MODULE 7

WHEN HUMANITY AND TECHNOLOGY CROSS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this module, the students should be able to:

1. Describe the different technological advancement in Philippine society
2. Discuss the development of science and technology in the Philippines
3. Reflect on how artificial intelligence and robotics influence the ways we live nowadays

INTRODUCTION

Today, technology saturates our lives. Throughout human history, many creative people
have made possible an incredible array of technological advances – from chemicals and
medicines, to machines and tools that make our lives more interesting, convenient, and healthy.
Think of how immensely different our lives are today compared with our earliest ancestors.
Consider their scientific knowledge, medical care, household conveniences, modes of
transportation, sources of energy, forms of entertainment, and methods of growing, harvesting,
storing, processing, and distributing food. Not many of us would want to live the way our
ancestors did 2000, 200, or even 2 years ago. At the same time, our ancestors did not have to
worry about many of the vast problems that concern us today.

Yes, technology has given us the ability to live longer, healthier, easier, and more
enjoyable lives, but it has also created new perils that our ancestors could hardly fathom. For
instance, many thousands of chemicals created by humans are circulating in our world today
that did not exist in ancient times. Today, they are practically inescapable in our air, water, soil,
and bodies. Many of them are known to cause harm to, or even kill, living organisms including
humans. Many others are suspected of insidiously threatening us and the environment over the
long-term, often in ways still largely unknown to scientists and the general public.

Technology has also managed to harness enormous amounts of energy to power our
lifestyles, providing us with transportation, heating, and power. But this energy comes at a great
cost, producing such calamities as: oil spills, landscapes devastated by resource extraction,
foul-smelling smog in our cities, or free-flowing rivers clogged by dams. In learning how to
capture the formidable energy inside the atomic nucleus, we have also created great quantities
of dangerous nuclear waste that we still have no proper form of disposal. This same technology
has the means – for the first time in human history – of destroying our species and the planet
itself. Our ancestors never had to worry about such perils.

Now, it is clear that our thirst for energy is even changing the climate of the planet.
Specifically, the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) is raising the Earth’s global
temperature and creating a host of associated problems, ranging from prolonged droughts in the
Southwestern United States to melting glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic and rising sea levels
worldwide.

In recent years, we have begun to suspect that we are confronting yet another new
technological risk, namely the impact that electronics are having on our lives. Some have
become concerned that the huge amounts of time people (especially children) are spending in
front of computer, television, video, and phone screens are having unintended consequences:
the removal of people from nature and the natural world, the reduction of time youth spend
interacting with each other and engaging in free play, and even the physical alteration of our
brains.8 We are, in effect, carrying out a gigantic, inadvertent experiment on ourselves. It
remains to be seen what the full effect of modern electronics will be on our society,
environment, and physical and mental health.

Technological Advancements in the Philippines

Many Filipino people especially the younger ones know what is the effect of modern
technology. However, not all Filipino people have known about the effect and advantage of
modern technology because most older Filipino especially who live in the province still use the
old technology that they using. They don’t change easily about what are the advanced
technology is in here in the City.

Sometimes technology change people like, appearance, health, work, education, and
especially the attitude of people. Modern technology has a big part of the life of people it helps
to improve the way of living of each and every one of us. It has a big influence on people
because of the advanced technology in it. Modern technology is now one of the most things that
every people want to use or have when it comes to gadgets. People who use modern gadgets
always want the new and advance technology.

Before the use of technology is not that much in demand but now most people have
gadgets even the kids one. They now use that technology for their everyday life and the means
of communication.

Modern technology is the best thing that can help people to lessen their time to anything
that they can do. Like example for cooking, before especially in the province they use wood fire
for cooking, only a few Filipino people have a gas stove when cooking. But nowadays almost all
Filipino people use a gas stove and electric stove. Now in this modern days, there are a lot of
cooking appliances. There are oven toaster, microwave oven, heavy-duty electric range, heavy
duty gas range, hot plates, high-speed oven, electric kettle, and much more.

For transportation Filipino people before usually use a tricycle, horse carriages (kalesa),
old bus, and jeepney. But now there are a lots of modern public transportation we can use for us
to be more comfortable when traveling like taxi, LRT train, MRT train, FX, UV Express, Buses
air con and not air con you can choose, and still the jeepney who are the cheapest means of
transportation and one of the most popular public transportation in the Philippines.

However, the newest and most modern means of transportation now in the Philippines is
GRAB and UBER. These two public transportations must require an android cell phone with
internet so that people can be a part of it. This kind of transportation is the advance information
technology that most Filipino people use especially who live in Metro Manila. It is very safe,
comfortable and efficient but a little bit expensive compared to other public transportation.
Because they use car who is a new one and most drivers are the owner of the car.

In this modern day of living in the City, the use of technology is very important and you
can see all people using the advanced technology. Before we only wash clothes through the
hands but now using modern technology like washing machine you can wash clothes even if
you do another thing.
 In communication terms, the advanced technology is very in-demand most of it very
useful. We can talk and see our family who leaves in abroad by using video call in every time
we want. It is one of the most useful and most popular kinds of technology that everyone uses.
By the use of this kind of technology our communication become a necessity and become part
of our daily life. We can use mobile phones through texting, call, pictures, and video. It can also
use through emails, faxes, chats and for social media.

Communication through business is also most needed. We can do business through

emails, talking to those supplies or business associate through video call, using a digital
network for the weather updates, and using social media interaction by Facebook, Twitter,
Email, and other Google accounts. You can order so many things using a computer with the
internet of course.

However when it comes to medical technology there also big changes it becomes more
advanced. It becomes more advanced in terms of pharmaceutical and medical field. There’s a
lot of new invention and treatment for the different kinds of disease and cancer types. We all
know that this kind of treatment may help those people who suffer from illness without pain.
Medical technology also helps people appearance, they can change someone to become better
and look better.

Modern technology also best use in education. It is very easy now to study because
everything is in the Library App. In just one click you can choose whatever you want to research
about your school assignments. You don’t need to go outside to go to store to buy books for
your research. Technology for today can use in teaching and learning. There are new model or
ways in teaching with the use of modern technology. Some young people that cannot go to
school in a regular basis can enroll in online learning or online program. In this modern days the
technology we use can help us to improve our education more easy and efficient. Even in
correcting grammar or spelling is one click away to know it you don’t need to open a book to
search what you want to its a waste of time. Now it easy, fast, and you can save more time in
learning.

Of Robots and Humans

We live in a time when robots clean our houses, drive our vehicles, disable bombs,
provide prosthetic limbs, support surgical procedures, manufacture products, entertain, teach
and surprise us. Just as smartphones and social media are offering a connectivity beyond
anything we imagined, robots are beginning to offer physical capabilities and artificial
intelligence (AI), cognitive abilities beyond our expectations. Together, these technologies could
be harnessed to help solve important challenges, such as ageing societies, environmental
threats and global conflict.

What will a day in our lives look like, in this not-so-distant future? Science fiction has
explored these possibilities for centuries. Our lives will likely be longer: with synthetic organs to
replace defective parts of our bodies, nano-sized medical interventions allowing the precise
targeting of diseases and genetics, and autonomous vehicle reducing fatalities in traffic. Our
jobs will change dramatically. Certain jobs will not exist anymore and new jobs will emerge – in
the development of robot service apps, for instance, that could run on available robot platforms
in our homes. The way we are educated will also change radically – our senses and brains may
be artificially enhanced, and our ability to reflect on new insights gained from the automated
analysis of vast amounts of data will require a different treatment of information in schools.
But how will we relate to each other in a civilization that includes robots? In what way will we
meet each other, have relationships and raise our children? To what extent will robots and
humans merge?

Many of us wonder whether all will become so intelligent and capable in human
communication that the boundaries between human and artificial beings will blur. If it is possible
to communicate in a natural way and build a meaningful interaction over time with an artificial
agent, will there still be a divide in the relationships we have with people and technology? Also,
once our human bodies and minds are enhanced with AI and robotics, what will it mean to be
“human”?

Smart Tricks

From an engineering perspective, these advanced capabilities are still very far away. A
number of hurdles need to be overcome. For now, robots and computers are completely
dependent on a power source – they require a lot of electricity, and this complicates integrating
robotic elements with human organic tissue. Another hurdle is the intricacy of human
communication. While a one-off natural language conversation in a specific context with a robot
can feel realistic, engaging people verbally and non-verbally over many conversations and
contexts is quite another matter.

For example, when you call an artificial lost-and-found agent at an airport, a satisfying
conversation is possible because there are only a limited number of goals the caller has.
However, in creating a more extended relationship, for example, with a robotic pet, a much
more complicated model must be developed. The robot needs to have internal goals, an
extensive memory that relates experiences to various contexts, and it needs to develop these
capabilities over time.

Through smart “tricks”, a robot can seem more intelligent and capable than it is – by
introducing random behaviors which make the robotic pet interesting for longer, for instance.
Humans have the tendency to “make sense” of the robot’s behaviors in a human way (we do
this with animals too). However, in order to sustain a meaningful relationship which deepens
and evolves over time, an extensive artificial inner life will need to be created.

How Machines Learn

A major hurdle in creating this rich artificial inner life is the way machines learn. Machine
learning is example-based. We feed the computer examples of the phenomenon we want it to
understand – for instance, when people feel comfortable. In teaching a machine to recognize
this, data of people being comfortable is provided – this could be in the form of images, videos,
their speech, heartbeat, social media entries, etc. When we feed videos to a computer, these
are labeled with information on whether the people in it are comfortable or not – this may be
done by experts in psychology, or in the local culture.

The computer uses machine learning to “reason” from these labeled videos to identify
important features that correlate with feeling comfortable. This could be the body pose of a
person, the pitch of their voice, etc.

Once the machine has identified the features predicting “comfort”, the resulting algorithm
can be trained and improved, using different sets of videos. Eventually, the algorithm is robust
and a computer with a camera can recognize how people feel with high, if not 100 per cent,
accuracy.

Towards A Complex Synthetic Profile

In order to develop an artificial agent that can have a sustained relationship, over a long
period of time, with a person, we need the agent to have a compelling personality and
behaviors, understand the person, the situation in which they are both in, and the history of their
communication. More importantly, the agent would have to keep the communication going
across a variety of topics and situations. It is possible to make a compelling agent, such as
Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri, that you can speak to in natural language and have a
meaningful interaction with, within the specific context of its use – set the alarm clock, make a
note, turn down the heating, etc.

However, beyond that context of use, the communication quickly breaks down. The
agent  will find acceptable responses for a large variety of questions and comments, but will not
be able to sustain an hour-long discussion about a complex issue. For instance, when parents
discuss how to respond to their child not working hard at school, the conversation is very rich –
they bring to it their understanding of the child, and their own personalities, emotions, history,
socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, psychology, genetic make-up, behavioral habits and
understanding of the world.

In order for an artificial agent to take on such a meaningful social role and develop a real
relationship with a person, it would need to have a synthetic psychological, cultural, social and
emotional profile. Also, the agent would need to learn over time how it “feels” and respond to
situations in relation to this synthetic internal make-up.

This requires a fundamentally different approach to current machine learning. An

artificially intelligent system that develops much like how the human brain develops, and that
can internalize the richness of human experiences, is needed. The intricate ways people
communicate with each other and understand the world is an unimaginably complex process to
synthesize. The envisioned and currently available models of AI are inspired by the human brain
or have elements of how the brain works, but are not yet plausible models of the human brain.

We already see AI achieving amazing feats – like reading the entire internet, winning at
Go, the ancient Chinese board game, or running a fully automated factory. However, just like
the English physicist Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) said he had only scratched the surface of
understanding the universe, we are still merely scratching the surface of understanding human
intelligence.

It Won’t Happen Tomorrow

Robots and artificially intelligent systems will be able to offer us unique abilities to
support and enhance our decision-making, understanding of situations and ways to act. Robots
will be able to contribute to or autonomously carry out labor. Perhaps robotics will be fully
physically integrated in our human bodies once a number of challenges are overcome. Also, we
will relate to artificial agents as we do to humans – by communicating with them in natural
language, observing their behaviors and understanding their intentions. However, in order to
sustain a meaningful relationship with conversations and rituals, which deepen and evolve over
time in the rich context of everyday life, as is the case between people, an extensive artificial
inner life will need to be created. As long as we replicate or surpass certain functions of human
intelligence rather than the holistic whole of human intelligence placed in the rich context of our
everyday lives, it is unlikely that artificial agents and people can be totally integrated.

Robots in Protecting Environment

1. Robots Plant Trees

Climate change startups tend to pick a specific element of environmental harm and solve
a problem for it. For Mark Stewart, CEO of SkyGrow, it’s planting trees. He developed his
company to plant more trees than we are cutting down — and not just in remote forests like the
Amazon. The team at SkyGrow developed the Growbot, an unmanned vehicle that plants trees
10 times faster than a human can, at about half the cost.

Growbot plants established trees instead of seeds, because established trees have a
greater chance of succeeding in their new location. Stewart and his team plan to manufacture
4,500 Growbots, helping forests recover everywhere.

2. Robots Help Farmers Survive Droughts

As our climate continues to change, it affects our food sources. This is particularly true in
poorer countries and rural areas that can’t easily import food from other regions. Using AI
sensors and monitors, robots can track the growth of plants and learn which species
survive  and thrive in harsh conditions. With the help of this data analysis, farmers can choose
plants that have a greater chance of success, saving their income while they feed the people
around them.

3. Robots Can Grow Like Plants

Researchers at The Plantoid Project are working to recreate the behavior and functions
of plants to study the natural environment. They have realized the best way to study the
environment is to use the same methods plants use to filter air, water, and other chemicals that
they’re exposed to. The robot plant they have developed even has a mini 3D printer that helps
the roots “grow,” allowing researchers to explore the soil that plants are exposed to.

4. Humanoid Robots Dive to the Bottom of the Ocean

The team at Evolving Science recently profiled Ocean One, a humanoid robot developed
by the Stanford Robotics Lab to explore the ocean and collect samples as effectively as a diver.
Ocean One was originally developed to monitor deep coral reefs in the Red Sea. These corals
are essential for a healthy ocean, but live far beyond human range. Researchers needed a
robot that could collect samples without damaging the reef and observe deep-sea specimens in
their natural habitat. Ocean One mimics a human SCUBA diver, complete with arms, depth
perception, and touch feedback, plus it can survive significant depths. Since exploring the Red
Sea, the robot has traveled across the world, helping us learn about the ocean without
disrupting it.

5. Swarm Robots Collect Data

Interestingly, not all underwater robots are humanoid, or even human-sized. Aquabotixis

a technology development company that creates vehicles for underwater inspection. It
specializes in swarm robots, or multiple small robots that can be controlled by one operator. As
a whole, there are multiple benefits to swarm robot submersibles. Swarm robots cover more
territory than one robot can. If there is damage to individual units, the entire research plan isn’t
affected. It’s more affordable to deploy a dozen swarm bots than one main robot platform. In the
field of marine biology, swarm robots can collect more data and more diverse data than a single
robot (or even a varied team of researchers) could. This makes the data more reliable and helps
scientists learn more about the ocean and how to protect it.      

6. Robots Harvest Wave and Solar Energy

If we’re going to fight climate change, then we will need to reduce our dependence on
fossil fuels like oil. Developers are turning to robots to help collect energy sustainably and use it
across industries and environments. A great example is the Wave Glider by Liquid Robotics. It
looks like a surfboard and has built-in solar panels, collecting solar energy as it moves along the
ocean surface. It uses the stored energy for propulsion and to recharge the batteries needed for
its sensors. Wave Glider’s applications include collecting high-resolution carbon dioxide
samples in difficult locations for a complete picture of global climate change.

7. Robots Eat Water Pollution

The Permaculture Research Institute in Australia recently covered the development of a

“Row-bot” developed by the University of Bristol that digests pollution in the water and turns it
into energy. The robot swims around, ingesting microbes which then power the boat’s motor. It’s
really no different than a whale shark filter feeding krill and using that food energy to travel
around the ocean.

According to Jonathan Rossiter, who hosted a TED talk about these robots, this
technology could help reduce the impact of tankers that flush their oil tanks into the sea and of
chemicals that are washed into rivers and wind up in the oceans. 

8. Robots Kill Invasive Species

Sometimes protecting the environment means hunting invasive species that take over
and harm endangered plants and animals. One example of this is the Crown-of-Thorns starfish
on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. These coral-eating starfish can kill off large swaths of
reef, destroying the homes of thousands of delicate species. Experts say this starfish is a threat
equal to climate change to the reef. The team at BiopixelTV recently shared a solution to these
pests: the RangerBot. This robot finds and kills the starfish with an eco-friendly injection,
preventing the starfish from doing further damage. The results are staggering. Six human divers
could only cover half of the reef in a year, but six RangerBots can cover the reef 14 times over
the same period. RangerBots also cost half the price of a human expedition, operate day and
night, and can collect other measurements like temperature and salinity while they work.

9. Robots Also Pick Up River Trash

Pollution comes in all forms, from oils and other chemicals to plastic bags and straws.
One company, Urban Rivers, developed a trash robot for the Chicago River. It floats along
collecting garbage to keep the waterway clean. The robot came to be after Urban Rivers
installed 1,500 square feet of floating wetland and urban garden. They noticed trash kept getting
caught in the plants and sent someone out each day to pick it up. The team realized the trash
was only going to build, and started developing a robot to help them clean up the waterways.
This robot keeps the plants trash-free and prevents animals from accidentally ingesting the
waste.

10. Robots Make Recycling Easier

As more people recycle, there is added pressure on humans to sort the materials and
determine what can be reused. This is highly manual work, with people hunched over conveyor
belts grabbing items as fast as they can. AMP Robotics hopes to make recycling easier. Its
robots use AI to “see” items on a conveyor belt and record what they are. The robot can then
sort the materials and place them into designated bins. This solution increases efficiency with
higher throughput and better bale quality. It also allows users, whether cities or construction
companies, to budget more accurately with fixed labor rates.

11. Robots Climb Into the Sewers

Our sewer systems have a massive impact on climate change, especially when you
consider what and where we dump our waste. They can also impact public health. Tech
writer Luke Dormehl at Digital Trends showcases Luigi, a sewer robot developed by MIT’s
Underworlds project is operated with an iPhone app, the robot studies bacteria and chemicals in
manholes. It is the first of a team of future sewer samplers that will collect and analyze raw
sewage and send the data back to the lab. The robots, using sampling instruments that upload
data remotely (and with plans for a real-time biochemical detection platform in the works) will be
able to collect more samples much faster than their human counterparts, who were limited to
manually hauling liters of muck at a time back to the lab.

12. Robots Reduce Carbon Emissions

Senior environment reporter Emily Guerin at KPCC Southern California Public Radio

recently discussed the rise of automated equipment in the Port of Long Beach. While it is
adversely affecting union workers there, the impact on climate change is good. This is because
the new equipment releases no emissions and greatly reduces the pollution-causing tools and
trucks needed to operate the port. Guerin explains that heavy duty diesel trucks are responsible
for 150 tons of smog emissions per day (compared to 80 tons for cars and SUVs). If automation
can reduce this number, the air in Southern California has a chance of clearing up.  

13. Robots Reduce Personal Transportation Emissions

Transportation has a significant impact on climate change and carbon

emissions. Alexandra Gray at World Economic Forum reports that 23 percent of global energy-
related CO2 emissions are caused by transportation. Today’s innovators are not only developing
electric cars, but also better batteries that reduce the environmental impact of all vehicles. In
fact, researchers at the University of Surrey are developing an alternative to traditional battery
power that is 1,000-10,000 times stronger than that used today, allowing electric cars to travel
similar distances to those that use gas and to recharge in the time it takes to fill up the tank.

14. Robots Send Environmental Alerts on Social Media

Robots alone can’t save the planet. These robots need humans who want to protect the
natural environment and the plants and animals that live in it. The developers at Climate
Reality recently wrote a “Rapid Response Team” program which sends messages to their
Facebook fans whenever there is news related to the fight against climate change. Fans can opt
in and then take action based on the message. This might mean calling their local
representatives or donating to a cause to help clean up after a disaster. Thousands of people
can come together with the help of a bot coded on Facebook sending out alerts.

Learning Activity 7

A. Essay

Answer the following questions.

1. Do you believe that children should have completely free access to any TV program or
Web site on the Internet, or do you think that parents, teachers, and/or librarians should
be permitted to prevent children from accessing programs and sites adults think are
inappropriate or harmful? Give reasons for your opinions.
2. In general, would you say that modern technology developed over the past fifty years
has made the world a better or worse place in which to live? Are people’s lives happier
now as a result of modern technology?

B. Read and make reflection paper about the article “This Is What The Future of Robots
Might Do To Humanity.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lelalondon/2018/11/28/this-is-what-the-future-of-robots-
might-do-to-humanity/#c98910f72aea