In Professor Vesna's Robotics + Art lecture part 2, she went more in depth with Taylorism. Machines were difficult to stop and turn on frequently so workers had to work in rhythm with the machine. Essentially, the workers were a part of the machine and people saw this as dehumanizing. Some societies, like the West, viewed robotics as a threat to humans while others embraced it. For example, Professor Machiko's Japanese Robotics lecture, she described that the Japanese are making the machines more humanoid to accept the modernization. In the first picture below, we can see humans working in a cold drone-like atmosphere with robots while in the other, we can see humans working along side the future.
The Fallacy of Software Factories and the Importance of Talent by Glenn Gruber.
The Future is Here: A New Industrial Revolution by AJ Artemel.
In the video below, we can also see directly see how robotics influenced society and industrialization. Can you see the positive and negative sides?
The Automated Japanese Restaurant Without Waiters by World News.
Walter Benjamin, author of “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, stated that “to an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility” (Benjamin, IV). In our case, robots will become unoriginal and simply used for their industrial purposes rather than an art-form. A good example of Benjamin's theory is the movie I, Robot. It is about a future where anthropomorphic robots are used as servants for public services. Although movie watchers find the robots beautifully created, people in the movie view them as tools, not art. This is the effect of the assembly line and mass production on art to society. I, Robot is also a good example of how society responds to industrialization. The main protagonist, Del Spooner, holds resentment towards the robots, but after working with Sonny, a rogue robot, throughout the movie, Spooner begins to appreciate robots and eventually become their savior. Essentially, society will eventually accept change and adjust accordingly to reap the benefits.
I, Robot - Official Trailer [HD] by VikiTrailers.
Yours truly,
Calvin Cam
Works Cited
Artemel, AJ. "The Future is Here: A New Industrial Revolution." Archizer. Web. 19 Oct. 2013. <http://www.architizer.com/blog/the-future-is-here-a-new-industrial-revolution/>.
Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Marxists. N.p.. Web. 19 Oct. 2013. <http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm>.
Gruber, Glenn. "The Fallacy of Software Factories and the Importance of Talent." Software Industry Insights, 25 May, 2010. Web. 19 Oct. 2013. <http://www.softwareindustryinsights.com/2010/05/the-fallacy-of-software-factories-and-the-importance-of-talent/>.
Machiko, Kusahara. "Robotics MachikoKusahara 1." Cole UC online. YouTube, 14 Apr. 2012. Web. 19 Oct. 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQZ_sy-mdEU>.
Vesna, Victoria. "Robotics pt2." Cole UC online. Youtube, 15 Apr. 2012. Web. 19 Oct. 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAZ8bo9T_Pk>.
VikiTrailers. "I, Robot - Officer Trailer [HD]." Youtube. Youtube, 17 May 2012. Web. 19 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL6RRIOZyCM>.
World News. "The Automated Japanese Restaurant Without Waiters." Youtube. Youtube, 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Oct. 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT4B_e40pWo>.
This blog entry was extremely well written. I too compared industrialization in Japan and American culture and its affects on robotics, and too be honest you did a better job. I thought your videos were interesting yet still very relevant to the topic and I like how you chose two contrasting pictures and two contrasting videos. The video of the sushi restaurant depicted the Japanese outlook on robotic advancements perfectly and was also very entertaining.
ReplyDelete-Jennie Frager
I agree with you that the society takes some time to accept robotics or in general, industrialization. Just like the growing presence of computer in our daily life, nobody can expect that computer is now heavily used in all aspects of our life. It is possible that robots will play a very significant role in our life. The progress of technology is always faster than what the society think.
ReplyDeleteMy interest was piqued when I saw the title of the video about the automated Japanese restaurant. Once I pressed play, I realized that I had been to a few restaurants like this one before! I thought it was pretty cool that the wait was short, but the lack of waiters worries me. If restaurants continue transitioning into one of this style, businesses can save what they would otherwise pay to servers and thus gain profits, however, there will likely be an eventual shortage of jobs. Robotics & industrialization affect economies in many ways and I'm very interested in how society will continue to cope with the advancements in industrialization.
ReplyDeleteHey Calvin, I agree with your comment "robotics is the art form of industrialization". Walter Benjamin commented on the aura of art and how that "aura" is affected by reproducibility. I assumed his reference was in regards to a specific piece of artwork. By taking a step back, and looking at the Industrial Revolution, one can see how the art of robotics has changed over time. As the robots have changed and become more efficient, the mass production of desirable goods all over the world has increased. Contrasting your first two photos shows just how far the assembly line has come.
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