Robots taking over? Think of the good it could achieve
Sometimes a programme makes you see the world a different way. Such a programme doesn’t feed an existing predisposition, nor does it challenge so rudely that it induces switch off. Instead it widens horizons, opens minds, surprises, delights. I’m thinking of The Engineers: The Rise of the Robots (World Service, Saturday, still available on the iplayer).
Initially, its title made me cautious. Engineers are a rowdy lot. My brother is one, so I know. I’m scared of robots and their takeover tendencies as portrayed in films and other fictions. I went to the Science Museum for the recording of this programme assuming I’d be patronised while being mystified. I was wrong.
In the audience were secondaryschool children alongside top-rank scientists of every kind. On the panel were three of the world’s most distinguished roboticists: Ashitey Trebi-ollennu of Nasa, a specialist in robotic work on Mars; Ayanna Howard, formerly of Nasa, now working with robots that interact with humans; Paul Newman, Oxford’s Professor of Information Engineering, apostle of the driverless car. The presenter was Razia Iqbal, of Radio 4’s The World Tonight and World Service’s Newshour.
Because being there is not the same as listening at home, I kept a cap on all subsequent enthusiastic burblings until I’d heard it broadcast. Here comes the gush. This programme made the mind race, not stagger around under its weight of information. You could hitch yourself to the ideas expressed and follow the direction they took, however unexpected.
Here’s what I learned: Robots do what humans cannot. If they do some things better, that’s not a threat. Humans vastly improve their lives by making machines do specified tasks more efficiently than they can. Such as? Exploring Mars, detecting medical symptoms, driving cars.
Driving cars? Newman’s passionately persuasive exposition of the methodology of driverless cars was matched by Trebi-ollennu’s humorous rationality, saying he feared humans more than robots and that, not long from now, we’ll ask ourselves why did humans drive? Or farm, added Howard, or detect symptoms the human eye cannot. Charlie Taylor produced, something robots cannot yet do.
Supported by the Science Museum and the Royal Commission Exhibition of 1851 with funds from Prince Albert’s great legacy, this was an enterprise of which that prince would have been proud. Listen if you can. After a month of seeing humans inflict horrors on fellow humans, it’s gloriously restorative to think about the good we can also achieve.
Iwoke up last Wednesday morning with Radio 5, wondering why Wake Up to Money wasn‘t on. I soon realised why. The fire at Grenfell Tower was being reported, instant coverage that did the network great credit. Over the week since, Radio 5 Live has kept on reporting from the spot, drawing judiciously on the BBC’S wealth of journalistic resources, exploring views and reactions, steering beyond emotions and into practical realities. Having, within a month, reported on three major terrorist incidents as well as this disaster, the Salford-based network has proved admirably, remarkably, up to all challenge.
Radio 2 is under Ofcom orders to increase its prime-time current affairs output. The network regards its midday two-hour slot, hosted by Jeremy Vine, as its current affairs flagship. Vine, however, has gone on holiday, a decision taken, I assume, only recently, as most previews still bill him as appearing. His place has been taken this week by Ed Miliband, former leader of the Labour Party, MP for Doncaster North. Next week’s host will be Iain Duncan Smith, former Conservative Party leader, MP for Chingford and Woodford South. Miliband isn’t doing badly. (My instant reaction to his Monday debut is on the Telegraph website.) Duncan Smith will doubtless do the same. This programme is so tightly formatted that its editor, Phil Jones, can ensure any visiting political ponies (Neil Kinnock and the late Charles Kennedy are among past examples) will pull the cart along smartly.
In the longer run, I doubt this will be enough for Ofcom. Or even the audience, currently seven million every week. I think we are all somewhat fed up with politicians. Warmest of welcomes, therefore, to Radio 4’s Dead Ringers (Friday evenings). This brilliant showcase of comic mimicry gets a repeat on Saturdays at 12.30pm, preceding both the News and Any Questions? On both those worthy stalwarts, therefore, their grim realities risk eclipse by previous hilarity at the pretend voices of our Prime Minister, her ministers, her loyal opposition, and sundry others (the Ringers’ Jeremy Vine and Donald Trump are masterpieces). It’s good to feel safe enough to laugh.