ANIMAL, HUMAN & ROBOT

(Syed Musarrat Ali, Karachi)

On January 7, 2002 BBC News reported that a lioness in central Kenya has baffled wildlife experts by adopting a baby Oryx, a kind of small antelope normally preyed upon by big cats. Report said the full-grown lioness came across the Oryx two weeks ago in the Samburu Game Reserve, scaring off its mother. Instead of then attacking the defenseless calf, the lioness adopted the baby, protecting it from other predators, including a leopard. Extraordinarily, the lioness still allowed the mother Oryx occasionally to come and feed her calf before chasing her away. But the rule of the wild ultimately prevailed when a male lion attacked and killed the baby Oryx while the lioness was sleeping. This was either an extraordinary case of maternal instinct or simply the eighth wonder of the world as it was one of the first to spot the unlikely pair, which proved a powerful draw for tourists and game workers alike. The lioness would lie down to rest in the afternoon and its unlikely charge would curl up beside her. Wildlife expert Vincent Kapeen said he thought the lioness spared the Oryx "because animals have a special instinct to care for the young".

On June 27, 2013 National Public Radio USA broadcasted a report that Minneapolis native Caryn Lantz and her husband, both white, decided to adopt a child, they were open to adopting any child, regardless of ethnic background. According to NPR, the two were shocked to discover that some babies could be adopted more economically than others. They were faced with an uncomfortable truth of American adoption today: it is far cheaper to adopt a black child than a child of any other race. For a black child, the process of adoption is quicker as well. A social worker at an adoption agency explained to them that this was because they had many black children waiting for families. Adopting a Caucasian, Asian, Latino, or Biracial child would take longer because there were more people willing to adopt them.

Dawn Friedman writes: “I have a friend who is also an adoptive mother. She says, ‘My child will NEVER know that our adoption cost less because of his skin color as knowing will cut to the core of his self-esteem.”

On April 23, 2013 Adario Strange a writer in publications like Wired, PC Magazine, and New York Press and filmmaker of New York City reported that late last year Human Rights Watch and Harvard released a 50-page report that outlined the challenges faced by humanity in the face of advances in semi-autonomous robots equipped with lethal weapons (aka killer robots). Inspired by the paper, a consortium of international organizations has joined forces to launch "Campaign to Stop Killer Robots". The goal of the organization is the preemptively ban the use of semi-autonomous robots that could be used in military conflicts to harm humans. "Killer robots are not self-willed 'Terminator'-style robots, but computer-directed weapons systems that once launched can identify targets and attack them without further human involvement. Using such weapons against an adaptive enemy in unanticipated circumstances and in an unstructured environment would be a grave military error. Computer controlled devices can be hacked, jammed, spoofed, or can be simply fooled and misdirected by humans." As for how the organization hopes to stop the rapid rise of drones and other types of semi-autonomous robots that could be used against humans, the group will push for a new international law or treaty to specifically address these issues.

Above stated three facts define that animals are being controlled by NATURE while humans are free to control themselves by making, violating and then making the rules and regulations to prove that they are the most civilized creature. Robot is a creature of human being having both characteristics of human and animal.

What a pity that humans are scared by their own creation and this is the result of damage and destruction being done to the nature’s beauty by humans. Technological research and advancement leads to identification of CREATOR of the Universe but it should not be done on the cost of destruction of beauty of Universe and the whole process should not comprise of selfishness.

Syed Musarrat Ali
About the Author: Syed Musarrat Ali Read More Articles by Syed Musarrat Ali: 180 Articles with 149278 views Basically Aeronautical Engineer and retired after 41 years as Senior Instructor Management Training PIA. Presently Consulting Editor Pakistan Times Ma.. View More