Robots

In both Robot Stories and Alone Together the idea of robots replacing humans is present. In the first vignette a robot stands in for a baby for a couple; in Alone Together Turkle begins to talk about care robots for children and the elderly. One thing that really struck me in the book was children's responses to the idea of a robotic babysitter. Their concerns were practical and many of them concluded that if a robot was more efficient than a human babysitter it would be a better babysitter. I also noticed when the subject came up in class that Dr. Langguth's primary objection (not to put you on the spot) was that it would respond with in-ordinary or inappropriate responses like the chat bots we talked to during the Turing test. I also noticed that some people's objection to the robot baby in Robot Stories was that it did not look like a real baby. While these are valid concerns regarding robots, I think they exemplify Turkle's concern expressed in the preface that we no longer care if there is something real, alive, or human behind the illusion as long as it is a good one.