COLUMN: Computers and machines are not people

There is one thing at at the time remarkable and chilling about the degree of automation technologies at our fingertips these days.

With a few voice instructions, it is doable to open or shut the curtains, lock or unlock the doorway, turn on the h2o, warm or awesome the residence or acquire care of any variety of other standard duties. These are systems offered to us right now, and not basically in the progress phase these kinds of as absolutely self-driving cars.

The stage of pc-assisted know-how nowadays appears like the science fiction stories from earlier many years, exactly where state-of-the-art machines (“robots” in tales from the 1950s) would just take more than mundane responsibilities, acting as butlers and allowing for men and women additional time for leisure activities.

I’m wonderful with the idea. Engineering can and should be employed to strengthen our quality of lifestyle.

But the other working day, a demonstration of some of this automation know-how remaining me sensation uneasy.

A single could say, “Siri, flip on the studying gentle,” and a gentle near a chair would occur on. Or, by stating, “Alexa, transform off the Tv,” the tv would be turned off.

The technological know-how was good, but the human names for the voice manage devices were unnerving.

Siri, the title of Apple’s digital assistant, is also a title in the Swahili language, which means “mystery” or “secret.” It is also a shortened variety of the Scandinavian title Sigrid, which suggests “beautiful victory.” And its sound is near to that of names like Sara and Sherri.

Alexa, the virtual assistant employed by Amazon, shares its roots with the name Alexandra, a Greek title meaning “defender of the people” and a variant of the name Alexander.

In both of those these scenarios, human names are applied. And in both scenarios, these human names are essential in purchase to activate the technological innovation.

Applying a name to use voice-activated technological know-how is disturbing. By carrying out this, people are addressing equipment the way they would normally handle a sentient remaining these kinds of as a man or woman or a beloved pet.

Whilst personal computers are complex units, they are not residing or sentient beings. Just one seldom gives a toaster a title like Boris or a garden mower a identify like Gertrude.

Computers in a community or many laptop or computer tough drives may well have names, but these are to recognize them in the procedure. It’s attainable to have a pc on a community referred to as “Front Office” or the external tough drives termed “Backup” and “Clients” and “Projects.” People names are very little more than identifiers.

The use of a identify for voice-activated technological know-how starts to blur the line amongst persons and items. When these sophisticated and complicated machines are presented the procedure generally reserved for people today, they are elevated beyond their meant job as equipment. At the very same time individuals are now on the same level as these machines. This devalues humanity.

Some of the science fiction stories from previous decades replicate a fear of what occurs when computers and robots turn into equal with or remarkable to folks.

Get started with Robert Silverberg’s 1958 novella, The Iron Chancellor, in which a robotic butler gets the totalitarian head of a family’s dwelling, not allowing anybody to enter or go away. Arthur Clarke’s 1968 novel, 2001: A House Odyssey, and the motion picture of the very same name, discover a comparable theme.The HAL 9000 laptop or computer, known to those people aboard the spacecraft as Hal, is originally noticed as a member of the crew but later exerts complete handle. One more tale is No Quarter, an episode the the CBC radio drama, Nightfall, originally broadcast March 4, 1983. In this tale, an sophisticated online video match gains total management of the lifestyle of a gaming addict.

The technological developments in new years have some amazing probable and, if employed properly, can convey gains several could have imagined in the past.

Nevertheless, the machines we have created are only machines. They are not and ought to not be addressed as persons.

John Arendt is the editor of the Summerland Review.

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