Idea of progress: the relationship betwen men and machines

MOIA Marvin                                                                                Ts

Idee of progress

The notion I’m going to deal with is idea of progress. The subject of my oral presentation that I’m going to speak about is the relationship between man and machine. First of all i’ll define a progree : a progress is a development towards a better, more compltete, or more modern condition. I fell like this notion is best illustrated by trying to see differences between man-machine and machine-man and know where we are heading. First of all, we’ll see what is a man-machine, then what is a machine-man and finally where we are heading.

A machine-man is a robot looking like physically a man. The purpose of this robot is to assist the men in the daily life to make the life of the men easier. For example in the film I,Robot, released in 2004 with the main caracter Will Smith, the story takes place in 2035 and robots look like human beings and execute the tasks which the men do not want to make anymore. However, we can see the mechanic parts, cables, wires and articulations. Robots are desinged to obey the three laws of robotics devised by Asimov,  and in I robot robots are also designed according to these laws.  Another example of machine-man is robot : HRP-4C. This robot was created by the Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and HRP-4C is among the most advanced humanoid robots. He can walk, dance and recent upgrades have allowed the robot to mimic face movements. But a Man-machine can also be an intelligent machine having for objective to reach, even to exceed, the human intelligence. It’s the case of Watson, in the  document « Warming up », that is an IBM’s supercomputer and that has to excel at answers-and-questions in a TV game show. IBM had even created another machine, that beated the chess champion, callled Deep Blue.

A man-machine is a human beings with increased abilities by the use of thecnologie. Indeed it’s a question here, using bionics to replace or augment human function (devices attached to or implanted in the body). In the document, « The bionic age », we can see a man with a right bionic arm. According to this document, bionic is having anatomical structures or physiological processes that are replaced or enhanced by electronic or mechanical components. In the document I ' Cyborg doctor Kevin Warwick created a neuronal interface connected to his brain to controller by his thought his wheelchair. This discovery could allow handicapped people being able to use their wheelchair without moving.  Thus we have just seen the difference between machine-man and man-machine. But now, we can ask ourselves, where are we heanding ?

I think that science-fiction is a good indication of what’s going to happen. Indeed the  film directed by Andrew Nicol in 1997, called Gattaca , speaks about genetic manipulation. In this period, genetic manipulation was science-fiction, but today it involves the reality. We are from now, capable of creating babies by in vitro fertilization and so of choosing its sex and even its hair color. Thus I think that we should not reject science-fiction movies.

Also, I think that we shouldn’t fear progress, but we should fear human. Progress, for me, is always good, but the use that the human makes is dangerous. In the document « O Brave new world » we talk about cloning. The cloning can be good for the people who miss an organ, but it can become dangerous when the human being try to clone anything, like weapon  for exemple.

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