Dating-ish (Knitting in the City #6)(18)

Quinn exhaled impatiently. "Let's get back to why Japan is replacing nurses with robots."

"Ah, yes. An aging population with a low birthrate means they don't have enough nurses and caregivers to support the needs of the elderly. In addition to Terapio, they also have-and I'm not making this up-Robear, a robot with a bear face that replaces caregiver tasks in nursing homes."

"Why a bear face?" Quinn asked, his hands stilling on Janie's back, confused curiosity wrinkling his forehead.

"They said they wanted to project an air of friendliness and cleanliness, and I guess the cute bear face does the job." Matt shrugged, adding, "But replacing humans in the labor force isn't the only use for robots. Robot companions-on a much less complex scale than what I'm hoping to develop-already exist."

Janie pointed at Matt excitedly. "Like Buddy, right? The family robot companion. I want one of those."

"You do?" Quinn leaned to one side, studying his wife's profile. "Why?"

"They're neat," she said.

"Neat," Quinn echoed flatly.



       
         
       
        

"It's like a combination of WALL-E, R2-D2, and Siri," Matt explained. "The practical applications are limitless. It can replace all the other little robots you already use or are planning on using. A security system, a baby monitor, a fire and CO2 detector, a phone, a camera, a video camera, a thermostat, power switch, a resource for at-your-fingertips information and interface to the Internet. As well as an interface for your other robots-like ovens and refrigerators-it responds to voice command. And when your children get older, it can interact with them, entertain them, and help with their homework. One of the future upgrades will allow it to play hide-and-seek."

Greg turned to Fiona, his eyes wide, his mouth open. "Why don't we have a Buddy?"

"I'm not getting a Buddy," she responded flatly. "We don't need it."

"But it's neat," he argued. "We don't need a dog, but you want one of those. Instead we could get a robot."

"They have robot dogs." Matt was grinning again, his eyes moving between Fiona and Greg.

Now that I no longer thought of him as a psychopath, I gave myself permission to think his grin was attractive, because it was. Really attractive. Irritatingly so.

Before Greg could speak, Fiona shook her head. "No. We're not getting a robot dog."

"Why not? Less mess, less to clean up, less-"

"That's exactly my point," she countered passionately. "I want the kids to learn about responsibility, empathy, how to care for another being, what it's like to be needed and the grave obligation that carries. All a robot needs is to be plugged in. But a dog-a real one-teaches them to think about someone other than themselves. How are we supposed to teach our children compassion if we remove all inconveniences from the world around them?"

"But what about people who can't do those things, Fiona? Like the elderly, the disabled? The abandoned?" Matt asked, drawing Fiona's eyes to him.

They stared at each other for a long moment, Fiona's gaze softening with what looked like sympathy. "Matt, the love of a parent cannot be replaced with-"

"You say that," he shook his head, his voice holding an edge of frustration, his eyes flashing with restrained vehemence, "but maybe some parents should be replaced. An AI specifically programmed to nurture would be a hell of an improvement in some cases."

"I agree with Matt." Janie pointed at the scientist.

"He has a good point." Greg nodded.

Fiona sputtered.

"You can't love a robot," I challenged, finally giving voice to the most central issue with his scheme, at least from my perspective. 

"Yet." Matt moved his narrowed eyes to mine. "Panasonic just unveiled a home companion robot that uses a child-like voice and expressions in order to encourage bonding with the device. And it's working. Researchers at the University of Connecticut have been looking into making a robot that makes ethical decisions. A team in Thailand has created an AI with impressive emotional intelligence, that makes its own decisions regarding what to say based on a person's expression, physical cues, and tone of voice. It even remembers previous conversations with different people. Researchers have robots playing games like Minecraft as a way to learn human logic. The technology is advancing rapidly."

I stared at him, a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. This was exciting news, but it didn't feel like good news. Like Fiona had said, it felt like giving up. Like we were handing over the keys to our humanity, giving it away for free for the sake of saving ourselves from being inconvenienced.