Professor Noel Sharkey is a world authority on robots. His fascination with what has become known as ‘artificial intelligence’ began in the 1980s and it was a great day for him when eventually he was able to program a robot to walk in a straight line down a corridor. Things have moved on considerably since then but there are some developments which are causing Professor Sharkey some concern. In a recent radio interview he spoke about robots being used for elderly care in Japan and more worrying for him drones being used to drop bombs on Afghanistan.
That robots could be used more and more in warfare and perhaps even develop the ‘intelligence’ which enables them to make life and death decisions is certainly a deeply troubling idea. This is what we saw in the Terminator movies. There is no doubt that there is a movement towards this and it is one that Professor Sharkey believes should be halted. Surely, though, there must also be a concern with regard to the use of robots as carers.
However sentimental it may sound the weak and the vulnerable need the sound of a human voice and the touch of a human hand. That you matter to someone is a powerful message to receive. Think of what it meant to lepers in Jesus’ day to actually have him touch them. They were a people who had to live apart from the main stream of human society because of their disease. They have been described as ‘the living dead.’ But Jesus spoke to them, touched them and healed them. I doubt if I am alone in knowing the difference a kind word and a loving touch can make.
But there is something else to consider in this. If we shift our responsibility to care then we are denying ourselves the opportunity to fulfill our humanity. God has established in Jesus the pattern of a humanity that He wishes for all of us and time and again in the gospels we read of Jesus having ‘compassion’ on troubled people. This is a word which to some extent has been emptied of its meaning but essentially it means standing alongside people in their pain to the extent that you are actually sharing it. This is costly in so many ways and it is understandable if we reach out for an alternative or even turn our backs on the suffering. But Jesus calls us to face the suffering of the world and to respond with compassion and in His life and teaching he shows us how.
The hero of one of His stories cared for a victim of robbery and violence whose plight other people had ignored. He treated the victim’s wounds, paid for his board at an inn and pledged more money for his care if it was needed. He went way beyond what anyone would expect from a total stranger and what a difference his compassion made.
It is truly amazing to see the advances that have been made in the development of ‘artificial intelligence’ and the benefits that have come to the worlds of medicine, engineering, science and entertainment. But there can never be ‘artificial compassion.’ That is our gift to give.
