The machines have already taken over

There are many books and Hollywood movies about dystopian futures where the robots are in charge. Typically a brave band of people, under the leadership of good-looking or well built someone lead the fight back for humanity. Usually humanity wins or they leave just enough power for the machines to justify a movie sequel. I also find it fascinating how readily the world is adopting machine learning and artificial intelligence. It is now normal for a company’s recruitment to be done using AI and for retirement saving investment to be managed purely based on machine algorithms for example. What a time to be alive!

I do, however, think that while we are all focused on the long term impact of these ground breaking technologies we have already lost sight of how the machines have already taken over. I will use a typical leisure day at home as an example. In a normal day my cellphone alarm clock signals that it is time to wake up or get the day started. With the alarm being in the phone it becomes impossible to switch off the alarm without at least reading any messages that have come through overnight or the morning’s news headlines. The content of these sets the tone for the day.

I will listen to my favourite podcast while eating breakfast and typically the kids can navigate to find their favourite show on Netflix. If for any reason there are connectivity issues with either of these activities it could result in frustration and sometimes even tears. If there is an intention of exercising that morning I will only do it if my phone is sufficiently charged as listening to music via my phone has become an essential part of my exercise regime. If my phone is not charged I may not exercise at all.

Until a recent installation of a solar geyser, the hot water availability in the house was governed by a timer and the geyser ran for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening. This would dictate the time that the entire household generally plans to take a bath. Should the kids decide they want to play outside someone has to deactivate the house alarm and security beams and if there is no electricity I am the only family member who has mastered opening the garage door or main gate manually if there is battery failure.

I’m also sure you have witnessed a situation in a restaurant where instead of engaging in conversation two people sit opposite each other and scroll on their phones. Or family dinners where each member sits staring at their phone and not engaging in conversation. The one that blew me away recently was the story of a lady employed in a sales role who couldn’t do her work on day one…because she didn’t know how to drive a manual car!

While Hollywood is creating fantasies about this world where super intelligent machines control our lives, we don’t realise that the machines are already in control.