This article is a philosophical and ethical examination of the extent to which advances in video replay technology can replace the role of the referee in sports, and whether technology can maintain human judgment and impartiality. It makes you think about whether advances in technology can completely replace the role of the referee, and whether it will change the fundamental value of sports.
Today, science and technology have become increasingly advanced and deeply embedded in modern society. Among them, ultra-fast camera technology is helping to capture split-second moments in sports that are difficult for the human eye to see and make accurate judgments. Whether it’s scoring a 100-meter dash in track and field, determining whether a martial arts technique was hit, or calling a lineout in tennis, technology provides a level of confidence that no human referee can provide. More than just a tool, this technology is now playing a key role in ensuring the fairness of sports, and it also provides a better experience for spectators watching the game.
But even with these more accurate and quicker-thinking reads than humans, most situations are still controlled by the referee. This may be because the technology hasn’t yet advanced enough to determine whether or not a rule has been broken on its own. But what if in the near future, thanks to the recent reignited research in artificial intelligence based on machine learning, reading technology becomes smart enough to completely replace referees? If that becomes a reality, will we really need referees at all? These questions require a deeper philosophical discussion about the extent to which science and technology can replace human roles.
Before we answer that question, let’s consider what science and technology, and engineering in particular, is. Engineering has evolved to make life easier, more convenient, and more efficient. From the invention of the telephone to enable conversations across distances to the evolution of cell phones to smartphones, engineers have worked to improve call quality, speed up data reception, and more. Throughout this process, engineering has not only been a tool to solve problems, but has also played an important role in changing human life for the better. In sports, video-reading technology has evolved to capture those split-second moments that the human eye simply can’t follow, and it’s actually provided a very strong backup for referees and prevented unnecessary arguments.
With fewer disruptions to the game, referees have less pressure to make decisions, spectators can enjoy a smoother game, and players can avoid unnecessary fights. It also goes a long way to maintaining the pure competitive spirit of the sport. But can these technological advances solve all our problems? As technology becomes more advanced, we wonder how far it can replace human judgment and emotion.
But how far can and should the engineering go? Recent technologies have become so advanced that we wonder if they need to be anymore. So far, engineering has been used to replace inefficient, unnecessary, or dangerous tasks for humans, but the next step is to replace tasks that humans should do, or even want to do. What happens when machines do the work that humans used to do? We need to ask ourselves if these technological advances are really for the benefit of humans, or if they are making humans dependent on technology.
The biggest advantage of video review for referees is that they are no longer responsible for ambiguous calls, which means that the responsibility of the highest authority in the game has been transferred to an inanimate, unaccountable object: a machine. While the reliability of the machines is not absolute, as there are still many errors in judgment and the cost of high-powered cameras is too high to abuse, there is no guarantee that it will ever be. This means that the heavy responsibility of controlling the flow of a sporting event could be completely transferred from humans to machines. This would mean a complete transfer of authority along with responsibility. This reminds us that the role of the referee is not just about applying the rules, but also about maintaining human judgment and fairness.
No matter how much absolute authority someone has, they are still human. But what happens to the meaning of human existence if the absolute authority becomes a machine, or in other words, if the system dominates people? Brave New World is a novel that depicts a world where all life is controlled by a “system. In this world, humans are all parts of the system, explicitly assigned roles and brainwashed from birth. As a result, there is no conflict in the world, so there are no wars, no frustrations, no injustices, and everything flows according to the system. The answer to the question of whether people really want such a world may vary from person to person, and the author of the novel, Aldous Huxley, may have given one answer. In the novel, people live without questioning anything, without thinking about anything, only thinking about the pleasure and security of the moment, and the intention of describing such a world as a dystopia is that they never want it. Such a world, he says, is no longer a “human” world.
While the replacement of referees in sports with reading technology may not be a dystopian event, we should feel that same level of visceral fear when the highest authority in the game becomes a system rather than a person. Arbitrating high-stakes situations is inherently difficult, no matter how correctly or accurately a call can be made. For example, in soccer, the same foul, such as a tackle, has different standards and different penalties depending on the intent of the player. This is not easily understood without a process of consensus between the fouler, the fouled, and the arbitrator. The system ignores that process of consensus, and we can only despair of a system that does not understand the human heart and the human being.
As a result, athletes may increasingly lose sight of what they are playing for. They may feel that they are no longer challenging their human limits, practicing and winning fairly, but rather puppets dancing on a monitor in front of a system that lacks emotion. We are already seeing this in modern society, where many people have become so dominated by the perfecting capitalist system that they are only dimly aware of the meaning of their lives, and are beginning to look helplessly at the advancing technology and society. A similar phenomenon may begin to take place in the world of sports if reading technology completely dominates the game.
In the end, it’s still the humans who can overturn the system, and in sports, referees will continue to exist as an important link between the players on both sides. In the future, their role may be somewhat diminished in favor of accurate and uncontested judgment. However, they should not be removed from the system as the ultimate authority. The blood, sweat, and tears of athletes should not be allowed to be completely judged by a system that has nothing to do with it.
