With the advancement of technology, the use of robots is expected to rise in the coming years. In this digital age, robotics is certainly the new revolution. The jobs that would normally be done by humans have been taken over by these machines. We're all aware that robotics is widely used in a wide range of fields such as manufacturing, laboratories, traffic control, research, and even military missions.
Furthermore, robotic technology is eagerly awaited by a large number of businesses. Rapid progress has been made in robotics, and the robots are now capable of acting like real people in many ways. As a result, there is interest in its advancement, but also a lot of fear. Either way, robots and humans may one day coexist in the same society.
Robotics and software are developing at a breakneck pace, and AI will soon make it impossible for us to control them as they become more intelligent, adaptive, and self-aware. There's no telling what they'll decide. And while we might have always imagined robots taking over the world like an alien invasion would, this may not be the entire case. So, before we get into the real reason why robots may kill humanity in a ‘not-so-obvious’ way, let's take a look at some of the drawbacks of their presence:
To maintain their performance, robots require ongoing maintenance to keep them in top shape. Robotic programs should be kept up-to-date in response to changing conditions. Getting it fixed after a power outage can cost you a lot of money. Furthermore, the time it takes to restore lost data and the cost of doing so would be prohibitive.
Robots are excellent at storing large amounts of data, but it is difficult to retrieve it if it is lost. Although it is powerful, it does not compare to the power of the human brain. Robots, despite their ability to perform repetitive tasks, lack the ability to improve over time.
Unlike humans, robots lack the capacity to feel and are therefore incapable of making moral decisions. Human-like communication is impossible for machines to achieve because of their lack of emotional intelligence, which is a drawback of robotics.
When robots malfunction or are designed for military purposes, they can pose a threat to humans.
In the same way that human brains can't think outside the box, robots can't, either. There isn't much thought put into them; they're just a machine. To top it all off, they follow a set of predetermined instructions and are unable to make independent decisions.
As cool as having robots around sound, unfortunately, it takes a lot of energy to run a robot. Many low-wage workers would be laid off from their jobs, which are the lifeblood of their households. In order to keep them in good working order, robots require constant attention. You'd have to fork over a lot of money to acquire robots. On top of that, it would cost a fortune to develop software to meet your specific requirements.
With COVID-19 and so many other socio-economic disparities, unemployment is as real as it could get. Consequently, many skilled workers will be out of a job if robotics is implemented. Either people must find new careers or undergo special training to work with robots. The global unemployment rate is bound to rise if robots begin to take over human jobs.
The real problem
Artificial intelligence (AI) and sensors and actuators are integrated into robots, which are generally able to complete activities associated with specific types of work. Different types of robots can undertake a single task or a series of related tasks with varying degrees of flexibility and functional autonomy.
We can't say for sure whether robots will ever be able to take the place of humans. Humanoid robots are taking on many of the tasks traditionally performed by humans, and they're doing so without any human errors. Fear of technological unemployment as a result of robots taking the place of humans in the workplace has received significant attention.
According to research (Smids, Nyholm & Berkers, 2020), workers may feel that they have less of an aim if robots do most of the work or if the most difficult tasks are taken over by robots. The development of artificially intelligent systems that can correctly classify a specific region has accelerated in recent years.
Workplace social dynamics may be significantly altered by robots, which could have an impact on the significance of work in this area. Workers will lose out on some of the meaning they derive from their jobs if robots take their place in large numbers on their teams. Instead of working with one or more direct human colleagues, a large number of people will be working with a robot, reducing their interaction with one another, their dependence on one another, and their overall sense of collective agency and purposefulness. Simply put, isolation will lead to a feeling of meaninglessness.
