In the newsletter this week, next to the notions of news on AI, robotics and beyond, I reflect on some thoughts triggered while reading a new book that connects directly -so it seems after 25% progress- to the human-machine co-performance.
Triggered thought
I am reading a new book on robots, specifically the collaboration between humans and robots: The Heart and the Chip: Our Bright Future with Robots (more on the author, Daniela Rus). I just started, but I found this an interesting angle.
“(…) imagine a future in which our clothing will double as soft exoskeletons, monitoring our muscles and vital signs to enhance our abilities, alerting us to health problems, preventing dangerous falls, and much, much more.”
Later, the authors dive a bit more into good old techno-optimism (as the title was foreshadowing), but what I like about this frame is the merge of human and robotic enhancements and the notion of keeping that enhancement as a gradual improvement of human capabilities instead of a big power move. A consequence of these more extended capabilities is a ‘marriage’ of both the strengths of humans and machines. Intelligent machines. She is describing a world where mundane routine tasks are delegated and creating more time for humans to do ‘human stuff’, a known frame, of course.
What if we think it through, though: what kind of relationship do we want to have with these AIs? Are the AI’s butlers, helpers or companions? Is the human to the new generative AI-powered machine as the creative director to the designer? A creative director inspires and steers based on a vision, while the designer is the one making it into reality with their own agency and contribution to shaping it. Or do we grow in totally new forms of relationships and authority models? Holacracy practices for robots-human communities. Thinking about agency is a key concept nowadays, so much is clear.
How will this relationship develop over time? Would the robot that supports the family stay with you to help out when you become elderly? Or are these different ones? I’m curious to find out if the book will dive into these kinds of topics and what the conclusions will be. I’ll keep you posted.
Read the notions of the news of this week in the full newsletter.
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