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Jill Maschio, Ph.D
September 29, 2024
The Robots are Nearer
As more and more robots are built, human life will change fundamentally. Mark 2025–2030 as the years of robots. ARM, Inc. (2024) plans to have 100 billion robot arms by 2025. There were over 25 robot startup companies in 2024. That indicates how many robots will be living amongst us and integrated into healthcare, manufacturing and assembling cars and other equipment, and performing surgery, for example. One day, you’ll likely see them at the bank, grocery, department stores, doctor’s offices and hospitals, military, and schools and universities. Imagine going to work to interact with robots to complete your job and going home to see a robot that has cleaned your house and is ready to converse with you.
People won’t be able to stop corporations from producing robots or integrating them into every aspect of society. AI is going to be big business for companies that can build the next advanced AI. It is a race between companies for profit and more control over an industry.
Some computer scientists and futurist writers claim that robots and cyborgs are needed for humanity’s good. Cyborgs will save planet Earth since we have destroyed it, and they can answer the problems humans have created. According to futurist writers Lovelock and Applegate (2019), their doomsday prediction of having cyborgs replace humans has no positive outcome for humans. They write as if they welcome the death of humanity in the name of saving the planet.
You can decide whether this may be a good or bad thing or somewhere in between. Some AI advancements will probably help humanity. However, some computer scientists and futurists see a world run by AI. That said, know that not all societal advancements are good for all.
The Psychological Impact of Robots
Whether or not robots will lead to human extension, I cannot say, nor do I want to make any prediction. I can confidently say that merging with AI will change the human brain and the psyche and cause a loss of freedom. People in America have fought wars when they projected a loss of freedom. Freedom is something Americans hold close to their heart. It is our way of life and part of America’s soul. If we don’t look closely, AI may result in loss of freedom without the masses recognizing it until later. Hindsight can be painful. According to Forbes (2023), we don’t know the full implications of AI. Could human extinction be the end result? Maybe, maybe not.
However, the impact of robots isn’t only about factors such as job losses but also about freedom of our minds. Fyodor Dostoevsky, who lived from 1821-1881, said, “the best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to ensure he never knows he’s in prison”. So, how do you do that – not let someone know they are in prison? The prison walls are society. What society tells us, for example, becomes our thoughts, which can influence our behavioral responses. Consider social media, trends, fashions, celebrities, books, news sites, and technology. All those things influence how people think, what they feel, and how to live life. Those things also can cause us to lose our freedoms without even realizing it is happening.
Think of this as an example. When people spend excessive time on the Internet, playing video games, or on social media sites, the brain, in a way, shuts down. The hippocampus continually births new brain cells throughout a lifetime – the process may slow down later in life, but this process is vital for learning. Because of this process, new brain cells can become functioning by migrating to attach to a network of brain cells and fire within this network. However, certain things in our environment can slow this process down.
People who spend excessive time on the Internet and other technological devices are at a higher risk for developing symptoms of mental illness, isolation, and less time learning if they scroll and spend time doing things that don’t lead to learning. When AI enters our daily lives, the human psyche may change. As AI becomes normalized in society, it will change the American Zeitgeist – the spirit, set of ideas, and beliefs that make us who we are. It will captivate the minds of millions and has the potential to rob them of freedom without their awareness. As people put their trust in AI, they will rely on it more and more. It will be common for people to spend their time with AI either talking to it or using it via a technological device in various ways. Three of the biggest factors may be (1) a decrease of neurogenesis in the brain (2) a decline in the function of the mitochondria, and (3) screen time desensitizes the brain’s reward system. Here’s how this may occur:
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- Being isolated from socializing with people creates stress. The brain reads isolation the way it processes hunger. It was once commonly believed in science that the brain was “fixed” at birth. In other words, at birth, the brain had all the brain cells it would ever have. In the first few years of life, brain cells compete for connections. If a brain cell didn’t form connections, it died. This led to a slowly aging brain. Scientists have since learned that the brain is genetically predetermined to birth new brain cells in the hippocampus. The hippocampus helps with learning by migrating short-term memories into long-term memories. The brain produces new brain cells throughout life, and this process, called neurogenesis, is what allows the continuation of learning. But, when stressed, the brain’s production of new brain cells decreases and has been associated with decreased hippocampi volume. What happens when the hippocampi shrink and produce fewer brain cells is that people may experience greater difficulties forming long-term memories, depression or other mental disorders, and cognitive decline.
- Mitochondria are important for physical and mental health. Cells need oxygen to have energy. Oxygen “feeds” mitochondria (the powerhouse of the body). Mitochondria produce ATP, which gives the body energy. Studies show that a decrease in mitochondrial energy has been linked to physical and mental diseases. The more people live a sedentary lifestyle, the less oxygen they have, which may lead to more health problems, including socialization deficits.
- When on the Internet, studies show that constant stimulation of images and flashes produces dopamine. Extended screen time overuses the dopamine pathway in the brain. Over time, the constant overuse of the dopamine pathway may desensitize the brain to rewards, thus requiring more dopamine to feel the same pleasure. It has been shown to damage the gray matter in the brain. The gray matter holds about 90% of the brain’s cells and is responsible for thinking, planning, memory, learning, sensation, consciousness, and more.
It’s enough to say that the continual use of technological devices, including AI, once it is actively here, will alter the brain’s biology by changing the way it functions. In America, we’ve already seen a decrease in IQ (Dworak et al., 2023) and among college graduates (Uttl et al., 2024). The factors listed here may be indicators of part of the impact AI may have on the human psyche. The changes to the brain and to people’s choices is a loss of freedom.
People can also lose the freedom of choice and action when agents compromise or distort a person’s perception, thoughts and/or behavioral outcomes, according to Zimbardo, (2002, pf. 5), and experts on cults. When stimuli enter a sensory system, the data is turned into a neural impulse and sent to the brain for processing. How does this apply to you? You are watching an episode of your favorite TV show when a commercial comes on. You don’t give it much attention, and if I asked you if the ad influenced you, you might say no, simply because you didn’t care about the ad.
However, the brain at the subconscious level still paid attention to the images, words, and message as long as you were slightly focused. Whatever the brain processes and consolidates into long-term memory has the potential to influence decisions made at a later time. Imagine you are with some friends one day and talking about annoying commercials, and you start to talk about the one you saw while watching your TV show. So, whatever we see, read, or hear influences our thoughts, emotions, and behavior. The words and images used can have an emotional effect. The commercials asking for our help to save abandoned dogs have an emotional appeal in the minds of the viewers. Now, say that you are having x, y, z symptoms and you are watching TV, and a commercial comes on for a drug that helps with similar symptoms you are exhibiting. If you felt for even a brief second that you should go see your doctor, you just became vulnerable to the ad. Right or wrong, the point is that it is that easy to be susceptible to what we see, hear, or read. In this example, the minute a person experiences feelings of vulnerability, the mind is being manipulated and controlled. This example allows us to understand how AI could make people vulnerable to conform.
If people are told that AI is needed, such as in war, to defeat the enemy, they will readily agree without considering the long-term consequences. If people are told that AI is needed to save the planet, they become a threat. When people’s emotions are heightened, they become suggestible and can easily conform.
So much of the information provided here can be seen influencing society, especially here in the United States. I cannot help to feel that European countries are also being influenced by AI technology. The potential of robots taking over, in a sense is happening in the job market. More and more jobs are being taken over by AI, and robots. Some of these include assembly lines, ports that have autonomous vehicles that deliver containers, and even mine site around the world that are using autonomous haul trucks, and remotely controlled equipment.
The immediate impact, I think, is upon the job market. McDonald’s recently opened a store that is all automated. I wonder how many low wage jobs will become autonomous in their operations. I do believe that people are being dumbed down, especially when it comes to thinking on their own, and in developing social skills that are so essential to a healthy mind, and personal attributes.