Robots

I was driving in the Dollar Honda, and listening to public radio when I heard the most entertaining discussion I have ever heard on the radio. It was about the history and future of robotics in this country. I was listening intently as the guest recounted the history of robotics and then dove right into the subject of artificial intelligence and his work in that field. He spoke of the wondrous work he had been doing with teaching robots how to think and even write!

I was hoping and hoping and then it happened. A crazed engineer called in and began ranting about how he "lost his job to robots on three separate occasions. We need to be careful how far we take this" The guest responded in a cool manner,

"are you suggesting that we limit our research on robotics?" he sounded suspiciously like the robot on 2001 A Space Odyssey.

The caller's voice got louder, "I'm just saying that we need to be careful!"

"What do you mean, what are you really saying?" the guest asked.

I could tell what the caller was thinking and I knew he didn't want to come out and say it. The guest knew too. There was a long awkward silence. The air was tense and for that moment everyone listening knew what was about to transpire. It was beautiful. The host of the show, decided it was time, and asked the question that was demanding to be asked: "What are you afraid of caller?"

I could hear the frustration in the callers voice as he was forced to answer the question. He had already prefaced his comments by citing his degrees in engineering and his life's work in the field of robotics and science in an effort to legitimize his comments and put himself on equal ground with the guest expert. I could hear the pain in his voice as he slowly gave in and replied:

"What if the robots gain that consciousness you're working so hard to give them and turn on us?"

I had to pull over.

He had said the very thing, I am sure the whole world was waiting to hear. Actual scientists, the people actually involved in building robots are worried about the robots taking over. The caller was flustered. It was like he didn't want the world to know that this secret fear existed in the robotics community and now he had let the cat out of the bag. Meanwhile the show's guest was beginning to appear more and more like an evil mad scientist who wanted the robots to take over and put him into power over the entire world.

The caller kept saying, "we need to be careful, we need to be careful." But his doomsday rhetoric was ignored by the guest. I was laughing out loud at this point. Everyone knows that robots can't and won't take over the world. This fear has been present since the idea of robots first came about. I know this will never happen. I laughed myself silly at the debate ignited by this caller's fears.

But for some reason, I will never buy a Roomba. You see, if what this guy said is true, then I don't want to be accosted by my vacuum cleaner in the middle of the night, those things are wily little suckers.