During the industrial revolution machines took
over jobs from humans and later expanded our capacity to accommodate more
humans into these industries. And now in the information age history is back
again to haunt employees in most sectors of various economies, as robots are
warming up to the challenge of displacing the human workforce.
Just recently
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates came up with a brilliant idea of robots paying
a kind of income tax, if allowed to displace the human workforce; which I
believe would become a policy in the right direction to be adopted ASAP.
Years back in my high school days, I saw the Class
1999 movie, where robots were employed to replace teachers who could no longer
handle students that had converted their school into a stronghold for
gangsters. The robots brought extreme order in chaos and the result was the
extermination of non-compliant students by the robots that had gone out of the
programming control of the authorities.
A list of twenty employments that are now almost in
the hands of robots include:
1. Chefs
2. Surgeons
3. Factory workers.
4. Retail sales associates
5. Security guards
6. Shepherds
7. Farmers
8. Pharmacists
9. Home delivery services
10. Journalists
11. Soldiers
12. Receptionists
13. Telephone sale persons
14. Construction workers.
15. Accountants
16. Tour guide
17. Mixologists
18. Barmen
19. Librarians
20. Hospital administrators
21. Teachers (Humanoid called Pepper etc)
Wait a
minute. Teachers to be replaced by robots? That would be the most interesting
invention of all times. For one thing, the possibilities are endless, but for
another it would be disruptive and much more derogatory to put the future of
our children in the hands of robots.
I do
not mind getting facts, figures and statistics from machines, but insight,
instinct and intuition can never be programmed into a computer, which makes
teaching and learning the sole intellectual property of the human soul.
Education
at its core is psychological exchange process between humans which cannot be
replicated into computer codes.
Humans
and robots learn, but humans learn better via emotional intelligence and other
unique methods still beyond the reach of machines.
The humanoid
Pepper for example is being programmed to reach humans on emotional level with
the use of sensors etc. Definitely a milestone in technology but a scientific deceit,
which if possible would only expand our human capacity, because we would come
to a point were politicians become robots and robots would be made to vote
without human intervention because the generation of humans were taught by
robots; because humans condescended to thinking like robots instead of humans (divine
beings).
If I
had my teaching job handed over to a robot, then I am open to more newer opportunities
in the field of robotics as programmer, engineer/technician, simulation designer,
robot trainer etc. meaning for every human labour being displaced by a robot
three to four opportunities are opened to humans who are quick to make the
necessary adjustments.
Though
it is very condescending for humans to revert thinking like machines, like
expecting God to think like humans.
These
are ten reasons robots can never effectively teach humans:
1. Deep
learning: At the heart of deep learning is soul searching, a point where a
subject matter inspires learners to reach beyond the stars; which is impossible
to interpret into machine languages.
2. Inspired
teaching: The application of robotics and artificial intelligence really
inspires humans to think of possible applications of machines. It is natural to
believe in the abilities of humans to champion the future, but how would you
imagine a scenario were humans getting into a frantic effort to design a
machine that would lead us into the future. Teacher are trained to inspire
learners and inspiration cannot be programmed into artificial intelligence. Soul
winning is only available to humans during an inspired teaching.
3. Core
skills: These are skills (collaboration, critical thinking, imagination,
creativity etc) necessary for today’s learners to adopt future responsibilities.
In our dispensation, our creations are as a result of harnessing our core
skills, which we are not yet able to create a machine code for, at the moment. We
are not yet empowered to create anything that can be better than us humans. If we
did, then the truth about creationism would fail.
4. Emotional
Intelligence: This is way beyond human DNA programming, because there are hundreds
and thousands of actions and reactions in classrooms, that is only
psychological possible to discern and analyse. Some emotions (intuition/imagination)
cannot be programmed into machines because it is more than just facial
recognition and x-ray vision systems. Emotions
cannot be translated into sensors or codes, because we still are not able to
comprehend the facts about why we act in certain ways.
5. Human
Interactions: Getting intimate understanding of someone is more than just
information science. How do you love a robot as a teacher? Remember, students learn from teachers they
like or love and that is an intimacy beyond the current and future state of
artificial intelligence. Robotics and other forms of information communication
can only be used to enhance or speed up human communications from a distance.
6. Smart
Learners: Every now and then,
teachers come across students who are very manipulative and emotionally more
superior than some of their teachers, which leave these students as natural
masters of their class; though the teachers are professionally in charge. How much
easier would it be for an entire class to put robots in a situation that only
trained humans can intervene and maintain.
7. Classroom
management: This is a complex process with endless human possibilities. At the
very core classroom management is a creative, scientific and psychological
process which can never be replicated into the artificial intelligence of
robots.
8. Psychomotor
skills: These skills are taught based on instinctive observation of a learner’s
responses to an activity. The adaptive imagination of a teacher comes into
action and the source codes for such expertise is not yet in existence.
9. Guidance
and Counseling: Robots can be designed to draw inference based on pre-programmed
possibilities. Personal experiences are unique to humans and cannot be
transferred into machines. The strength of guidance and counseling are based
on human experiences that are peculiar to us. It is a dynamic process and not a
fixed set of rules that can be written as an algorithm for artificial
intelligence projects.
10. The
soul: If humans can create souls then there might be a chance for machines
to rule the world. Probably if humans can invoke demons into machines then the possibilities
might increase. In the classroom teachers are not just trained to reach
learners at intellectual or mental level, but also teachers further develop
their capacities personally to reach learners at levels of the heart. This process
is not available in textbooks or taught at teachers training colleges; because
it goes beyond the activities of the body into the intuitive realm of the soul.
Mind you
before teaching became a profession, it was first a spiritual gift, which is
still not fathomed by humans. It is obvious that some people are natural
teachers and need less training processes and make more impact on learners compared
to graduates of our man-made institutions for training professional teachers.
I would
immediately withdraw my child from any school that insist on using robots to
replace teachers. And if all schools available used robots, then I have the best
option to home-school my child. But for a scenario were a school enhances the
ability of teachers to use robotics in the classroom, then it is still a
progressive effort in education.
Employees around the world seem to be now under
threat once more by robots that are warming up to take over every available human
labour on the planet, leaving us at the mercy of fate. Definitely, like the
industrial revolution a new season is on the rise that would restructure the
human capacity seven folds; helping majority of the human populace to reshuffle
and reacquire new skill-sets that would make us more suitable for reemployment
in upcoming workplaces.
Technology will always remain a tool for teachers,
irrespective of the imaginative possibilities of robots taking over the world. The
heart of every human learner can only be reached by an inspired teacher, who takes
time to understand the psychological dynamics of learners in specific or
diverse subject matters.
References:
Comments
Post a Comment