Over the past few decades, humanity has achieved strides in artificial intelligence and robotics early scientists can only have dreamed of. From the invention of "Polly," the first robot to operate at animal-like speeds to Google unveiling their self driving car, research on artificial intelligence and robotics truly have come a long way.
Scientists at present are extremely excited about said developments. However some of them warn about the possible threats these new innovations pose. Recently, a report by the World Economic Forum revealed that humanity is fast approaching a fourth industrial revolution with the help of new AIs and robots. This means that over five million jobs are at risk of being eliminated in favor of robots. the developments might also affect human relationships given the rise in sex machines.
Since the research came out a few people have chimed in on the philosophical implications of these developments. Recently, Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist Monk, has given his two cents about the issue of robots replacing mankind.
The monk is not at all worried about the future of mankind in the context of robotics. He explains that unlike humans, robots are lacking essential traits that would make them thoroughly effective.
"They don't feel gratitude. They don't feel hatred. They just do what they're programmed for, even if they're quite incredibly smart. They can help solve some of the technical problems, to alleviate poverty, to do all kinds of things, but I don't think they're going to replace the core of humanity, which, for me, is goodness" quipped Ricard in an interview with the Huffington Post.
He further reassured the worried public that there is no intrinsic evil in using machines. It is all a matter of using it properly.
"A man-made problem needs to be solved by a man-made solution" quipped the Buddhist monk.
