Robots, how we view them

"Lilly" works at a Japanese nursing home. She is kind and caring to her patients. She speaks Japanese fairly well, though her accent is noticeable. She performs her work well, and has been commended for her attention to detail several times by her supervisor. However there is a problem with Lilly, according to several of the inmates at the nursing home. The problem is this, Lilly is not a robot. She is Philippino immigrant to Japan.

This short story is true, however the names have been changed or removed. It is very good illustration of the differing views that people have about robots, and these views are usually heavily influenced by their culture.

The western view of robots is usually captured in books and movies. Books like 1984 or Brave New World where technology is made the slave of the evil and depraved dictators of the human race. Movies such as The Matrix, Stealth or I, Robot portray machines as servants, usually thought of as very helpful or useful suddenly going terribly wrong and wreaking unimagined havoc on their masters.

However, Eastern literature has nothing like this. The Chinese tend almost to view robots with more ease than they do some humans. This may be because of the eastern view of detached respect with which each person must view another. One should always strive above all else not give or cause offense. And yet humans beings are flawed. Whenever one human being interacts with another, if a misunderstanding does not actually occur, the potential for such a misunderstanding is certainly there.

But when interacting with robots, no such potential exists. Robots have no feelings, it is therefore impossible to injure their feelings, or to offend them. This may be the explanation for the difference between the way the East and West view the new technology of the Robot.