“I visualize a time when we will be to robots what dogs are to humans. And I am rooting for the machines.”
-Claude Shannon
The quote clearly delineates how impactful and powerful machines have become in today’s world. Machines have nearly taken over all the labor work that a man had to do physically, making it more efficient and speedier, but at the cost of jobs.
Let’s talk about a few machines that have brought a change, rather a revolution. First and foremost, our world has become a digital world. In this tough time where the world is seized by the horrifying pandemic, thanks to the machines, we are still managing to work from home with the help of computers, cellphones, and Wi-Fi (internet connection).
We can still communicate, exchange official documents via emails, fax machines, and scanners, schedule and carry out official meetings through cameras attached to our gadgets. Who thought a pandemic this deadly could still not stop us from working? Kudos to the machines and of course internet services such as Suddenlink internet, which you can subscribe to innovative platforms such as BuyTVInternetPhone.
Skipping to the fun part, machines have become a source of entertainment as well. We do not need people around us to keep us amused anymore. In older days, people used to socialize, make friends, hangout and the day would just pass. But not anymore – we have got televisions and other gadgets that do the job for us. Bored? Let’s watch TV. Nothing to do? Let’s call a friend. Hungry? Let’s order in. The struggle of getting ready, going out, choosing a restaurant are now just a click away.
Whatever the circumstances, food can be at your doorstep in merely 45 minutes! Not only this, even if you wish to cook yourself, you will be done in no time. Chop vegetables in a chopping machine, cut chicken in a cutter, there is no need to light the matchstick, hoping to be successful the fourth time, you can just get an electric lighter! Beat an egg with an electric beater, microwave it. No that’s not a recipe by the way if you are wondering already!
And to your surprise, you don’t even need to wash the dishes yourself, we have got a dishwasher for you. Amazing, no? Seems like women of the era have finally time to pamper themselves in a spa.
Imagine moving from a place to another place with a distance of 12 km in 7 hours versus 30 minutes. Yes, this is what a machine does. Vehicles have made our lives so much easier that traveling does not seem to be a hassle anymore as compared to older times in the 19th century.
A fun fact is that at that time people used to have special shoes made just for walking since they had no choice. Not only this, travel from one part of the world to another has become a matter of just a couple of hours. No big sailing boats and water around that would take ages!
If machines existed then, Columbus would not have taken 36 days to reach America! And Leonardo would not have had to do so much physical and mental labor to paint Mona Lisa, a camera would have done the job, no? Hopping to the camera, what a beautiful creation of a man this is! Without a camera, we would have been such great painters and artists truly, sketching out each memory to save it.
There is even news of robots working as waiters in a restaurant in Japan. Don’t you find it completely bizarre? This is a literal example of machines replacing humans. On a funnier note, human employees would never get a chance to get on the nerves of their manager and a manager would not have to go nuts about it! You can just completely get rid of manual labor!
There are machines that we have yet to mention that have replaced human labor and made our lives much easier. They say, the easier, the sooner the better, but is it really better? To some extent but everything comes at a cost.
Although our lives are much more time-saving, with less or no physical labor, and of course efficient, but we are lacking skills! The current and previous generations have lost skills to think and work. We are not social, we are not mentally or physically active, we do not want to read or research, the worst thing is, it all adds up to our depression. Sitting all day, relying on gadgets is making us lifeless without us realizing it. Bitter but true.
All in All
Having gone through this entire discussion, what do you think about machines? Have they replaced humans in the workforce? Has their arrival been a blessing? Or were we better off without them?
