Will We Be Eliminated by Battle Droids?... It's complicated.

Most people have watched movies from the Star Wars or The Terminator franchises (if you haven't, I suggest you do). Some of the most notable characters you will see within these movies are the robots. Star Wars goes so far as to have hundreds of different types of robots, and even armies of hundreds of thousands of robots ("droids," as they are recognizably known as). These droids assist the main characters and are an essential part of every plot of each movie. You may wonder, however, if an equally technologically glorious and violent future like that of Star Wars is within reach? Well... it's complicated. 

First, let's get a few things out of the way:

- "The Force," is likely not a real thing.

- Lightsabers in the way they are portrayed in the movie* are physically impossible (yeah, I was upset too when I heard).

- The ships that are flown in the movies ARE a possibility.

*This means having extremely hot beams of light (that somehow just stop at a certain point) coming out of a hand-sized power supply.

Two of the most recognizable droids from Star Wars, C-3PO and R2-D2.

How Intelligent Are Today's Learning Machines?

With those three factors out of the way, the only one that remains is the droids. The intelligence of droids ranges drastically. Similarly, the intelligence of the robotics and automation we have today also has a wide range of intelligence. For example, some robots are designed and programmed to only perform one or two tasks, such as iRobot's "Roomba" which is used to vacuum your floors. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum could be the artificial intelligence (AI) designed by the Google-owned company DeepMind, which taught itself to walk in 2017. Having this wide range of automated technology allows us, as humans, to focus on more productive and important tasks.

Could Jobs Be At Risk?

With these advances in automation and artificial intelligence, one can't help but wonder if (or when) their job will be taken by a machine that is smarter and more efficient than they are. According to a report from Oxford researchers, 47% of American jobs will be at risk by 2030 due to automation. While some may not believe it will happen that quickly, there is something people fail to understand about artificial intelligence: it's learning is exponential. It will learn as much as possible, as efficiently as possible, and won't stop until it is shut off. This is why Google's DeepMind AI was able to teach itself to walk without any prior input programming. It learned by itself, and slowly figured out how to teach itself to do a task as difficult as walking. While it may have looked clumsy at first, it has improved greatly. We are now three years from when that milestone was reached, and DeepMind has created even more impressive AI technology.

How Worried Should You Be?

So, what should you really be worried about? As of this moment in time, not too much. There will be no battle droids firing blasters at you, and no robotic assassins being hired for a bounty on your head. However, if you want to stay ahead of the curb, educate yourself. Educate yourself on this new age of artificial intelligence and automation, because that is ultimately where humanity's fate will likely move toward. Make sure you are being mindful about how you are using technologies like Amazon's Alexa or Google Home. While they are great and convenient, they are always learning about you, and won't stop. As for jobs, AI will take over certain jobs very quickly. Janitors will soon be a thing of the past, and humanity won't have to do much of the dirty work anymore. While these jobs may be eliminated, there will be a whole new set of jobs waiting on the other side. Jobs that involve programming and fixing automated machinery. Be a programmer of AI and not a victim.

Works Cited

Burns, Stephanie. "Four Quick Facts About How AI Is Changing The World." Forbes, 19 Mar. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/stephanieburns/2020/03/19/four-quick-facts-about-how-ai-is-changing-the-world/?sh=14b554661713. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.

C-3PO and R2-D2. Google Images, p0.pikist.com/photos/541/507/star-wars-c-3po-r2d2-film-starwars-george-lucas-classic-robot-planet.jpg. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.

"Google's DeepMind AI Just Taught Itself to Walk." YouTube, uploaded by Tech Insider, 12 July 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn4nRCC9TwQ. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.