People+and+Machines


 * People and Machines** By Finlay Russell

The use of IT systems brings significant advantages, for instance in ease of use, being available 24/7, or through its use rather than exposing humans to a potentially hazardous environment. However, this can raise concerns about the rate at which technolgy is being introduced and issues that may arise from insufficient testing in critical situations such as air traffic control. The ultimate fear of many people is that future systems will be programmed to make decisions that would be better taken by humans, such as the secision to deploy nuclear weapons.

There are also social impacts such as internet addiction, where people feel that they can never get away from IT and are trapped on a "digital treadmill".

media type="youtube" key="qX-c19emxfo" height="315" width="420"

As you can see from the video, machines can be used to influence and help humans lives to make them easier and more fun. Also it enables them to interact with the world a lot more due to the advances of technology.

However, machines can also be used in more serious cases such to help save lives.

media type="youtube" key="odMM2rlR0L8" height="315" width="420"

From this video we can see that if we give machines their own mind, they can accomplish amazing things, such as saving our lives.

On the other hand, many people feel that giving machines their own 'mind' could be fatal,some scientists suggest that a robot brain could be in full function by the year 2019. By giving machines their own 'mind', they can then choose right or wrong, increase their knowledge and make their own decisions, so instead of saving our lives, they can decide to kill us, or if not equipt well enough to kill, they could choose to disobey us and not follow their commands.

Many films have taken this theory to the extreme such as iRobot and the Terminator series.

But machines don't always have to have to be moving, some can be stationary and serve a better purposes. Examples of these are:


 * Industrial machines - These machines are usually very fast, last long and have little recurring errors. These can be associated with printing, production or packaging
 * High-risk machines - Mainly dealing with materials that are deemed danerous for humans to handle, such as Nuclear power.

Machines and technology are being researched and improved everyday. Some research is very important such as space exploration, where humans would be put at high risk but robots can do it without needing food, water or oxygen. It opens up a whole new world of exploration as we can now travel places nobody hasever gone nor imagined whether it's at deep sea or far into space.


 * Case study**

In 2009, 17,650 species were discovered in deep sea, at the "point where sunlight ceases". All of this would not be possible if it were not for machines. It would take machines to take the pictures, dive at such depths, and to analyze the data. [|17,650 species found at deep sea]


 * Sources**

[] []