Oh Where, oh where has my job gone?

In reading Weizenbaum I was enlightening to the fact that in the creation of this artificial intelligence in machines, we in effect are taking jobs away from the working class. In his example, ELIZA would replace the trained therapist. I see this as both a problem and a good thing. It’s good in that there may be a short supply of therapist for mental hospitals. This way the demand is more appropriately met. On the other hand, like I said, it would be taking jobs away from the working class. I knew that in the past there have been many technological advances that have replaced humans with machines, but it never really crossed my mind that this is still going on today. As we discussed in class, “hard labor” has been feminized or is now considered secondary. As for Haraway, she is trying to take the cyborg out of the feminized. It would seem that the jobs previously done by man have been further replaced by a faster more efficient cyborg in a higher level job, not just the working man. It seems ironic in that as the cyborg climbs or advances, “pure” humans are becoming feminized or pushed down the ladder. I guess this proves the fact that the new language is technology.

But where do we stop? As the cyborg advances, from my perspective, it will begin to become increasingly robotic or non-human and even genderless; however, Weizenbaum questions whether or not human values are illusory. I would have to disagree. As Jake commented on Tati’s blog, human values tie in with emotions. If these cyborgs lose all human aspects, it would seem that at some point they would become ineffective at communicating with humans and our emotions. Granted, humans do make mistakes, but they have empathy, something at this point in time a robot does not.