The Human: Alien in the Robotic Environment?

Abstract

The development of robotics, combined with computers, poses a problem even more critical in some respects than the loss of jobs. A new system is evolving, transforming the workplace environment but with ramifications beyond the workplace. Design of environments suited to the logic of robotics, given smart machines, need not consider humans as critical elements in the system. Modification of human environments raises questions of human adaptability and the nature of the man-machine relationship.