Globalization is often regarded as the main process by which jobs are destroyed, outsourced and supplanted across a wide spectrum of industries. In the industrial West, there is a sizable portion of people who continue to believe that globalization is a source of many social and political ills. Societies are being hollowed out; factories are dismantled; and wages are either stagnant or kept perennially low, invariably, destroying the dreams and visions of many.
While no one can deny the effects of globalization, the process of automation, indeed, the very use of artificial intelligence, is no less terrifying. When Google can produce “driverless cars,” despite being a search engine behemoth, one has to concede that the end of times is nigh. By the end of time, one refers to the end of industrialization. In its place, are robots and automation that can replace the human touch, and the various divisions of labor.
This book is a warning of what is to come; and a testament of what has already arrived: robotics in and across all spheres of human activities. “The Rise of Robots,” reads like an obituary of the humankind. But it provides clear and distinct pathways to working with them. Drones, for example, cannot just collect human intelligence on Islamic State by flying from 30,000 feet above the sky, even if aided and abetted by highly magnified cameras. Operatives and spies are still needed to serve as the proverbial equalizer. Thus, while robots can shape the world, it cannot immediately impose its imprints on strategic chokeholds of various countries.