguin, 2008. N. pag. Print.
Brooks, Rodney. "Robots Will Invade Our Lives." Ted Talks. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Kusahara, Machiko. "Professor Machiko Kusahara on
Japanese Robotics." Course Login.
N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Szollosy, Michael. "Why Are We Afraid of Robots? The
Role of Projection in the Popular Con." Ception of Robots. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Vesna, Victoria. "Robotics Pt1." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 20 Apr.
2015.
Hi Blake, I think that in modern days,artistic portrayal of robots in movies are really toward two different directions. I notice that many hollywood films always depict two kinds of robot, on the one hand there is a humanistic artificial intelligence that possess human attributes and long for feeling emotions,but on the other hand, there is always an evil robot that seeks to destroy humanity. Often in times, the humanistic robot will sacrifice itself to save the human race. This theme eventual destruction of robots is pretty prevalent in many Hollywood movies and I think it shows the concerns of heavy independence of mechanization from the artistic world, and I agree that it will be worrisome if mechanization is too developed that they are able to take over human life.
ReplyDeleteHi, Blake. I read your writing interestingly. For the part that you've discussed the people different perspective before and after industrial revolution and especially after the revolution, people began to fear the machinery, I think that it might have delayed the emergence of robots on earth. Today, as you've said, robots are doing more tasks, honestly, than a human but it is also true that it doesn't have emotions and flexibility like human, which is what robots technology have to deal with. Then, what about the robots, specifically voice robot?, like you see in the movie "her"? In the movie, the guy is talking to a computer systemized voice 24/7. I think that is another type of future robots not only the one we see now. Also, as you said, over developed robots would be our future problem, which does all the works even the ones that humans have to do. I'm also really terrified a far future that robots are doing our works and we are embarrassed with finding jobs.
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