Features
Human teachers need not apply... We need to move towards a situation of ‘human plus machines’, says Arjun Ray Technology is now in the driving seat. The new milestone – the age of artificial intelligence and machine thinking – has arrived. The world has moved ahead of science fiction. Experts estimate that there are now more than 1 million industrial robots, and about 12,000 of them are serving in the US Armed Forces. Robots have also entered the service industry in a big way, from being caretakers of a geriatric population to serving as waiters in Japanese restaurants. Adrian Wooldridge, the editor of The Economist and author of the Schumpeter column, recommends that instead of outsourcing production to China, a cheaper alternative will be to employ robots. According to present accounts, the operating cost of a robot is about $5 per hour. The robot worker needs no pay and can work 24 hours non-stop without rest! The context of education will be no exception, and the time has come for introducing robots into the learning Spring
Autumm |
| 2017
space – schools! The debate about whether or not humanoid teachers are good for teaching in classrooms is irrelevant. It will be only a matter of time, most likely by 2025, until schools will have humanoid teachers. The challenge and debate for schools should be on how we adapt to this innovative disruption. The prevailing conservative mindset of teachers, parents, educationists and administrators must change. The conventional mindset fears the change as it considers humanoids a great risk. But the very fact that education is critical means that the risk is worthwhile and should be welcomed. If we do not take the calculated risk of moving towards the situation of “human plus machines” there is a danger that artificial intelligence will usher in the age of so-called ‘singularity’, when machines will have greater intelligence than human beings. We must pay heed to Vernor Vinge’s 1993 prophecy that, by 2023, “we will have the technological
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