1: Bibliographic entry

Afshar, Vala @ValaAfshar “The robot wakes up and takes a deep breath – imagine this technology in 10 years” Twitter, Oct 15, 2022, https://twitter.com/ValaAfshar/status/1581179800869228545

2: Summary and representative quotes

During my free time, I was browsing social media, and in doing so I came across a video on Twitter of a robot “waking up” and the first thing I noticed is how human-like the face was. Not only did I stop and watch the video about 10 times because each time I noticed something new. In the background of the video, we see another one that looks just like the one that “woke up” standing there looking around at the programmer and the other robot. The Twitter video comes from user @ValaAfshar with the title “The robot wakes up and takes a deep breath – imagine this technology in 10 years” The expression that the robot shows would easily confuse someone at first glance as a real human. Something that we humans notice first is the eyes and the robot in the video has the most detailed face and eyes for a robot giving the expression that it is “feeling something”. But if the robot was really “feeling something” The description of the video was titled “robot wakes up and takes a deep breath” Of course, they are programmed to make that expression and move their face in that way, but this also brings up another question on why we as humans go the length of making human-like features on robots look so uncanny to us. 

The depiction of fictional robots has been human-like robots from movies to television for a very long time, From I, Robot to Finch. And this depiction has been stuck in our imagination of artificial life forms. Roboticists have been developing robots to not only look more humanlike but also with humanlike sensory, movements, and program. More humanoid robots are doing tasks from risky industrial jobs to everyday service jobs. They are engineered to work during any environmental condition and overall be better than humans because they do not get tired but also can be easily replaced. This leaves many people threatened that robots will take over our jobs and are also very uncomfortable with their human features. A comment from the Twitter user @BoarPesky mentions that “Perhaps we’re trying to eliminate what we consider to be our flaws, but can our mind really even understand the wisdom of our own limits?” It is a very high chance that it could be true, we as humans like to find flaws within ourselves, and being able to create something that in theory could never have a flaw if we develop it, could mean we have the “perfect human.” 

3: Reflection and rhetorical analysis

As mentioned the video shows an uncanny similarity to humans. And it got me thinking about how we might refer to robots in the future. Would we relate to them? Could we relate to them? Would we refer to them as better than us? making them a higher priority and taking our jobs. Relating to robots would be difficult but as time goes on, we could end up living with robots such as in the movie I, Robot. The movie, although Science fiction slowly is becoming a reality, and it’s scary to think that it will be. So, what will be the purpose of these robots if we live alongside them? The main audience I know can benefit from these human-like robots are hospitals. Robots can be used to assist patients who have contagious diseases to get their medicine to them without risking the nurses from getting the disease. But another assistance that these robots can be used for is physical therapy. I know of a machine that assists patients who need assistance with walking called the Lokomat. Although not a robot it still uses the information to best assist the patient with the best possible therapy. 
 
During my analysis, I noticed the use of pathos and logos in this video. But was it intentional? The video shows a robot that is human-like “waking up” this appeals to the pathos rhetoric as it produces an emotion of uncanny and uneasiness. The face robot has so many facial expressions that it could be an indication that we might have to live with seeing them outside. Which begs the question if we will in the future refer to robots as equals. Or a piece of machinery? Some in the comments mention that the robot was programmed to do that expression and others question the ability of robots in the next 25 years. May seem like a long time but, time flies fast in a field where improvements are done almost every day. User @SimonGeng1 mentions something that aligns with logos rhetoric stating “Anyone else finds this terrifying and fascinating? Like, imagine what society will be like in 25 years with all these machines running the world. We might even see a breakdown of classes, no middle class just the haves and have-nots. The upper class controlling everything” This is a convincing point as it also makes me wonder if robots become more intelligent and if will there even be a class system in the future. Will it be humankind and robots only?  

4: Quotables

A quotable that I find truly mind-opening and is also something that I find interesting. Twitter user @BoarPesky writes “Perhaps we’re trying to eliminate what we consider to be our flaws, but can our mind really even understand the wisdom of our own limits? They’re the result of millions of years of evolution, after all, and this is moving so fast” Phycologicaly, this makes sense we as humans tend to judge people on their imperfections. Thus when roboticists make these robots they unintentionally might make them “perfect” based on their own bias. All in all I’m interested to see how robots will look and function within the next 10 years.


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