Robot Stories

     I could see many connections between the video and the readings. Human and robot interactions can be confusing for many people. I was particularly interested in the scene from "My Robot Baby" where Marcia's father was making a program to take care of the baby. It reminded me of part of the readings in which Turkle describes a Furby surgery. The children try to help Furby by preforming surgery, but they become uncomfortable with the remains of the Furby. It is somewhat similar to what Marcia's father says about not being able to do that with a real baby. It is only possible because it is a robot, a cross between a doll and a living creature. Likewise, the scenario with the children is only possible because Furby is a robot, neither a doll nor a living creature. If it was a doll, the children would most likely not feel as uncomfortable as they did with the two parts of the Furby. However, if it was a living being, they would have likely tried to have an adult help for fear of killing it. With Furby, they knew that it wouldn't "die" unless its batteries were removed. Therefore, they could try to fix Furby with the knowledge that they would not be killing it. 

     Unless robots become a common thing in our daily lives, human and robot interactions will always be awkward. We cannot really decide what they are. They are not inanimate objects, rather, they can seem to be human at times. That being so, it is difficult to figure out how we should interact with them. They aren't human, but they seem close enough to being human that we have to second guess our actions at times.