Engleski A - 2024. probna, reading 2.

The robotic moment

Sherry Turkle, a psychologist who has been studying the psychology of human interactions with technology since the first electronic games appeared in the late 1970s, thinks today’s robots are not only smarter but increasingly able to engage us emotionally. As a result, humans have begun to think about their relationships with robots in new and often startling ways. These ‘sociable’ robots are able to mimic and evoke emotions by making eye contact, tracking our motion, and remembering our names. Their faces, and especially their eyes, show emotion, and their voices reflect rhythms and tones of our own, mimicking an interested listener.

When Turkle began studying sociable robots, they would come to the rescue to save lives in war, perform delicate operations, or work in lethal environments. Today, people increasingly expect robots to provide simple comforts, such as conversation and companionship. Of course, no robots can do this now. Yet sociable robots and artificial intelligence software are changing our expectations: instead of the normal give-and-take friendship, we find the idea of robotic companions attractive because they offer constant attention without any demands.

There is a vast change in attitudes from the 1970s, when professor Turkle began investigating how children thought about simple computerised toys, and various word games. These games may have sharpened children’s minds, but they also challenged how children thought about what makes something alive. In the past, Turkle says, children decided something was alive when it could move on its own. With computer toys, physical motion did not matter. Instead children declared that these toys were ‘sort of alive’ because they appeared to think on their own.

Fast-forward 20 years and engineers began making machines that appeared to have feelings. One is a virtual pet, Tamagotchi, that requires owners to feed and discipline it. Such toys ask us to care for them, and behave as if our actions matter. Since the 1990s, virtual pets have graduated to proper robots with hair, motion, and even expression. Aibo, a robotic puppy, complains when it receives too little attention or is too highly stimulated. Now, smart toys are not like us because they reason, but because we connect with them emotionally and fantasise about how the object might feel about us. Robots that ask for attention generate bonds of attachment. Children try to meet the robot’s needs to understand its unique nature and wants. “There is a serious attempt to build relationships as if there were mutuality”, Turkle said. From the romantic reaction, where simulated feelings are never real feelings, we have moved to the robotic moment, where simulated feelings will become acceptable.

Moreover, most of Turkle’s academic colleagues believe the need for caretaker robots for the elderly is self-evident. Surprisingly, many people outside the tech professions view robots as safer than people. In fact, more than half of surveyed health care providers said they would prefer a robot to a human in some tasks, such as housework and reminding patients to take medication. According to Turkle, people say things like “I know who works in those nursing homes”.

Turkle agrees that robots could help people in many ways. But should they be our companions or even help us accept death and loss? Although technology is seducing us with the illusion of companionship that we can turn off at will, we have to prepare for the hidden costs that may arise.