The book by Linda McQuaig believes that the existence of machines is killing people and their abilities to work. She also views robots as having been sent to destroy humankind as their performance is killing people. Robots, drones, and computers, according to Linda is working against humankind as their presence is killing jobs rather than creating them. The idea behind killing machines is that with their use, there has been the great retrenchment of employees and laziness is creeping in amongst workers (Mcquaig, 2009). People lose jobs at all times when the use of machines is implemented in any organization. Moreover, she compares animals to these machines in their operations. The goodness of every creativity any human being would have invented has been replaced by the killing machines and she believes that soon rewards for hard work will be extinct. There are other reasons and important factors that McQuaig argues to support her “killing machines” proposition.
The killing machines affect both humans and the environment at large as it comes with negative consequences in its use. The environment is destroyed due to the emission of waste to the air, water bodies and also the soil around areas where machine use is prominent. There are great dangers that come along with the use of these machines and they affect human beings in a negative manner (Mcquaig, 2009). All explanations provided in the text regarding machine use portray them as of negative nature. However, use of machines in the performance of activities both in homes and organizations have positive impacts on the lives of those users. Machine invention and use was all done in order to benefit humankind and thus the dispute regarding ‘Killing machines’ as stated by Linda McQuaig.
Machines bring positivity in every work performed by individuals that rely on them either partially or entirely. These machines despite their impact on the environment may be greatly reduced through the minimization of waste. Therefore the pollution caused by such machines is curbed in advance before the impact increases causing many hindrances. Similarly, human retrenchment from jobs is not an entire truth with machine introduction. The workforce will be reduced in number but some of the skilled individuals still remain with their jobs as they handle these machines. What ought to be done is proper training and development of techniques to help guide these persons in their new roles. It is thus not harmful introducing machine use within organizations as they help a lot in performances and achieving organizational goals and objectives. There is great efficiency with the use of machines and thus they should not be termed as “killing machines” by any individual Sánchez-Martínez, 2013).
There is great efficiency and effectiveness when machines are used in organizations, institutions, firms and even homes. The efficiency is all due to the reduction in errors committed as machines when used accordingly always offer good services in their outcome. Also, they have great speed compared to human beings working entirely without their help. When the machine hours used is compared to man hours, it can be realized that it is much speedier using machines to work (Moore, Upchurch " Whittaker, 2017). Similarly, with machine use, man can get enough rest and thus avoid fatigue that comes along with overworking. For this reason, employees become more productive in their work and thus boost the company’s productivity and public reputation. Taking an example of employees doing calculations manually without the help of calculators, the whole process proves quite cumbersome. If these individuals use calculators in their computations, the work will be speedy in nature, they will also be error free as calculators when used correctly offer great final results.
Other advantages of machines include doing of duties that in the eyes of mankind would prove impossible. Looking keenly at the lifting of heavy machinery and loads, this work has been made easy by the use of drones and robots. ‘Killing machines’ are believed to have eliminated human effort but machine use in the lifting of such loads are quite helpful. Therefore, there is the accomplishment of the impossible with machine use. Also, machines have enabled globalization amongst most countries thus boosting economic performance and also enabling businesses to flourish. Globalization has great benefits to both developed and developing countries owing to their ability to offer goods and services that may have seemed impossible to acquire. Therefore, there exists great satisfaction amongst users no matter the country of residence amongst these persons (Moore, Upchurch " Whittaker, 2017).
In conclusion, there may exist negative consequences accompanied by the use of machines but the positive aspects outdo them. There exist several benefits that come along with machine use and thus it is much better to keep up with its use. Elimination of these machines will make the lives of many individuals quite hard to cope with in the long run. The introduction of these machines may have ambushed many in the beginning owing to the fear of job loss and recognition. However, as time progressed its adoption proved worthwhile to many individuals all over the world.
References
Mcquaig, L. (2009). It’s the Crude, Dude: War; Big Oil and the Fight for the Planet. Rugman Reviews, 245-249. doi:10.1007/978-1-137-28787-78_79
Moore, P. V., Upchurch, M., " Whittaker, X. (2017). Humans and Machines at Work: Monitoring, Surveillance and Automation in Contemporary Capitalism. Humans and Machines at Work, 1-16. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-58232-0_1
Sánchez-Martínez, F. (2013). Reasons for the increasing use of Machine translation followed by post-editing. Tradumàtica: Tecnologies De La Traducció, (10), 150. doi:10.5565/rev/tradumatica.24
