Work I Completed
There is not a lot to talk about for this week. I sat my in class test – or rather 5 of them. Among these was a robotics test, in which I had to argue a prompt and some stimulus. The prompt that I was given was about how automation has brought only improvements to society (I can’t remember the wording). The keyword there is only, and as such I argued the obvious point that, while there are many benefits, there are also deficits and therefore it is not only beneficial. I won’t be getting more marks for a hot take, but hopefully I will save it with having solid arguments. The format this test was taken in meant that, while I had access to a computer to type a response, I was not allowed to use the internet. I had to create a note-sheet beforehand so I had information to cite. On that, I was marked on APA referencing so although there was no internet I needed credible sources on my note-sheet. This was made difficult by not knowing the prompt prior, but luckily we did know it would be on automation so I grabbed some general statistics and made them work with my arguments. With all this, I was able to write a 1000 word essay discussing the ideas at play that I was happy with submitting. The structure of my essay was:
introduction – I introduced the topic generally, describing the importance, before asking the question of whether the application of technology has achieved its theoretical impacts and nothing but.
I then went into my first point, listing some of the many benefits that has been brought about as a result. This section was relatively open, as I did not have too many distinct topics or citations to discuss, and so I let it be broad with some examples. This mainly addressed modern luxuries such as self-driving cars, delivery drones, as well as more important things like national security.
My second point was unforeseen impacts, using a primary example of Chat-GPT. Chat-GPT was a tool intended to make life a little easier, synthesising information or helping develop a base level understanding. It has, however, been misused in a way which has resulted in a lot of discussion about its ethical implications. People have used it to do schoolwork for them, but some have gone as far as to use it to help them in a court case (which it failed to do). This mistreatment has not been good for many industries and has resulted in many more rules and regulations regarding it.
My third point discussed even more ethical implications, this time about corporate misuse rather than that of the individual. I discussed efficiency being prioritised over people, the impacts that had, and bias in the systems doing this. All of this was backed up by statistics by Oxford, making my argument relatively decent.
I concluded rather ambiguously, as the real answer is very dependent on who is asking. Some deficits don’t impact certain individuals, and therefore carry less weight with them. Overall I stated that there has not only been improvements, however, the improvements that have been made have become crucial to modern society. Regardless, a lot of work needs to be done before people can relax with automation.
I don’t know how this holds up compared to my previous robotics tests, but it felt like I had good reasoning with evidence, and discussed broadly enough to have accounted for everything important, and specifically enough to make a point.
Reflection
Overall, I am pretty happy with the assessment I handed in for this. I definitely feel that there are things I could have done better, but that comes down to having more time after to look into the topics I would have discussed given a second opportunity. I do wonder how this would have turned out if I were allowed internet access this time – maybe I would have been able to get more specific data and make better points, or maybe I would have gotten complacent beforehand and not thought about it at all in advance. Regardless, what I handed in is what I do believe to be good work, and as such I eagerly await feedback from my teacher.