Rise Of The Machines Is Not A Likely Future Analysis

1st draft

In Zeynep Tufekci’s New York Times article published in 2015, titled “Machines Are Coming,” she asserted that technology is now replacing humans as it is prefered by employers because of being more productive and efficient while being cheaper, and easier to control than quirky humans. Michael Littman also touched on a similar topic in his 2015 post on Livescience, titled “Rise of the Machines is Not a Likely Future (Op-Ed).” He argues that machines, though increasing exponentially, are still under control. Both have an overarching stand that the rise of machines leaves a great concern for humans and strongly believe that machines are not a threat to humans. Each article has committed to red herring fallacy, which weaken their arguments.

In paragraph 7, he firmly asserts that machines are not going to take over humans. He then proceeds to incorporate the Moore’s Law - quantum limits - to further enhance his credibility. It says real-world resources are limited, therefore there’s a limit how quickly technology can be advanced. He also suggests there are limits to computation. This could be attributed to the fact that Littman is writing a discussion piece for livescience.com netizens. It is likely that his targeted audience are well-read and have background knowledge about science, particularly physics. Hence, when he brought forward the science-related concepts such as quantum limits or computational limits, the intended audience would be even more convinced because they fully understand his evidence. In contrast, most of Tufekci’s claims are not well substantiated. Two most significant logos evidence from her article are ‘an ad in 1976’ and an examination conducted by the Harvard social scientist Shoshana Zuboff in the 1980s. Since they were composed in 1976 and 1980s, inside of the range of 30 years, what were genuine might never again be genuine in light of the fact that attitudes and mindsets of individuals might change. Therefore, this proof debilitates her contention as well as makes her less

He first introduces himself as a professor of computer science at Brown University & AI researcher. There is an implicit affirmation in his voice that the writing should be reliable as he is an expert in this field. Furthermore, Littman uses expert opinion to qualify each of his point. For instance, at the end of paragraph 4, he cites Intelligent Robots Will Take Over Humans By 2100, Experts say. In this way, he increases the credibility of his arguments. Therefore, Littman’s is more