You’ve heard that robots are better than you, and they’re coming for your job, right? It’s true that robots best humans in a number of areas. We marvel at how industrial robots can lift hundreds of pounds with ease, and work at blistering speeds without stop. Computers process incredibly large amounts of information in the blink of an eye. Robots don’t need food, water, or rest, and they’re pretty much impervious to chemicals, heat, and cold.
Yet, for all the things that robots do better than humans, there are still many things that people do better than machines. Don’t worry about a robot takeover. Here are three things that humans do better than robots.
Adapting
As wonderfully useful, and absolutely necessary, as robots are to manufacturing and industry, they are rather stupid. Yes, factory robots can carry out precise actions with unrivaled speed and efficiency, but a fraction of an inch can sideline even the most advanced factory robot.
Machines are great at performing programmed actions, but they can’t handle unexpected variables. Put a stick in a person’s path, and we walk around it, jump over it, step over it, or pick it up and use it. Put a stick in a robot’s path and it stops, falls over, or bursts into flame.
Finding a purpose
The fear of a robot takeover is nothing new. Automation has been replacing the need for human workers in specific tasks for a long time now. However, people have found new jobs and new ways to be useful rather than ceasing to be useful.
Again, robots are great at doing what they’ve been told to do, but they can’t find a new purpose. A Roomba won’t one day decide to take up a new profession just because it has outlasted its usefulness.
People, on the other hand, will always find a way to be useful.
Connecting with others
Sure, devices are getting better at “connecting”, but they’re certainly not as good as humans at making an emotional connection.
Not even the most sophisticated artificial intelligence can match our ability to sympathize, emphasize, relate, and connect with other people. And since thoughts, feeling, and emotions are a significant part of our existence, that’s a pretty big deal.
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People are better than robots in so many ways. The next time you’re lying awake at night wondering if a robot will be serving you at the unemployment office, just remember we have always found a way to make automation work for us rather than against us.
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