“What’s good now may not be later.”

For decades people have theorized what the future could potentially look like with robots incorporated into our society. And when I say robotics, I’m talking machinery for production of goods. I’m talking about putting human qualities into robots. Giving them human thoughts and feelings that make them react like us. It sounds interesting if you’re a tech type of person. But are there any drawbacks to having robots perform with human like abilities? In my opinion there are both positives and negatives with making human robotics to benefit us in society. They would be useful in the workforce, military, and even in education.

There uses in the workforce could be beneficial for making the job more productive and efficient. An engineer would be needed for the overseeing of the robot, but the robot could perform for hours without needing a break. The down time that a normal person would need is unnecessary to complete a task. For example, if we relied on the robots for construction, projects would complete the job quicker and cost effective. Now initially it would cost a lot to build humanoid robots, but as time went on, the price would drop. Now, my next question is, are there any downsides that come with incorporating human robots into the workforce.

The downside is that it would render so many people in our society obsolete. What’s the purpose of hiring a person, when robots would work for free. They are more productive, but once they complete the project, who would patronize the goods and services. If they have the jobs, what’s the use of people spending. There would be this animosity from the masses, who are feeling threatened by losing out to robots. Another issue with the workforce is too many people specializing in robotics and not enough of other professions causing an imbalance in the career pursuits. Which leads into my next viewpoint. What would happen with education?

The upside to education is that students would become more engaged in the classroom. The teacher would have an assistant that could assist him/her in everything from class lectures to grading coursework. The job of an educator would be less of a burden. Another upside is that duties around the school campus would be perform in more of a timely fashion. These could be duties that range from maintenance to constructional. Now in my opinion as with any good comes the downside of using robots for this type of assistance.

The negatives associated with using robots in education is once again, the employment aspects. If the students are more engaged with the robot than the teacher, the educator becomes replaced. Because why have a teacher when you have the machine for free. You could program the robot to teach and let students answer questions. In addition to the teachers, the robots performing task around the school could see more people lose their jobs. But is education and the workforce of benefit or burden. Well how about our armed forces. Imagine the military using robots.

In regards to the military using robots, the obvious upside is, decrease in casualties. Countries could use bots to fight instead of people. The human cost to society would lesson, considering we’re using machines, the death tolls would lessen. On the other hand, using military capability in robots could backfire. They could ultimately turn on the masses and we could become under siege. Also, mechanics could become faulty causing even more people dying. In the end, there are ups and downs with incorporating robots into society. Do I think we’re ready anytime soon, no. But when we do, we must be prepared to deal with any negative externalities that come with using the bots.