The Glass Cage: Who Needs Humans Anyway?
Former executive editor of the Harvard Business Review, Nicholas Carr is no stranger to engaging with the implications of technology upon humanity. In The Shallows, published in 2010, Carr argues that as a result of the near constant exposure and engagement with a multiplicity of data the way our brains function is being changed. As a consequence of this, our capacity to absorb and retain what we read is being lost. In his latest book, The Glass Cage: Who needs humans anyway? Carr extends his examination of the relationship between technology and life in the twenty first century by considering what automation is doing to humans. He brings his typically thorough approach to research to bear on the topic, exploring how certain aspects of automative technology can have the potential of separating us from reality. His central argument echoes that of C.S. Lewis in 1943 in his prophetic essay The Abolition of Man: if we are not careful we could become slaves to the very technology that we have created to supposedly serve us! Similar to Lewis, Carr causes the reader to stop, question and reflect on the realities of artificial intelligence and robotics and their potential impact on humanity. The phrase 'glass cage' is the term pilots give to the modern day cockpit in which they now sit. Surrounded by a vast array of screens that display a plethora of data readings and outputs, the once tactile link between pilot and plane felt through the yoke or throttle lever has been severed (pp.50 51) That sense of connection with the plane which allowed pilots to become part of the machine with their bodies sensing the plane's workings and feeling its responses helped to make the experience of flying. With the advance in technology, such tactile responses have been converted to digital signals activated by the pressing of a button or the turning of a knob, activating in turn a myriad of binary exchanges and commands. Many plane crashes are caused by this clash of human and technology resulting in a lack of what has been termed 'situational awareness' (the ability to identify and process critical elements of information about what is going on around you) A case in point would be the fatal crash of a 2009 Continental Connection/Colgan Air flight from Newark to Buffalo, USA. As programmed, the autopilot was automatically disconnected during the landing approach. Owing to a stall warning, the captain tried to climb when in actual fact he should have descended, in order to gain speed and subsequent lift. Carr's argument is that generally speaking, the increasing reliance of pilots on the autopilot actually reduces their own ability to fly a plane in any direct way. In a somewhat ironic juxtaposition, as flight safety continues to improve through advanced automated systems, pilots' skill and expertise is being eroded. the new bioethics, Vol. 22 No. 3, 2016, 253 258
The New bioethics a multidisciplinary journal of biotechnology and the body