There’s a scene in Skyfall, one of the best Bond films, when the famous spy first meets the slightly younger Q, who comes with the latest technological gadgets in every new Bond movie. Q brags to Bond that, with his laptop and sitting at home in his pajamas, he is more competent than Bond in this area.
When Bond asks: “Then why do you need me?” Q then replies that sometimes someone has to operate the firearm. To which Bond sarcastically replies: “Oh no. It’s hard to know about a guy like you sitting in your pajamas.” In addition to the beautiful dialogue, the scene shows the tension that arises when the new meets the old. It also testifies to how these two worlds are intertwined and interdependent after all.
The tool that works miracles
This is the scene I think of when I get AI news on a daily basis these days. You know how it works. You feed data into the new tool and it creates miracles. He writes and draws. She speaks all possible languages and does all the housework in the fields.
Man has always been ambitious and optimistic about the future without completely abandoning a lack of faith in the new. The fear that new developments would threaten our jobs and, at worst, our very existence was always growing and was there somewhere in the background.
I think of the strange happenings in Great Britain more than two centuries ago when the discovery of new machinery made the working man redundant. Desperate workers who were fired smashed what they thought was the root of their downfall: the new machinery.
Technology can’t handle the care
It is difficult to predict what the future will look like with artificial intelligence. A while ago, I read that above all else in healthcare they haven’t had much success yet with new technology. Those of us who work in healthcare couldn’t be surprised.
Our job is to see the person, to be responsive, respectful, and educational, to be spontaneously playful, to show understanding and empathy, and to be gentle and sensitive in physical contact. How could a poor robot manage all this despite his intelligence? Will you do that?
You never know, but – for now – I’m thrilled with the idea that an AI is capable of measuring greats like Shakespeare or Rembrandt but not of a caregiver, nurse or aide.
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