Most sci-fi movies would tell you the robots are evil — out to get you. There is little in the public domain about the genre that does not tell you about the ills of an overtly smart robot force. But research from futurists is centring around what robots may or may not be able to do, and it has little to do with the killing.
Not that killing has gone out of vogue, but there are other behavioural aspects that studies are considering with regard to robots and our relationship with them. More important, it’s not a flip of the coin scenario. Not all robots will be evil; not all will be good either. Duncan’s work is a study of robot-human relations in the near future. Written in an “I told you so” format, the book details what all we can expect from robots and how good or bad these would be for society. Duncan’s field of research is not unique, although his writing is rather light-hearted. The question has been dealt with by some of the serious writers throughout history.
Marx details a society where work is taken over by the soulless machine, creating a dichotomy, where the worker is both unemployed and free from the clutches of the capitalist. British economist John Maynard Keynes also touches upon the issue, where technology unemployment shall also be accompanied by rapid economic progress.
Duncan takes a different approach. The work is more futuristic than philosophical. A former journalist, he keeps the narrative straightforward. The title of the book, Talking to Robots: Tales from Our Human-Robot Futures, is justified, given the basis is human interactions with machines, relying on the view of technologists and futurists. The author has divided the book into 24 scenarios, each detailing a different kind of bot. The categories range from teddy bots, politician bots, warrior bots, sexbots, etc. While the titles are self-explanatory and the author does detail a future many may know, in what he describes as a “present near-future tense”, there is also an elucidation of moral dilemmas that may arise in dealing with such bots. The warrior bot is everything that you have imagined, watching sci-fi movies. The chapters on teddy bot and sexbot, however, elaborate not just on the future but the human condition. Duncan in defining teddy bot details the need for humans to anthropomorphise toys, and explains a future where you can do the same with a teddy bot. The discussion on sexbot, on the other hand, is more serious. And, is something that is playing out today. Duncan goes into the domain of intimacy and relationships. The journalist bot is based on the author’s experience of AI-generated news during the 2016 US presidential elections.
But this begs one to ask the question, is it all possible? Duncan’s is one of the many hypotheses that may or may not come true. While the future may resemble what Duncan and other futurists and technologists may believe, it may be entirely different from what exists. After all, even the likes of Aristotle, Marx, and Keynes were limited in their approach of what a machine-only or automated capitalism may look like. Even though Duncan details each one of the bots, there is a repetitive pattern throughout the book, which becomes troubling. At times, the conversation is not going anywhere, but it may seem the author is moving in circles. But, more importantly, is Duncan’s approach towards specific ethical components? For instance, in case of warrior bots, it may not be necessary that countries unleash these machines on one another. Deterrence has played a part in keeping nuclear nations from tearing each other apart, and it may play a role here as well. But the whole question of technology being neutral is just wished away, and not discussed at lengths. The book is just another interpretation of what the future may entail. I can’t say whether Duncan has got it right, but he has certainly made it enjoyable.
