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Jeremy Cole

Dr. DiSarro

ENG111

29 September 2017

Machines Will Inevitability Takeover Human Function and Interaction

Kevin Kellys text, Better than Human: Why Robots Will And Must Take Our Jobs,

and Zeynep Tufekcis text, Social Medias Small, Positive Role in Human Relationships both

discuss the use of technology as it relates to human interaction.

Kellys essay discusses the evolution of artificial intelligence, robots, regarding the

workforce. Kelly provides a historical reference of incorporation of machines into the farming

industry during the industrial revolution and states that today, 99% of farming jobs are now

conducted by machines. Kelly continues by describing advances that have been made in the

robotics and artificial intelligence field. He provides us with the fact that machines can now be

programmed to recognize a persons presence and react to it as well as interact with the person.

Perhaps the biggest point made by Kelly, is that the cost of artificial intelligence has significantly

dropped since its inception, making its use financially sound. Kellys essay centers around

robotics and artificial intelligence and implies that robots will replace humans within the

workforce.

Contrary to Kellys essay, Tufekcis essay, Social Medias Small, Positive Role in

Human Relationships, focuses on interactions between people with the assistance of machines; a

computer, smartphone, etc. Tufekci refers to the automation of human jobs by relating a story of

an automated therapist on a computer screen. By this, Tufekci begins to show how human
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interactions can and are being conducted by use of computers, thus social media. Tufekci

continues relating the positive roles social media can play in a persons life. Tufekcis essay has

us believe that Facebook status updates and Twitter conversations are not replacing face-to-face

interactions, but are making them stronger. Tufekcis essay is specifically centered around the

use of social media, but also refers to the use of bots for areas such as therapy.

Both essays point, albeit in different fashions, point to the issue of technology and

machines. Combined, the essays show how machines can and are being used to change the

process of human interactions and functions. At first glance, the essays appear to have no

similarity or relevance to one another, however further examination shows that each one does in

fact point to the same, underlying meaning. Machines and technology are slowly, but surely,

taking over our lives. A comparison of the two essays will show the unusual ways that each

essay suggests this takeover will be and suggest that the takeover of social interaction by use of

machines is inevitable. When looking at that premise, we can accept the concepts provided in the

essays.

Initial similarities found can be paired into three main groups. These group pairings can

be listed as: Robotics/Bots, Therapy/Industrial Work, Workforce/Contacts. Furthermore, each

group of pairings can be assigned a key term or name. The group names can be described as:

Artificial Intelligence, Tasks and Relationships.

As with identified similarities, these essays contain unusual pairings that can also be

grouped together as Machines/People and Social Media/Artificial Intelligence. These groupings

can be given key terms or named as Target Group and Media Platform.

The most unusual or interesting is the grouping of social media and artificial intelligence.

I found these two concepts easy to group together after reading the essays. Tufekcis essay talks
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about social media as being the means in which people communicate with each other. Tufekcis

essay describes the rapid rise of social media as a loud, desperate, emerging attempt by people

everywhere to connect with each other in the face of all the obstacles that modernity imposes on

our lives (par. 4). Kellys article speaks to the interaction between humans and artificial

intelligence. While seemingly different, both essays involve a sort of interaction and

communication between humans and machines. Kellys essay describes this interaction by

describing how the artificial intelligence will interact with a human in the work force, by

explaining that the robot can look around and indicate where it is lookingand perceive

humans working near it (par. 7).

While I found similarities between the two essays, they can be seen as vastly different.

Kellys essay focuses on robots and artificial intelligence and the probability that robots will

perform most of the jobs done by humans today. The essay also describes how humans and

robots will interact in the workplace, beyond that of programming. Robots will be able to work

alongside humans and even perceive and act when humans are near, to prevent physical

interference. Tufekcis essay, while centered on social media use among different age groups,

focuses and provides details on technology, social media, use to interact with others.

Robotics has always been a technological advancement that has grown, specifically

within the last 30 or so years. Trufekcis essay explains just how much the field of robotics has

grown. The growth of robotics has been obvious, but Trufekcis essay forced me to realize the

large-scale impact that robotics will have on humans in the workforce. The realization that

artificial intelligence will replace humans on such a large scale was an eye opener. It makes me

question which jobs are safe and will remain solely the responsibility of people. It is only a

matter of time before the answer is received.

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The world is not ready for machines to take over much of the social interactions amongst

people, skeptics would believe that it will never happen. However, these essays tell us otherwise

and point to the breakthroughs in science and technology that have caused the use of and growth

of machines to not only increase, but flourish.

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Works Cited

Kelly, Kevin. Better Than Human: Why Robots Will And Must Take Our Jobs., December

2012, www.wired.com/2012/12/ff-robots-will-take-our-jobs/. Accessed September 28,

2017.

Tufekci, Zeynep. Social Medias Small, Positive Role in Human Relationships. The Atlantic.

25 Apr. 2012, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/social-medias-small-

positive-role-in-human-relationships/256346/. Accessed September 28, 2017.