Jordan George-Francis
Project
Mr.Hall/ Mr.Viner
Are machines taking over our lives?
I will be explaining how machines have aided us in the many years since it had been
invented, what features they have that makes them so relevant in our lives. and the
impact they have had on our lives. In addition, I will be providing information on
health and safety issues to do with machines and its features, how it will affect us in
the near-future, the impact they have had on our lives and finally a conclusion on if
machines are taking over our lives? I’ll also be showing evidence with the intention of
supporting each argument. This includes a survey of an yr.11 class and an interview
with a Design and Technology teacher, who requires many machines in his class.
Do you think machines are taking over
our lives?
How often do you use machines per
week?
20
15
yes
no
No. of
10
students.
Series1
5
0
0 to 10 11 to 20 21 to 30
Different hours
These graphs display the results from the two questions that I asked 30 people.
31+
Jordan George-Francis
Project
Mr.Hall/ Mr.Viner
Computers are the most popular type of machine, they are able to analyse and teach
us. For example, a beginning pilot will have to go through a Virtual Reality1 (VR)
system to see if they can land a plane safely on an airstrip.
Machines have not only helped us educationally, but with
some cases we need them to survive. If someone’s heart had
stopped beating in a hospital, and the defibrillators2 were not
working, that person would most probably die. Many have
said that without machines our lives would be more of a
private matter. With the frequent use of mobile phones and
laptops, everyone has a way of staying in touch with another. But one in three people
aged 20-80 have said that they use a phone or a laptop daily, this means that
approximately 3 billion people have these machines and constantly use them. Would
that not convey the image of “taking over our lives”?
When the question “Do you think machines are taking over lives” was asked, some
people thought that a robot invasion was being formulated. They were not wrong in
thinking that. In fact, in some places of Japan; robots are being made to complete
normal tasks in which humans simply do not want to do. In this case, machines would
not be taking over our lives; they would merely be living them for us. And so another
health and safety concern appears, with using the machines for normal tasks. This
would naturally have decrease on our activities (we are meant to take 10,000 steps
each day), which would end up in more cases of obesity.
Many machines have had a huge impact on our lives; these include different modes of
transport (cars, aeroplanes, boats etc.). Another machine that many people feel have
had a huge impact on their lives is mobile phones. In the past, mobile phone headsets
were proven to be hazardous to those who used them and their health. This was
because of the mobile phone transmitting and receiving microwave radiation, which
1
An object, scene, landscape or something similar which seems real to our senses, but is not because it
is created by a computer.
Parker Steve, Computers : Now and into the future, Belitha Press, 1998, pg. 31
2
Defibrillator definition - Medical Dictionary definitions of popular medical terms easily defined on
MedTerms.mht
Jordan George-Francis
Project
Mr.Hall/ Mr.Viner
caused tumours. There are also issues of using mobile phones while driving. When
drivers use mobile phones they are more likely to be involved in an accident because
of their lack of attention to the road.
If I was to say 30 years ago, that cars could be made to drive themselves, people
would start to doubt the statement. But in a certain number of years, a Satellite
Navigator will be built into a car and radio links with a central traffic computer. This
would mean that the satellite would be driving your car for you. Therefore, there
should be fewer accidents on the road as people would be able to, e.g use their phones
without any consequence.
Another type of machine that many people frequently
use is game consoles. Even though these can be highly
entertaining, they can also be highly addictive and
dangerous. There have been cases of people dying
because of the addiction of games. Unfortunately, there
have been reports on people who have played an
unusually violent game, have killed others shortly after
due to the sheer addiction to games. Not all games have
violent natures, games have been produced that can
keep the user fit and educate them on how to maintain that level of fitness.
The fun ideas for machines are played down, while potential, economical uses of the
robots are pushed to the front. This gives many of the companies a chance to show
that the technology has been quietly improving by leaps and bounds. Machines are
slowly taking over our jobs, the unemployment levels are high because of most
machines taking over. For example in the past, humans used to make and maintain
cars but in the modern day, there are machines to create ideas and to produce the
vehicles.
In these modern times, many machines have been invented to convenience humans,
an example that I have mentioned is the mobile phone. In the past if someone wanted
to communicate with others, they’d meet the person face-to-face and say what was
needed to be said, or they would use messenger pigeons. A different type of machine
that was produced to convenience is cars and other forms of transport.
Jordan George-Francis
Project
Mr.Hall/ Mr.Viner
Both of the above are convenient, but there are risks towards using them. As
mentioned before, old mobile phones can be known to create tumours in the user
which is hazardous to their health. Using cars and other forms of transport is
dangerous because if someone were to crash into a wall or another car, the driver(s)
would be injured or worse. Chances of dying in a car are roughly 1 in 100.
This interesting robot is called Kismet. Kismet is a
robot made in the late 1990s at Massachusetts Institute
of Technology with auditory, visual and expressive
systems intended to participate in human social
interaction and to demonstrate simulated human
emotion and appearance. If we are able to replicate
emotions and place them inside artificial beings what is
to stop someone from placing negative emotions
(jealousy, anger etc.) instead of positive ones.
Both of the named robots have been built with artificial intelligence, what we are
doing with this, quite simply, is giving robots a fragment of our intelligence so that
they are able complete tasks that we either do not want to complete or we are too
concerned about our safety first. But is thinking about our safety at the present time,
reducing life expectancy for our and the next generations future?
There is most undoubtedly at least one television in every house in the United
Kingdom; televisions have been proven to take up a lot of time for us. It holds a lot of
information for us to learn, it gives daily/hourly news segments about the goings on
around the world. But we don’t use televisions for its news segments. Most watched
programmes include talent contests and comedies. These shows are not in anyway
useful for life, they only allow us to enjoy small amounts of time of entertainment.
Everyday the media wants to show off different kinds of merchandise to the public,
but media players are one of the most shown on advertisements. I-pods and MP4's are
most commonly used by people on forms of transport. In the past, media players
weren’t invented and as of such more people were showed an interest in having
conversations with others on that form of transport. Machines are clouding what used
to be the near-perfect vision of a good world.
Jordan George-Francis
Project
Mr.Hall/ Mr.Viner
Machines are taking over our present lives, but who says it’s not going to affect our
future lives? Our excessive use of fossil fuels is starting to show, temperatures in the
UK specifically, have started to increase. Some scientists have said that by 2050 all
our energy resources will have been used up. In that case, machines would not have
only taken over our lives, but they would have doomed us and caused our imminent
deaths.
The film “The Matrix” is based in a virtual reality in which machines control the lives
of humans. Earth is dominated by sentient machines. Humans are grown in pods and
are connected by cybernetic implants to an artificial reality called the Matrix, which
keeps their minds under control while the machines use the bioelectricity and thermal
energy of their bodies as an energy source. In 1976 a film called “The deadly
assassin” was released, it had the same idea as “The Matrix” with the thought that
people can be connected into a virtual world.
The industrial revolution started in the early 18th century and carried on to the mid
18th century. The industrial revolution started off with the invention of the Watt steam
machine, this machine was used to fuel other machines and was powered by coal at
the time. The second industrial revolution started around the time of 1860, this was
when we learnt that machines could be powered by steam power. This revolution
brought about the making of different vehicles, which brought about the issue of
global warming.
(3)
“I think computer viruses
(4)
should count as life. I think it
says something about human
nature that the only form of
life we have created so far is
purely destructive. We've
created life in our own
”
image.
- Stephen Hawking
“There will one day spring from
the brain of science a machine
or force so fearful in its
potentialities, so absolutely
terrifying, that even man, the
fighter, who will dare torture
and death in order to inflict
torture and death, will be
appalled, and so abandon war
”
forever.
3
http://www.musicfolio.com/quotes/computers.html
4
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/absolutely.html
-Thomas Edison.
Jordan George-Francis
Project
Mr.Hall/ Mr.Viner
Start of interview
Do you believe that machines are taking over our lives?
No because we as humans need most machines to survive in life today as we have
become accustomed to certain wants and needs which were not around in the past.
But would you not say that we are using machines excessively?
No they are merely aids to our modern day lifestyle. Even boiling a kettle in the
morning is using a machine as it is using electricity.
Do you own any machines that you have bought for over £100 that were not needed
for survival?
Yes as machines today are often used as entertainment commodities, such as games
consoles, televisions and even that computer which you are typing your own work on.
How often do you use machines?
Like most other people, everyday as it has become a way of life.
Are you a person who completes tasks by hand or with the use of machines?
I use machines regularly, they have become a necessity in my life and it is now more
of a routine, than an occasion. As stated in my prior answers, I use machines for
everything from boiling the kettle to watching the television.
How has the invention of modern technology affected your life?
Jordan George-Francis
Project
Mr.Hall/ Mr.Viner
My life revolves around technology, without technology, I would not be able to cope,
as would the world if modern technology failed.
Do you think that the invention of robots is a step too far?
Yes the invention of robots conflicts with human rights and would these robots have
human rights. By giving machines the knowledge to create other machines, is clearly
a step too far and would be the dawn of a new race.
Thank you for your valuable time and your patience throughout this interview. Your
input has been a great aid for my dissertation.
End of interview
Conclusion
This dissertation applies to most MEDC’s (More economically developed countries)
as most other countries do not have access to the technology that we do. An example
of this is the use of internet.
According to previous research, machines clearly affect our lives greatly; in some
cases we need them to survive, in others they are luxuries. But humans should take
notice that we should not allow machines and other artificial objects to completely
control our lives.
Machines are products of the human imagination and we have allowed them to have a
significant amount of control over our lives. It has already been noticed that if nothing
is done today, the future will be short-lived. It is younger generations that are being
significantly affected by machines, because of promotion by the media; and the media
does not care for the future loses, only for the present gains.
Jordan George-Francis
Project
Mr.Hall/ Mr.Viner