July 23rd, 2009
You know those pop science shows on TV, like Nova or Daily Planet? Or those little science-ish articles we sometimes see in Google News aggregator or Yahoo?
Sometimes they talk about how "the Japanese" are building robots that are ever more capable at tasks trivial for humans. First they could walk with an almost-human gait. And then they played piano or trumpet, danced or climbed stairs. Some pathetic loners created "robots" that had that scary wide-eyed almost-Caucasian female-like appearance. Some protested when the sensors in their artificial breasts were being touched, some "sat" and cooed nice things into their creators' ears (though I would have thought that if you programmed the sweet nothings yourself, it's hardly romantic and spontaneous). Yikes, that is both sad and a little ominous all at the same time.
Robots are being created by "the Japanese" that greet people in shops, or roll around providing free directions in city streets, or directing people in lobbies, taking names and appointment information. (By the way, I use the Quote Marks of Doom around "the Japanese" because it's only a few "scientists" and engineers who are building these robots; it's not like "the Japanese" held a referendum on what minor tasks the next robot should be designed to tackle.)
But I, for one, refuse to talk to a robot as though it were a human being. I mean, there is an almost maniacal anger that wells up inside when I am faced with an automated telephone system. Imagine how I would feel and behave towards a plastic and metal pseudo-human. Most of the reason for this apparently irrational fury is the message that I receive from the medium itself: "Fuck you, you're not worth my time and attention. Speak to the hand." Or, in this case, the robot. But that initial offensive message precedes any attempt at communication. It stirs me up into a lather because it somehow diminishes me: I have to become an interface to the automaton (because it's sure not going to meet me half-way, is it?) It is dehumanizing, depersonalizing.
Lots of people don't see it that way. Well, they don't see anything at all. Those are the people that the designers of these robots are counting on: Since "the Japanese" seem able to tolerate a lot more dehamunaization than their Western counterparts, it is not such an offense for them to walk into a building and talk to a mechanical mannequin. They are not nearly so vociferously opposed to being forced to interact with a robot designed as much as humanly possible to look and act human (and always falling short in creepy suggestive ways).
But I don't like it. I am deeply offended at that "this should be good enough for YOU" message those automated systems and robots say to me.
* * *
"But someday you might not be able to tell the difference between a robot and a human!"
Yes, I've read all my Isaac Asimov and I know all about the issues of treating robots like 2nd-class citizens. That's still a long way in the future. Let's cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, I wanna talk to a real person!
Read more rants - Comment on this rant - Email me