We increasingly find ourselves overwhelmed in our social media existence – whether through Facebook, Whatsapp, or others. For other times, we may be busy with our work or checking online content via the likes of Netflix. Individual preferences may vary, but the overarching truth is that we are spending exceeding amounts of time with ourselves and fewer times with others. Can we take this to perpetuity – humans spend all time with gadgets and machines.
We believe that humans are not wired this way. Human interaction is very critical to our existence. If we go to the caveman times – humans were not the strongest of the animals but sticking together in caves, fighting the largest of animals in groups has been critical to our existence. Those groupings increased over time, in the way of villages and towns, communities or countries.
Machines have huge potential. They can replace all functions of humans using sensors, actuators, and computers. The only thing it cannot replace is the human touch and experience.
So many electronic gadgets surround us; we do not get enough time to interact with real people as much as we want to. Others are going through the same phase. Work life and technology-enabled ambiance have made us cut off from other humans. We do not realize it yet, but in the near future, we would vie for human interaction the most.
Certain restaurants have removed cashiers, retail clerks, and live performers with machines and instruments that perform more or less the same functions at a much lower price point. Robots replacing humans would be just obvious economic need. However, it will cut off a significant population from the rest. Moreover, some of them will miss the human touch and will resent the machines.
While it is inevitable that we will spend more times with machines, we would argue this will cause a backlash to crave and engage more time with our humans. People will likely take no machine time off, perhaps spending quality time with friends and family. We would also see people taking more holidays, where they switch off their machines and engage in being with their environment.
AR/VR/Robotic experiences would never be able to substitute for the real human experience. The machines will never be able to provide the warmth and vibes we feel when we are in a good company.