Hobots!

I remember years back my auto-enthusiast friend discussing about the use of robots for assembling vehicles and how we were stunned on hearing it. Of course, they were being used for lot of other purposes even then but the point that I want to drive home is that usage of robots for ‘things earlier done by humans’ has always intrigued people in general. The tech enthusiasts have always welcomed such developments, at the same time you have had people criticizing the practice as such advancements tend to put lot of people out of work. What makes it even worse is the fact that the working class has been the most adversely affected by it (whether machine replacing man is a good thing or a bad thing is a debate for another day) However there are certain tasks that necessitate human touch and soft skills allowing humans to sustain that edge over the robots (it goes without saying that Robots at end of the day are human creations and it is a no brainer that humans are better off, however certain section of the working class is impacted negatively due to technology)

Now compare that with the following. I was in for a big shock when I read that some university is working on the technology that will allow humans to download skills to brains! I don’t want to dwell into the technical details as I don’t know it myself and this blog is just based on a one-liner that I read about the same! But as per the news, this will make it possible for an individual to download (learn) piano playing, kung fu, reducing mental stress, flying plane, speaking a new language etc. Of course not literally but let us assume for argument’s sake that we will be able to develop/download skills without much efforts. Just imagine the scale of impact such technology could have on mankind in general. If everyone manages to reduce mental stress then expenditure on stress reducing medicines will come down drastically! If learning a new language becomes easier then country like India where cost per person is low and language skills are good will see a sudden drop in outsourcing revenues as its competitive advantage (language skill) will no more remain. Positives could be: improved productivity due to less stress, reducing inequality between haves and have nots, better life overall. But certain apprehensions linger: lazy person who learns through the technology will compete with someone who would have put in efforts to perfect a skill. Skills which are in demand will encourage people to learn (download) the same which in turn will increase the labour supply resulting in a lower income. Our biggest attribute is the diversity vis-à-vis others in terms of our individual attributes! And that very attribute is challenged by this technology as lot of us will tend to do lot of things in the same manner almost like Human robots (Hobots!)

Above mentioned examples are too elementary and are not meant to question or support the DOT (Download Skills Technology as I like to call it!) which will have much profound impact on things in general. The functionality, applicability, success/failure of it remains to be seen. What I have written above is not even a layman’s perspective; it is just a stupid enquiry into the future