Assignment #4

        As we talk about robots and how they are soon to be more intergraded into human society, I find this idea of how robots will be utilized to have some positives, but also somewhat threatening.  By having robots, I believe it can help our society create an efficient way of living by using its technology and changing the way people work in a community.  For example, in the movie iRobot, the film show a society complete dependent on robots in their daily lives. The robot helps people with not only with daily chores around the house, but are also trusted caretakers that watch over children while their parents are at work, and much like today’s undocumented immigrants, these robots have also taken jobs that our communities despise.                                                          

   However, while we do not the sophisticated level of artificial intelligence as demonstrated in the movie, people today are highly dependent on technology more than ever and that dependency continues to grow. Within the 21st century alone, cell phones have evolved from a simple means of telephonic communication to a “must have” device because of their ability to gain access to email, social media, news, bank accounts and information with a tap on a screen or push of a button.

 Society as a whole does seem to draw more advantages than disadvantages from the use of current technology as seen with many companies who leverage new technologies to work more efficiently, such as using robots to improve production quality and increase quantity while reducing the need for costly labor.  Another example in the business field is how technology such as video conferencing can help reduce the cost of employee travel by eliminating the need for a majority of face-to-face meetings. However, for many of the working class jobs such as the toll booth operators or the New York City token booth operators, their jobs are at risk due to new technologies that can simply replace them.  Nonetheless, to offset the replaced workers, new technology also helps create new jobs that may transition the ‘working class’ to support the maintenance of the new industries. Thus, while there are some drawbacks, the benefits seem to outweigh the consequences.                                                                                         

       As seen in the movie iRobot, despite the  fact that the robots turn on the humans and pose a threat to their safety including their children, once the industry ‘fixes’ the issues with the ‘older models’ people still use them without a second thought. In comparison to our dependency on technology today, I see how our society will continue to use technology despite any potential threats. In seeing the stories of social media issues like sex-offenders preying on underage children to the ease of your identity being stolen on the internet, people will continue to integrate new technologies into their daily lives not only because industries provide it, but because people will demand it.