The capabilities of technology can not be underestimated, it has evolved beyond anyone's imagination, a product of human intelligence. Gradually, the world we live in is changing and we humans have no choice but to adapt to the change. This change begins from our perspective of the world and our manner of getting things done. There are things we humans engage ourselves in that comes naturally, a lesson passed down from a parent or learnt along the line. Example of such things are the daily chores we engage in daily.
It might come as a surprise to most people but most parents or guardian invest a lot of time and effort in ensuring their child can handle house chores. It is also a way of caring for a child because little things such as this builds a child's character. I remember those days when I was a kid, my parents had no female child but that didn't stop them from teaching my brother and me house chores especially how to cook. It wasn't funny at all, the lesson began with my brother, I can still remember times when my mom screamed at him in the kitchen probably because he added the wrong ingredient.
I was excited that I had a brother to shoulder the responsibility of being the first born but I was wrong, as soon as brother went to boarding school, it felt like he had suddenly graduated from his kitchen duties. Believe me, I went through exact same process that was used to teach my brother on how to cook and perform house chores. It was not as if I was not doing it before my brother left but it was minimal. During those times it felt like punishment, I mean having so much to do but along the line I became comfortable with it.
During those days we had less machinery to depend on in the kitchen, most things we do was done manually. I remember those times when my late grandmother will come visit us in Lagos, she doesn't consume pepper grinded by machine. It was from her, my brother and I learnt how to grind pepper on stone, just the way it is done in the village. My late grandmother was one of those people that refused to let go of how things were done in the olding days.
Now we have all kind of machinery to depend on to get house chores done, it has made life a lot easier compared to those days. Despite the fact that, we now have all kind of tools at our finger tips, these tools still demand humans effort, we are still the ones that needs to point those machines towards the work that needs to be done. So these tools are just like an extension of humans to maximise our strength but in a case when these tools can get things done without needing our input, that is another different game entirely.
If there was a robot that could take care of house chores and children, will I get one? It depends. Here is the tricky part, whenever my mom was teaching us how to perform house chores, there were this moment of bonding. Especially when we did something the right way, she will softly pat us on our backs and if it was in the kitchen, probably we cooked something that is really satisfying, we will be the first to get a taste of it before anything else. She does these everytime to reward our efforts, it might not be grand but we understand that, as long as we put in work, there is reward for hardwork.
I'm not against getting a robot to help out with house chores at home, I know how tiring it could be, especially for women. Having to take care of their children, work and still manage to perform house chores. It is not an easy feat, having a robot to assist will definitely go a long way but the aspect I don't agree with is depending on robots to take of children. This is something I would never allow, no matter how busy parents are, they should always find time to attend to their children.
When you think about it, it might sound like a wonderful innovation but it will be the end to parental bonding with their children. It won't be long before children consider such robots to be parents, since they are the ones available to take care of their needs. This is something that seems out of line for me, when it comes to taking care of chores, that can be handled by a robot but taking care of the children, this role should be preserved for parents because it is sacred.
Would this make humans more dependent on robots? It would. Look at what our phones and gadgets are doing to us, we can't live without them, it is like oxygen to most people. Now imagine a robot that could get actual work done in the house without any input from a human being, I mean you could just seat in front of the television and Watch your favourite movies while a robot takes care of everything. I'm more concerned about what will happen to parents, I have seen parents that depends on nanny to take care of their child, now imagine them getting their hands on a robot that could look after their children for them, they would leave their children in the custody of the robot and go about their daily activities. This innovation is like a door to a new set of disaster.
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This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled Robot help in hive learners community.
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