The current Paramountcy of technology and our dependency on gadgets has led us to a new onerous confront that what will be the future of the one who is the creator of technology. The excessive use of technology and our dependency on it has led us to the situation where we feel that there is no need to think or recall information because everything is immediately available in gadgets. Mental calculations are left far behind where we are standing today. The thinking process and mental analysis are much reduced. A long time ago I had watched a movie “Wall E”. In that movie the future of human race and the catastrophic devastation of mother Earth is visualized. The life becomes so easy that human race literally becomes couch potatoes. In another words we are empowering another species on earth i.e. AI. Currently there are less chances of confrontation but a time may come when there is fight between them for survival. Currently we are creating AI according to our needs but there might be a situation when AI creates something beneficial to itself but against the human race.
These dependencies also create a decline in human capital which may lead to a higher risk of unemployment in certain industries. We can even empower certain devices to replace humans altogether, like driver-less automobiles and a self-service touch screen at a
restaurant. One of such projects is the creation of “Olli” United States. It is a a joint venture of different partners all around the world under the leadership of the US company “Local Motors” working in Phoenix. This project is basically a self-propelled vehicle which became a reality and was first presented to the public in Washington on 17th of June 2016. Paravan Olli was planned to be used in the Washington DC area on public roads initlay and later on in Miami and Las Vagas.
Although this project was a great achievement in AI yet concerns exists. The concerns about the errors that may arise because it involves human lives on a risk. Olli is supposed to operate on a regular road where many other automobiles also operate on. In case of technology failure it may lead to serious consequences. If it is supposed that Olli has a separate trajectory then it might lead to truncations of concerns.
Another smart use of technology is the weapon carrying drones. United states of America used first drone attacks in Pakistan in 2005 and this scenario continued till 2019. In this technology a pilot-less flying machine is operated from the ground with the help of satellite
navigation system. It carries missile system which can fire from an extreme altitude. Due to this military practice many innocents were martyred including children and women.
“In military slang, Predator drone operators often refer to kills as ‘bug splats’, since viewing the body through a grainy video image gives the sense of an insect being crushed.” (“#NotABugSplat”, 2020)
#NotABugSplat was a collaborative project of different artists who had inspiration from a French artist JR’s movement, “Inside Out”. The basic objective of this project was to challenge this insensitivity and cruelty as well as raise awareness of the loss of civic population. In this project they installed a massive portrait of a girl facing up in Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa region of Pakistan which was heavily targeted throughout the period. Now when the drone attacker will view the landscape, he not only see anonymous dots but an innocent child victim’s face as well. In normal view the drone operator doesn’t see the face
or identity or the race of the victim. In his thoughts he is just killing a bug. But this installation is loud enough to tell that these victims are not bugs only. These have an identity and these are human beings and they should be treated accordingly.
According to the charter of United Nations:
- to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
- to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
- to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
- to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.
If there is comparison between the theology of drone attacks and the charter of United nations, It becomes clear that every section of it is being violated. According to my view point whatever is the reason and whatever are the circumstances the life of a human being must by made secured with dignity and social respect.
Citation:
#NotABugSplat. (2020). Retrieved 30 June 2020, from https://notabugsplat.com/
Olli(2020). [Video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/K564rXrlZbc
Tools & Technology in Art Education 