Fear mongering of technology

[Adam Y.]

I saw a show on scifi that particularly disturbed me about robotics. The show's basic permise was that a doomsday scenario was created for almost every single robot in exisistance. Da Vinci was warped into a torture device, robots that work together was warped into small spies, nanobots and the grey goop scenario, and a giant teleoperated soilder with rocket launchers on it's back. The show did bring up a good point that was the very first thing brought up in the kickoff. Robots are usually the bad guys that take over mankind. It's ironic though because the robot comes from a play where the "robots" take over mankind. Science fiction about robots mainly involves the doomsday scenario despite the works of Asimov and a lot of the Japanese science fiction. So why do you think robotics gets such a bad rap? I have a explanation that I would like to share.

The first one is that this fear is a direct result of the atomic age and was actually cited as allusion to the grey goop scenario. Atomic energy was vastly overhyped during this time period. During this time period people were dying from their daily dose of radium which was thought to be a medicine. This lead to a pessimism of nuclear technology which can still be seen today. Does Homer Simpson ring a bell?

The Japanese also don't seem to have the same trend that I have seen with Americans. They generally tend to embrace robotics and their science fiction shows that. Astroboy tends to show a more friendly view of robots. Could it be a cause from their gerneral isolation from us and the pessimism of technology.

[Leo M]

You bring up an interesting question. I think the root of the problem lies in the human's intrinsic tendency to fear what they do not understand and cannot control. Faced with a mysterious event - "What is that? I don't know, so it must be BAD" - the first reaction is to revert to the caveman mentality. And, that tendency springs, I believe, from ignorance and error, but not entirely. People like to think that generally in life, things are about eight to five against you. If something is unknown, chances are it's going to hurt. The problem with that blanket attitude is that you miss out on a lot of things that really are good.

The level of ignorance concerning technology among the American population is appalling. Large numbers of people believe things that "would make a horse laugh" - NASA has anti-gravity machines; my Uncle Louies cousin's friend's boss invented a carburetor that will let you run your car on water, but the big oil companies shut him down; the Roswell UFO; ghosts; Bigfoot - the list is endless. And the entertainment industry, ever ready to profit from people's worst impulses, takes that fear and uses it's magic to craft a product that is enticing, delicious, and utterly wrong.

And that is why First is so important. It uses the sports and entertainment industries' own weapons to treat the root cause, ignorance. It engages people while they are still young and receptive, makes them interested in science and technology, and shows them how brains are meant to be used.

More understanding > fewer errors > greater ability to control the environment > less fear.

Maybe the Japanese are better at integrating technology into their lives than Americans - I don't know. Maybe they just think machines are cute. It's hard to tell, but that is my ignorance. I can't understand the language, so I certainly cannot understand the people.

A very interesting question, my friend.