Engineers, or at least a subset of them, want to kill humans. Not in real life (at least we hope not)… But in virtual reality. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock or don’t have access to the internet, you will be aware that engineers are using VR to build simulated environments known as Virtual Engineering Worlds. These are essentially digital playgrounds where engineers can replace the physical models and prototypes they currently use with computer-generated representations of those things. The idea is that virtual engineering will reduce time and cost for new products and services by eliminating the need for factories, materials, and all the testing that comes with them. Sounds good, right? Well. Read on to find out why some engineers wanted to kill humans with virtual reality just like the Engineers from Alien.
Why Engineers Wanted To Kill Humans?
1. VR Lets You See Things Before They’re Built
Engineers can use VR to visualize products before they’re built. Engineers can create 3D models of products, and then create a VR version of those models. Engineers can then put on a headset and walk around the virtual model, looking at it from every angle, in every context, so they can see things as if they were real. But engineers can’t use VR to create these models before they build them in real life. They can only use VR to view things they’ve already built.
2. Engineers Can Test Products in Virtual Reality
Engineers can test how products will perform in virtual reality. They can build virtual models of real-world environments and test products in them. They can simulate weather conditions and the time of day that a real-world product might face. They can test a product in simulated environments such as space or on a construction site. They can test products in virtual reality to see how they perform in real-world environments before they’re built. But engineers can’t test real-world products in virtual reality. They can only test virtual versions of real-world products.
3. Virtual Reality Lets You Build Things with No Materials
Engineers can create virtual things that have no physical representation. They can build virtual products, environments, and test equipment. And they can do all this without needing materials. Engineers can create 3D models of products and environments in virtual reality without needing materials. They can then use virtual materials that behave like real materials to build things. Engineers can use virtual materials like virtual strings to construct things in VR. They can use virtual tools, like virtual hammers and virtual screwdrivers, to build things in VR. They can use AI to create complex structures and machines in VR with no materials or tools. They can create things that have no physical representation in real life. But engineers can’t create real things in virtual reality that have no physical representation.
4. The Problem With Virtual Reality Tooling Right Now
Engineers can build virtual things that have no materials. Engineers can create things with no physical representation using VR. But they can’t use real materials in these virtual representations. So engineers can’t use VR to build things that require real materials. They can’t use VR to produce real things. And they can’t use VR to manufacture real things. Engineers can’t substitute real materials in the real world with virtual materials in virtual reality. They can’t use real tools to build things in virtual reality. They can’t use AI to create real things in virtual reality. They can’t use VR to create real things that have no physical representation. So engineers can’t replace real manufacturing with virtual manufacturing.
How Technology Is (And Will Be) Destroying Society?
- Technology has been destroying society since the very beginning of its creation. It could be said that the development of fire – a technology – led to the downfall of some of the earliest societies.
- Society has always been in a constant state of flux, and it always will be. This is what happens when you have a large group of humans living together. The only question is how we respond to these changes as a society.
- Humans are very predictable creatures. We’re creatures of habit and we like our daily routines. When something disrupts that routine – such as the development of technology – it can cause a significant amount of stress for people. For example, when the printing press was invented, it caused significant changes to how people were able to share information because it made information sharing easier.
- But it also caused a great deal of stress because people weren’t used to having so much information so readily available to them.
Why Do Engineers Want To Stop AI Development?
1. AI is inaccurate
Artificial intelligence is incredibly complex, and as a result, it is not an exact science. Engineers try to account for these variables, but in doing so, they end up increasing the complexity of their code even more. This makes AI very sensitive to errors and inaccurate results. This means that even the most basic of tasks will be extremely difficult for AI to complete. These setbacks make it very difficult to trust AI in certain situations. If AI malfunctions, it could lead to serious problems like misdiagnosing patients or misidentifying faces. Serious issues like these should be expected at some point because of the inaccurate nature of AI.
2. AI will cause human loss of employment
AI has the potential to replace many jobs that humans currently complete, especially in industries like healthcare and transportation. This is a huge problem because those are fields that people rely on to get by. There are many people in the world that don’t have a skill set that is useful in a high-tech environment. This makes it very difficult for some people to find work. A machine learning algorithm could easily complete a job that someone else is doing, leaving that person with no way to make a living. AI will be able to take over more and more jobs as time goes on. Engineers and scientists that are currently creating AI need to realize the negative impact that this could have on those that are barely making ends meet today.
3. AI is too expensive to be affordable for most people
Engineers are working tirelessly to decrease the cost of AI. However, research and development are incredibly expensive to create and implement. This means that the technology will be limited to people who can afford it. AI is expected to be incredibly useful in lots of different industries, but who will be able to afford to implement it? Most people won’t be able to, which means that the technology won’t be able to reach its full potential. This could lead to a lot of missed opportunities that could benefit the entire world if only the right people had access to it.
4. AI will lead to an increase in surveillance
AI is expected to make a lot of mistakes as it gets older, but what happens if someone uses those mistakes to their advantage? What if the people who control AI decide to use the errors it makes to track individuals? This may seem like a far-fetched idea, but it is certainly possible. Engineers are currently working on AI that has the ability to see and hear everything that is happening near it. This technology could be used for good, but it also has the potential to be used for nefarious purposes. Let’s say that an AI surveillance bot is monitoring a busy street for pedestrians. It misreads the shadows caused by a nearby building, and it registers a person standing still as actually being in motion.
Bottom Line
Engineers can use VR to build virtual things that have no physical representation and that have no materials. They can use VR to test products in virtual environments and perform virtual tests. But engineers can’t substitute real manufacturing with virtual manufacturing. Virtual engineering can replace physical models and prototypes in many situations, but it can’t replace real manufacturing.