365 Day Journal Challenge

Day 4: Robot vs. Human

12-4-08

Robots vs. Human

After reading Lani’s journal on emotion, I don’t think I could have said it better.  So I’m going for another angle on this.  Motivation.  Persistance.  Follow through. Work habits. This is where man could envy robots sometimes.  You program the thing and it gets the job done.  No excuses, no complaints, no unions or law suits.  A CEO’s dream. That’s why folks lose their jobs.  Humans can’t compete.  Look at the auto industry.  Unions are too expensive and a robot can do much of the manual labor work.  In addition, workers have sick kids, get sick themselves, have an occasional hangover, we get distracted, we have hobbies (like wdc) that sometimes creep into our work life (ie. I’m writing this during a long break but I’m on the computer doing narratives and assessments anyway so whose to know any different).  So, we humans may not be the most productive.  We may have office disagreements.  Someone will date someone else in the office then break up and its messy, messy, messy.  Someone will step on someone else’s toes and be bossy when they aren’t the boss.  It happens all the time. 

Yep, a robot will do what it is told.  But then again, there are workers like that too.  They don’t question, they may not have any interest in offering an idea or solution or they may just know their place and save their creativity for after work.  A boss can’t expect a robot to tell them when they are getting too big for their britches (which may be a good thing but where are the checks and balances).  A boss can’t expect one robot to motivate the other or himself to do more than expected or programmed (the boss, I mean).  A boss won’t get a card from a robot when his or her spouse is ill or when a child is sick.  Who will send flowers, who will tell him “we got this covered, go home and be with your family.”  No one, if all that’s left is robots.  I personally chose a profession that no robot could do, not even a human robot (well, there are always exceptions).  Protective social services (foster care, investigations etc) is a messy place.  Real lives, drugs, screwed up situations, custody messes, abusive families, etc.  We have to have a heart, although we must shield ourselves or learn to vent and get it out. 

But there are still “robot like” folks here that make sure everything is in on time and everyone is seen but won’t do one thing unless they get credit.  These are few and far between but it does happen.  They have offices that look like no one is in there, so neat as they are.  They get to work on time EVERY day, but they don’t work a minute over 4:30 p.m.  They don’t share any of their lives or challenges with their clients b/c that’s not done (even though it might just open someone up to tell you their problems so you can actually help them.) 

So, like Lani, I agree that emotions, people in general, are messy.  We are unevenly motivated, we don’t always follow through, sometimes our work habits stink, sometimes they don’t.  Sometimes people like me, a tad adhd, wish they could be more robot-like so they wouldn’t get so distracted and would get things in on time (mainly so the bosses will back off a little and I won’t feel so pressured at the last minute). 

If I had to trade how I am to get that, I wouldn’t do it, because gone would be the poetry that pops out at the most inopportune moments (like while I’m typing a family assessment or should be).  Some of those are the best ones I’ve done.  If I refused to listen to my muse between 8 and 4:30, so much would be lost. 

Also, this same quality allows me to think outside the box when a family has problems.  I start brainstorming and boom, I come up with stuff that isn’t in the manuals but no one can figure out a reason not to do it.  So it helps folks.  That wouldn’t happen if I lived by the manual, or by the way I was “programmed.”

Although, if I were a robot, I wouldn’t write so much, maybe.  Oh well, a robot I’m not and proud of it.  The world needs humans and robots (both robot like people and the real thing) for there are things that both are good at.  We can take the properties we like from each and incorporate them into our personalities and habits but I think we are what we are for the most part and shouldn’t think the grass is greener on the other side (too oftenh anyway).  No judgment and no critique to ourselves or others is really helpful.  There are dreamers and doers and planners and follow throughers and all are needed to make this world what it is.  So be it.  Which are you?

SWPoet



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