Embracing the human in a world of robots

The humanities are needed more than ever. Many people and organisations support this claim, so much so that it is hard to find those who think otherwise. Even people who are sceptical of conventional arguments believe the humanities serve an important function.

Yet many also argue that a successful career requires vocational or STEM training. The jobs are in technology and sciences, they say. Yet, this in itself is a judgement of value and while it is important to understand new technologies and their role in our lives, we keep coming back to the humanities to ground ourselves in a newly technological world.

Technology creates relationships. Social media, apps, machines, programmes and artificial intelligence change how we interact with ourselves and others. As we incorporate changing relationships in our lives, we are often confronted with new questions of right and wrong, good and bad, truth and falsity.

What should I write on Twitter? Should I believe the report my friend posted? Can I integrate the current media landscape into my life in a healthy way? How does my use of this technology affect my identity in ways that separate me from my ancestors? Humanities disciplines address these questions.

The value of humanities

Controversies over how we use new technologies similarly leads us to the humanities. All sides ground their arguments in values like justice, compassion and equality.

Proponents mechanising jobs emphasise efficiency while opponents worry about unemployment. Advocates of facial recognition software argue that it produces security while others worry that it will curb our freedom. Smartphone apps organise our lives, yet enable violations of privacy. Robot soldiers may save American lives, but at the expense of other lives.

While values – understood broadly as things with worth – are studied by all fields, the humanities provide essential information about their genesis, show values to us in inspirational ways and offer normative guidelines for using values in our lives.

Every view about mechanisation shares the belief that machines cannot – at least for now – do things that require a human mind. Certain judgments, analyses, categorisations and mental activities remain the purview of humans.

The most sophisticated computers have not yet been able to match the efficiency, creativity and speed of the human brain to address many problems. There is great value to be found in human traits like higher level thinking, emotions, community and virtue.

Playing to our strengths

Existing cooperatively with technology means playing to our strengths and that means asking some difficult questions about ourselves. What should humans be? What is our purpose in an increasingly technological world?

As one article puts it, the question is not “What can machines do?” but “What should humans do?” While many fields can weigh in on this topic, the humanities are the first stop on the path to figuring out how to address these questions.

Our discussions over interactions between humanity and technology occur in the shadow of problems that receive more attention (like climate change, immigration and inequality) and during an era of enormous growth in entertainment content. Society is filled with anxiety about potential existential threats, yet culture and leisure activities flourish.

Looking for meaning

Rather than embrace an austere lifestyle of radical change, we seek new forms of expression and social exchange. At first glance this would seem to suggest a warped perspective; Maslow’s hierarchy says we should satisfy our physiological and safety needs before satisfying social needs like belonging.

But embracing leisure and arts helps us to understand and combat existential threats. As we are bombarded by hazards capable of destroying humanity, we embrace the quintessentially human and, in doing so, embrace those who share our humanity.

Perhaps we are seeking community with others so that we will feel comfortable confronting these menaces together. Perhaps we are looking for new perspectives to help us understand a rapidly changing and fragile world. Perhaps we are looking for meaning.

Our use of technology leads us inevitably back to the humanities. In our grappling with the challenges of technology, we seek expression and practices cultivated by English, history, philosophy, theology and art. Interacting with these disciplines, we develop a better understanding of expression, both our own and that of others.

The videos and pictures we share benefit from the critiques of artists, writers and scholars. Philosophy informs our understanding of different values and how technology will affect them. Understanding the place of technology and how it is changing our society requires history, just as harmonising our spiritual needs with these technologies is a subject for theology.

And combatting those who would seek to use technology for ill requires making persuasive, convincing arguments – a skill honed by those who analyse such arguments – as well as engaging with the people who develop and support technological innovations.

The act of living as a human brings with it the experiences that produce the humanities and the inclusion of technology in our lives benefits from understanding how we are changed by it. If we are constantly being confronted by the very questions the humanities study, why are we shrinking these disciplines?

If such trends continue, those who want the humanities to persist may need to take dramatic action – writing articles, challenging elected leaders, striking or taking other innovative steps.

Although subjecting our lives to the scrutiny of the humanities is not always comfortable, neither are many of the changes new technologies are foisting on us. At least with the knowledge provided by the humanities, we may be better equipped to handle them.

Nathan Eckstrand is visiting assistant professor at Fort Hays State University, United States. He received his PhD from Duquesne University in 2014 after finishing a dissertation on the philosophy of political revolution. In addition to his teaching responsibilities and research interests in social and political philosophy, Eckstrand works as the research and diversity/inclusion editor at the Blog of the APA (American Philosophical Association). He has written many articles in the past for outlets such as the London School of Economics Higher Education Blog, Public Seminar, the Electric Agora and University World News.