INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY EFFECTS ON THE SOCIETY AND PUBLIC POLICY
Intelligent Technology Effects on the Society and Public Policy
In the world that we live in, the emerging technologies such artificial intelligence, industrial robots, and machine learning are growing at a very fast pace. However, there has been increasing attentiveness to the impact that it has on the public policy and the society as a whole. Whereas emerging technologies can improve the quality, speed, as well as the cost of the available products, they may also act as a replacement of a vast number of workers. This particular likelihood challenges the traditional benefits and importance of tying retirement savings and health care to jobs. In an economy that is increasingly employing fewer workers, we need to think about how benefits are going to be delivered to the displaced or potential workers.
In the book, “Machines of Loving Grace” by John Markoff (2015), robots are increasingly becoming integrated into our modern society be it on the road, in education, in business, or health. John Markoff deeply looks into this matter and searches for an answer to one of the most pressing questions of all time: will these machine assists us or will they eventually replace us? Just in the past ten years alone, Google has come up with driverless cars, Apple has launched a personal helper that we can always have in our bags, and the internet has significantly become a reference point for our daily activities. Presently, there is little doubt that the robots are an essential part of ours. In addition to that, powerful computers and cheap sensors will make sure that in years to come, the robots will soon have a brain of their own. The coming era provides the promise of an intense computing power, and John Markoff reframes another critical question that has resulted into more than 50 years ago, at the birth of artificial intelligence; will we regulate these machines or will they regulate us?
After years of covering the technology industry, Markoff attempts to offer an unparalleled viewpoint on the most radical technology-driven social changes since the coming of the Internet. “Machines of Loving Grace” attracts a broad array of interviews and research to the current eye-opening past of one of the most crucial questions of all time. It advocates us always to recall that we have a chance to project ourselves in the coming future – before the robots take over. The debate in this stakes-setting book investigates the “quest for a common ground between robots and humans.” That narrows down to two things intelligence augmentation where robots are auxiliary assistance to people and artificial intelligence where robots replace the human workforce. These two paths of innovation put a tremendous amount of responsibility and power in the hands of communities of designers that Markoff addresses in his book. Markoff pictures a bipedal Google robot arriving in homes to deliver packages and leaves the readers to decide on whether to be delighted or scared at that summation of facts.
However, the book is sensitive to this dread-inducing subject by putting a few reasonable people into the conversation, such as Google consultant, Templeton Brad. He dictates that robots will without a doubt be autonomous when you direct them to go and work, and it decides to go to the beach instead. More importantly, the exploration of socioeconomic implications f introducing artificial intelligence into day-to-day work and services, including retail outlets, grocery stores, delivery services, and hospitals. But all in all, "Machines of Loving Grace" juxtaposes questions of choice, personal responsibility, as well as consequences. Robots can enhance our lives in very many beneficial ways both large and small. The greater changes are to put our fingers on, for instance, the drones used in wartime. However, we may be less conscious of how personal assistants and navigation systems may be directly changing our ability to reason spatially, to remember, and make decisions (Hoeven & Zoonen, 2015).
"Rise of the Robots" by Martin Ford
According to “Rise of the Robots” by Martin Ford (2015), we living in a world of big data and self-driving cars, Siri and smart algorithms, makes artificial intelligence smarter than us each and every day. Even though all these excellent programs and devices might make our lives easier and more comfortable, they are also making favorable and potential jobs obsolete in our economy. For instance, a computer winning in “Jeopardy” may seem like a trivial, but the very same technology is making the paralegals redundant as it prepares to undertake electronic discovery, and is soon to do the very same to radiologists. In the Silicon Valley the use of “disruptive technology” is tossed around on a casual basis. Nobody doubts that technology can ravage the entire industries and upend the various sectors of the job market.
However, in the book Martin Ford asks a critical question: can the accelerating technology disrupt the whole economic system a point where fundamental restructuring is required? Big Internet companies like YouTube and Facebook may only need some employees to attain enormous valuations, but what will become of those people who are not smart or lucky enough to have gotten into the shift from human labor to computation? Ford details what artificial intelligence and robots can accomplish, and implores scholars, employers, as well as policy makers to face these implications. The old solutions to technological disruption, particularly more education and training, are not going to work (Editorial board, 2015). Therefore, we must decide whether the future will see a broad-based prosperity or harmful levels of economic insecurity and inequality.
In this humbling book, Ford – a software entrepreneur who understands both has made thorough studies of the economic consequences of technology succumbs to the obvious temptation to exaggerate and overdramatize. Moreover, he has little to say about the most ominous arena for automation – the military where robots now defuse bombs and pilots are replaced by drones. Ford also does not venture into the dramatic possibilities that are being opened up by wearable medical devices, which monitors just about any biometric data that can be collected in an ICU. Health workers may as well be cut off as tiny devices to sense blood glucose levels, for instance, learn how to show other implanted devices to release insulin.
In conclusion, whoever owns the capital will without a doubt benefit from artificial intelligence and robotics replace many workers. If the gains from the new technologies go widely to the very wealthiest, as has been the trend the past half a century, then dystopian visions could become the reality. But the robots are tools, and if the ownership is more widely shared, many people could use them to increase their earnings and boost their productivity. If that happens, a growing wealthy society could restore that has long driven economic growth and technological ambition.
References
Editorial Board. (2015). Artificial Intelligence, 222, IFC. doi:10.1016/s0004-3702(15)00032-6
Ford, M. (2015). Rise of the robots: Technology and the threat of a jobless future.
Hoeven, C. L., & Zoonen, W. (2015). Flexible work designs and employee well-being: examining the effects of resources and demands. New Technology, Work and Employment, 30(3), 237-255. doi:10.1111/ntwe.12052
Markoff, J. (2015). Machines of loving grace: The quest for common ground between humans and robots.
