For someone whose adolescence fell during the 80s, the time we live in now seems a bit disappointing in one specific respect: Where are all the cool robots?
Whether we were talking about dystopias in the style of Blade Runner and Terminator, or something in the style of Knight of Justice and law enforcement robot car KITT, it all fell a bit flat. Robots in 2020 are shadowy of the mechanical brilliance of Hollywood’s early imaginations.
Maintaining the youth’s fascination for our mechanical and electronic assistants is Christina Anderson, who believes that the robots may not have met expectations, but we already have artificial intelligence with which to be quite sensible. .
Christina Anderson is a guest on this week’s Quantum Jump.
And she believes that robots and artificial intelligence, after all, beat humans in many areas, they see things with their super-sharp sensors and keep track of things that are not designed for our biological brains .
Anderson has 30 years behind as an entrepreneur, lecturer, writer, consultant in strategy, business management and learning. His expertise has been used at both the Ministry and European Union levels. And he is clearly passionate about technology: robots and robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and, most recently, quantum computers. And of course: learning.
– I am a learning enthusiast! I love learning new things. So I sing too. The song gives an opportunity to learn something new with the whole body.
Zoom Solitude
Despite technology as a lifeline at Corona Insulation by Christina Anderson, recently she has been able to tell that it can be a great thing for zoom meetings and a short distance together.
– People have become lonely. We probably have to find other ways to work together. We are moving towards some form of hybrid model, partly with distance meetings and in some form with physical meetings. But this thing does not work for a long time due to being isolated and talking through the screen.
Today’s social reality is for many.
A man is holding a smartphone in his hand. The Zoom application is open on the smartphone.
Photo: Matia Sedda / EPA
Christina Anderson loves robots and robotics, but for her, the man is always at the center.
– If we forget man, then what is the meaning of everything? Nothing!
Our conversation slips into science fiction writer Isaac Asimov who has written a lot about robots. In the 1940s, he defined what he called the three laws of robotics, which are still current and under discussion.
A robot should never injure a human or, by not interfering, allow a human to be injured.
2. A robot must follow orders from a human, unless such orders conflict with the law first.
A robot must protect its own existence, as long as it does not conflict with the first or second law.
As robots are used for surveillance purposes and such, will we need to apply Asimov’s rules in a very concrete way, and permanently mark them in the robot’s circle?
– Well, there are already drones and other robots that have killed people. In war, I mean. We know that this technology is being developed in countries like the United States and Russia, where the military aspect is strong.
Caring robots coming
Most of us, however, will hardly cope with any killer robots or war drones. On the other hand, perhaps a caring robot. In Japan, this is already normal. Japan is a country with a population of very few carers to take care of those in need of care and company. Just like in Finland. And just like Japan, our caretakers will increasingly join robots, Anderson believes.
– I see the opportunities here very positively. But robots should not replace human caretakers, they should help them. So that everyone gets care, and no one needs to be left alone. Robots will help so that people have a good life.
– Obviously this is the goal of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health program where I have joined, to use robots to make people feel better. This is something I want to work on for the rest of my life.
Was it like Stromus, Zuckerberg?
In our conversation, we come to many other aspects of technology that have contributed to making life worse for many people and for the world. Polarization and extreme thinking have increased, and technology has often separated people from each other rather than bringing them closer to each other.
I ask Christina Anderson if she thinks that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, for example, has reason to congratulate himself for his work? Eventually, he established an online service to rank his female classmates for attendance, and it ended with a service that was more or less a threat to the future of Western civilization and democracy.
– Absolutely not, and here is a lot I want to fight against. For example, I do not want us to have facial recognition everywhere, used against people and their freedom.
Older brother’s eye on the town.
AI system that recognizes a man’s face.
Build: Andrey Popov
– Criminals are one thing, but we ordinary people who make our mistakes are different. I don’t want a system of social points where I go against the red light and I don’t get a passport because I’ve been a bad person.
If technology is used for such purposes, it is a threat to democracy. And there we must fight and demand that it does not happen in Finland or within the EU. There we should be alert.
Hear more about the robot with Christina Anderson at Kvanthopp in the Arena or at Yale Vega on Saturday 12.03 or 8.05 on Sunday.
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