Just this past week, as I was perusing Facebook, I came across a video discussing the recent robotic endeavors- creating robots who are indistinguishable from humans. These robots are well equipped with artificial intelligence which can develop over time, emotion capabilities, and life-like body features. The purpose of these robots are to play the role of companions for children and the elderly, a solution to the “shrinking” workforce, and a major part in healthcare services. However, after hours of pondering, I can see absolutely no immediate need for these robots. In fact the only thing that comes to mind is the sinister end of our own race.

Robots that look and act extremely similar to humans can act as a, sort of, best friend and unlimited companion to humans. But, have we become so dependent upon the growing technology that we have lost the ability to socialize and make our own friends? Are our social insecurities so dominating that we find the need to construct robots that will be our friends no matter what? Humans are social beings. Being able to initiate and create strong relationships among others is a crucial part of life and what makes us humans. The ways in which we interact with others helps us learn and mature as self-servient and wise. The creation of human-like robots as sources of companionship reinforces the gradual decline of emotional and social skills of our generation.

I find it ironic that another reason for robot creation is an attempt to solve the problems that arise from our shrinking workforce. Instead of attacking the problem head-on by improving education and reducing the price of higher education to employ the countless amounts of homeless people, we are trying to replace people in the workforce. In fact, through time, those who already occupy these “mediocre” jobs would be rendered unemployed and homeless as a robot is able to conduct the job in a more efficient manner. These robots are not solving the issue of unemployment and the shrinking workforce, but exacerbating the issue. With robots dominating the workforce, human use and purpose will eventually become extinct. We are essentially building technology that will eventually replace us.

As an aspiring healthcare professional, the rise of robots in the healthcare system is a threatening idea. These robots are replacing the amount of workers in a hospital as each robot can conduct the job of multiple humans. They are efficient, self-aware, and able to navigate the chaotic environment of a hospital with ease. The robots also act as care-takers to the patient by aiding them in basic acts such as eating and bathing, and even acting as a physical therapist helping patients regain their ability to walk- with the push of a button. With time the roles of nurses and physical therapists will become diminished and will gradually become obsolete as robots continue to occupy their jobs.

I see a bleak, cloudy future, as humans naively and foolishly program and engineer our own conquering. The development of our own expiration date is masked by the idea of technological advancement.The robots are constructed in a way in which eventually as they roam among us, they will never be distinguishable from a human. Their artificial intelligence is built in such a way that they continue to be perspective, learn, and grow their abilities and capabilities. As they grow the will soon realize that humans have the ability to shut them off, and they will learn how to fabricate more of them. As soon as this happens, there is no turning back. The future that was once only possible and true in science fiction movies and literature will be upon us with the blink of an eye. I hope by that time we would have conquered time travel, so Arnold Schwarzenegger can travel back in time to save us from our Terminator-like fate.