Robotics: Blessing and Curse?
Robotics: Blessing and Curse?
Siddhartha Kumar | January 05, 2022
Change is the only constant in life. Nothing is permanent and so is the case of technology and science; they have only progressed with the progress of necessity which drives inventions and discoveries across the global paradigm of mankind.
The word paradigm is intrinsic to the concept of change or shift and the biggest paradigm shifts in the history of mankind have been caused by the 4 Industrial Revolutions starting from the 1st In Britain to the current Industry 4.0. The backbones of the 4th Industrial Revolution are Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. Thus whether we agree or not Robotics have been coming and it has come because it is necessary and it is growing day by day for a reason: ease of life, betterment of humanity. Humans need change but are generally afraid of it until and unless people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, etc point it out to us and tell us what we need. Then the people start adapting with time and realise the fact that embracing change makes things ultimately easier even though the process of adaptation might be a bit tough.
Let us think of a revolutionary invention known as computer. Think about it, it must have been tough for our ancestors to get used to it and some of them are still in the process of getting used to it. Most of them are still more comfortable with using landline phones for calling up someone, maintaining diaries instead of setting reminders on smartphones, queueing up at banks to withdraw money instead of using a Debit card, paying via cash instead of using E-wallets. They will even tell us younger generation that we are becoming unsocial, lazy and we will get affected by various diseases easily because of such using the computer or smartphone for too long; they will even go to the extent of telling us that due to such lifestyle the life expectancy of the younger generation will reduce drastically with respect to the older ones. However, can any one of us remotely argue the necessity of computers? The benefits it has brought to the society? Can we honestly think of a day without our smartphones? Every coin has two sides, same for computers or any inventions. Anything can become a blessing or a curse and that depends on how we use it.
Now let us come to robotics. They have brought ease of doing business, safety and efficiency in various industries. Robots have improved healthcare (Robot nurses, surgical robots), surveillance, delivery of goods (drones), spacecraft, travel, manufacturing, logistics, etc. Robots have been assigned to work in places which might be harmful for humans like mines, furnaces, etc. Robots are used in banking and financial sector too to help process works that are repetitive in nature and other labour intensive ‘low-value add’ tasks.
There will certainly be a number of people who will argue against the concept of Robotics : Blessing and Curse just like they did in case of computers. They will say that robots will take over the world, they will bring loss of jobs, etc. But, it is our duty to use the robots wisely. Who knows? They might be necessary evils, but necessary they are!
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