Learning to be human with sociable robots

摘要

This essay examines the debate over the status ofsociable robots and relational artifacts through the prismof our relationship to television. In their work on humantechnology relations, Cynthia Breazeal and Sherry Turklehave staked out starkly di?erent assessments. Breazeal’swork on sociable robots suggests that these technologicalartifacts will be human helpmates and sociable companions. Sherry Turkle argues that such relational artifacts seduce us into simulated relationships with technologicalothers that largely serve to exploit our emotional vulnerabilities and undermine authentic human relationships.Drawing on an analysis of the television as our frst relational artifact and on the AMC television show Humans,this essay argues that in order to intervene in this debatewe need a multimediated theory of technology that situates our technical artifacts in the domestic realm and examines their impact on those populations especially impacted by such technologies, including women, children,and the elderly. It is only then that we will be able to takethe full measure of the impact of such sociable technologies on our being human.