Humanoids Can be Humanish but Never Humans

 Exaggeration through flights of imagination using superficial and tentative experiments is a sure-fire way to capture attention and make a topic viral without the responsibility of showing progress or results.

The topic of complete  ‘Humanization of Robots’ is the current popular flight of fancy. True, robots are progressively performing advanced functions,  but only as programmed by humans and not voluntarily. 

There is no intention to decry humanoids’ contribution; we have in India a special day for ‘yantra pooja’ when we worship implements, machines, and devices; humanoids, too, will be treated the same.

Currently, machines can be verbally instructed in some fields. That is alright for simple tasks. But human communication is a complex phenomenon that severely limits man-machine communication. The renowned communications expert, Dr. Albert Mehrabian, says that only 7% of meaning is conveyed through verbal communication and as much as 93% is conveyed through non-verbal ways - 38% through tone of voice and 55% through body language. Can there be an AI-machine that can master such a complex process and convey meaning? And, moreover, add to these varying pronunciations, multiple languages, and dialects that you find in a globalized business environment. It’s common knowledge that Alexa and Siri fumble often. Thus, when it comes to matters beyond the mechanical aspects of business, unimaginable difficulties and umpteen misunderstandings will crop up. 

Will business processes be quicker with wider roles played by humanoids?

There is hardly any evidence of robots taking the initiative to solve an unexpected problem or taking creative action to save time and/or cost. Humans often get an in-process insight and have the ability to follow a different path. True, after human instructions for a different way of doing things, a ‘machine learns’ and may attempt that way. 

The above limitations are about mechanical concrete things. But the strength of humans is in initiating innovation through inspiration, instinct, imagination, and the synthesis of the plethora of implications of their own work and that of others. Such innovative and creative moves are beyond humanoids. Even among humans, only a few are blessed with the gift of receiving creative sparks, not only from concentration and hard thinking but from ‘somewhere, elsewhere’. They often say “it just struck me”. The phenomenon of intuitive thoughts striking the mind and igniting a series of further developments is rare. In spite of intensive training and facilities, the process of innovation baffles many humans. How can robots get instinct, inspiration, and insights? Perhaps, one can point to the untested ‘artificial brain’ and Musk’s ‘Neural Link’. But these are for marginal functions and repetitive matters, and that too, with an element of human intervention.

Going beyond material aspects, when it comes to psychology and spirituality, humanoids would be blank. In fact, many humans too, are daunted by the staggering complexities of the mind. The human mind is a complex bundle of emotions and sentiments with thousands of thoughts crossing our minds every day.  And each one’s thoughts are different. Someone has said that the human mind is faster than wind, deeper than the Pacific ocean, and higher than the Himalayas. How can such ability be inculcated in humanoids?

Add to this the schools of thought that believe human behaviour is guided by the shadripus or six enemies – the forces of lust, anger, pride, greed, attachment and jealousy - or by the seven sins - pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. In spite of preaching by thousands of saints and teachers, individuals and teams suffer due to these enemies of the mind. The late guru Osho cited his experience of how even some saints fail to defeat these enemies. While Osho and a few colleagues were traveling in the Himalayas, it started to rain. They spotted a spacious cave and entered it. A ‘saint’ already inside shouted, “this is my home, and how dare you to enter it”. That ‘cave owner’ had left the selfish world, but couldn’t leave ‘selfishness’. Conflicts in the workplace often become difficult to resolve because of the parties being seized by the ‘enemies of the mind’ mentioned above. If human managers, sometimes, fail to manage people and achieve goals due to such undercurrents, can humanoids make a difference? Humanoid managers? Yes, some pundits are talking about humans and humanoids being friends, lovers and more.

So wizards, if you are trying to fully humanize humanoids, please think again. You will realize that you have to stop at making humanoids only humanish and  not complete humans. Incidentally, the Oxford dictionary defines humanish as ‘somewhat human or human-like’.