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Are robot priests the future of funerals?
So, I was browsing the interwebs earlier and stumbled upon some crazy news.
"Robot priest to conduct Buddhist funerals complete with chanted sutras and drum tapping, in Japan."
Pepper, Softbank's humanoid robot, has recently been on display at a funeral expo in Japan. It was shown demonstrating a mock buddhist funeral. It can be rented for the equivalent of $450, which is well cheaper than the $2000 cost of hiring a real human priest. So, you can begin to see the intrigue here. Another thing Pepper has going for her (or him.. or it... I don't know) is the lack of human priests in Japan currently. Pepper fills this gap in the market and it got me thinking:
How secure is any job done by a human?
Now of course, this is a pretty big question and perhaps it may never be answered as new jobs keep being sprung into existence every year. However, if a priest isn't safe anymore then who is!? But, we have to consider what makes our skills unique - or at the very least damn near impossible to replicate.
For example, who do you think would do a better a job at spreading a spiritual and divine feeling during a funeral: A real human priest or a robot (Pepper)? We humans have that special touch that for now is unreachable for robots and machines. By special touch I mean our ability to interact and stimulate emotions within each other. This is something a robot could never do.
What are robots even good for?
Obviously, mechanical jobs like making a car, or deciding the fastest route to London is best left to a machine. We know this. The question is will robots ever reach the point where they can tap into our emotions like we can. I believe this is the turning point. If a robot could genuinely replicate a human's natural and primal ability to influence and invoke feelings in other humans then we could very possibly see a great paradigm shift in the labour market. Just think, jobs like teaching - where it is vital for a teacher to make genuine, real connections with kids - would become achievable by a robot. What about politics (perhaps this would actually be good in some cases...)?
Nevertheless, for now, robots are awesome and Pepper is only a gimmick ,right? I mean, it hasn't actually been rented out for use at a funeral yet! So, let's just stick to our Steemit posts and day-jobs.
Enjoy whilst you can!
Weird Fishes x