Robots

January 3, 2014

If you had a robot to live part of your life you preferred not to live, what would that machine do?  I saw a news segment on PBS last night featuring Sherry Turkle, author of Alone Together.  She was appearing with robots who are built to illicit emotions from humans.  I had heard of her book from friends who read it and were very impressed.  Her ideas already made sense to me, but the robot segment  clenched the deal.  I always think of slot machines when I think of machines that are built to beguile.  Now there are robots in development to “care” for seniors.  This is pretty freaky, gentle readers.  I know I do not want robot care in my dotage.

The medium used to be the message; now it is the messenger as well.  There is growing evidence that the ties that bind us are the same ones that are making us lame.  I am a big fan of technology, but it needs to be the servant not the master in the relationship.  What strikes me as most ironic is that devices are used for self hypnosis of a kind.  In the trance state induced by too much busy busy update/like/comment one is an easy target for marketers and anyone with ulterior motives.  I believe it is time to reel in the relationships with devices in favor of more time connecting to nature (which includes other humans in real life).