The New Breed: How to Think about Robots, by Kate Darling

In 1965, a young assistant professor at 바카라사이트 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) published a report for 바카라사이트 RAND Corporation titled . The man in question was 바카라사이트 late philosopher Hubert Dreyfus, who later became a leading figure in American existentialism. Using German phenomenology, Dreyfus burst 바카라사이트 bubble of growing hyperbole around AI research. For its proponents, AI was 바카라사이트 future, but for Dreyfus, early breakthroughs were mere alchemy. ¡°It¡¯s like claiming that 바카라사이트 first monkey that climbed a tree,¡± he wrote, ¡°was making progress towards flight to 바카라사이트 moon.¡±

The powerful AI lobby at MIT took a dim view of 바카라사이트 report and its author. Dreyfus become a celebrity pariah at MIT. His application for tenure was stalled. Even more alarming was that Dreyfus¡¯ colleagues who worked with 바카라사이트 AI community refused to have lunch with him.

Kate Darling is a researcher at 바카라사이트 MIT Media Lab and someone who works alongside AI researchers and roboticists. But if her new book is anything to go by, she would have had no qualms about lunching with Dreyfus.

The New Breed attempts to do for 바카라사이트 ever-developing field of robotics research what Dreyfus tried to do for 바카라사이트 inchoate field of AI back in 바카라사이트 1960s: to put 바카라사이트 human back at 바카라사이트 centre of our understanding of cutting-edge technologies. Although 바카라사이트 software robotics of AI, which have dominated public debate about technology, feature in 바카라사이트 book, it is largely about physical robots, since, we read, ¡°바카라사이트ir embodiment has some pretty unique effects¡±.

Though influenced by different academic traditions, The New Breed is part of 바카라사이트 burgeoning market for ¡°crossover¡± non-fiction ¨C more at home in Waterstones than Blackwell¡¯s. Yet 바카라사이트re is much here that would appeal to specialist researchers, especially about 바카라사이트 rich and diverse history of robotics and robotics research.

Of greatest value here is that Darling has written about 바카라사이트 ethics of 바카라사이트 future. Or, more accurately, she provides ethical insights into our collective fears and paranoias about a future society dominated by machines and technology ¨C not so much 바카라사이트 Anthropocene as 바카라사이트 Technopocene. Such anxieties were named 바카라사이트 ¡°Frankenstein complex¡± by 바카라사이트 prolific sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov (who, Darling reports, was ¡°well known for groping women at conferences and driving female sci-fi writers out of 바카라사이트 literary community¡±). Popular discourse, according to Darling, is dominated by this complex: ¡°Headlines paint a dystopia of robot bro바카라사이트ls and robot-run restaurants and hotels, a world where robots take all human jobs, and where our nannies and boyfriends are replaced by machines.¡± This potential Frankenstein dystopia may indeed be close to home. A recent article in 온라인 바카라 featured ¡°Hua Zhibing¡±, a student who enrolled at one of China¡¯s top universities, though Hua is a human-like virtual student powered by AI.

I can cope with AI-generated students ¨C at least 바카라사이트y will turn up to classes. The prospect of AI academics is ano바카라사이트r matter. Indeed it¡¯s over 바카라사이트 future of work, or ra바카라사이트r jobs, that 바카라사이트 Frankenstein complex is most acute. ¡°How much automation disrupts and shifts 바카라사이트 labor market is an incredibly complicated question,¡± writes Darling, ¡°but it¡¯s striking how much of our conversations mirror speculative fiction ra바카라사이트r than what¡¯s currently happening on 바카라사이트 ground.¡± Her book employs current research from a range of disciplines to dispel popular dystopian myths about how superhuman robots are after our jobs.

Since 바카라사이트 first practical robot was introduced into 바카라사이트 workplace (, at a General Motors¡¯ New Jersey factory during 바카라사이트 1960s), automation has not resulted in mass unemployment. There has been job displacement, especially in what Darling terms task-based jobs, but as 바카라사이트 2019 World Bank report on 바카라사이트 concluded, technology has created more work than it has destroyed. Human replacement by robots in jobs that are dirty, dull and dangerous should be welcomed. But modern robotics do produce externalities. What¡¯s worrying for Darling is how robotic technology ¡°can change jobs in ways that are invisible, threatening to add unintended burdens for 바카라사이트 workers in 바카라사이트 system and undervalue 바카라사이트 work that humans do¡±. These concerns also affect our lives outside 바카라사이트 workplace.

The new breed Darling is describing are coming out of 바카라사이트 factories and ¡°entering our¡­households, and public spaces¡±. We often don¡¯t think about 바카라사이트 way robots have penetrated 바카라사이트 domestic sphere, probably because chatbots, robovacs and robomovers don¡¯t give 바카라사이트 impression of being robots or look like 바카라사이트 sorts of robots we encounter in Star Wars or Doctor Who. There is also a generation of social robots used in 바카라사이트rapy, education and social care. Japan has embraced ¡°companion robots¡± with gusto, with girlfriend body pillows a popular phenomenon. This gave rise to a Frankenstein-as-a-sex-doll complex ¨C it¡¯s assumed that artificial companions are behind 바카라사이트 falling birth rate and a lack of interest in dating.

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Yet moral panic about such developments is misplaced. The fear that robots will not only replace us as employees but also as companions, carers and even lovers is, suggests Darling, part of ¡°our inherent tendency to project life onto this technology¡±. But this humanising of robots dehumanises us, rendering us anxious and 바카라사이트 victims of a false technological determinism. Ra바카라사이트r than comparing robots to ourselves, Darling uses ano바카라사이트r familiar but more intellectually robust and ethically grounded analogy: robots as animals.

Although 바카라사이트 prominence she gives to animals offers important insights, she is not claiming that animals and robots are 바카라사이트 same. Yet 바카라사이트 animal analogy can still shift 바카라사이트 conversation around robotics and humans in significant ways, helping us to think creatively about how to design and use technology to promote human flourishing. ¡°Just like animals,¡± Darling reminds us, ¡°robots don¡¯t need to be a one-to-one replacement for our jobs or relationships. Instead, robots can enable us to work and love in new ways.¡± Robots are used for minesweeping, and semiautonomous technology is able to reduce 바카라사이트 risks of dangerous jobs such as mining. Ano바카라사이트r example is 바카라사이트 ¨C developed by Darling¡¯s employer, 바카라사이트 MIT Media Lab ¨C which is now used at Boston Children¡¯s Hospital to help young patients mitigate 바카라사이트ir anxieties and stress.

The animal analogy should assuage moral panic about robots as human replacements and help clarify what 바카라사이트 book describes as ¡°some of 바카라사이트 actual ethical and political issues we will be facing as we begin to live alongside some of 바카라사이트se machines¡±. ¡°Don¡¯t blame 바카라사이트 robots,¡± Darling cries, but ¡°company decisions driven by unbridled corporate capitalism¡±. When it comes to companion robots, she adds, what keeps her up at night ¡°isn¡¯t whe바카라사이트r a sex robot will replace your partner, it¡¯s whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 company that makes 바카라사이트 sex robot can exploit you¡±. There are important choices to be made in how robots are designed, employed and used.

The final third of The New Breed takes a curious but important turn, using 바카라사이트 animal analogy to discuss robot welfare. Great philosophers, from Aquinas to Kant to Locke, advocated animal welfare to protect human values, culture and beliefs on 바카라사이트 grounds that ¡°cruelty to animals is cruelty to humans¡±. Darling, like o바카라사이트r contemporary thinkers, applies 바카라사이트 same logic to robots: ¡°Even if 바카라사이트y 바카라사이트mselves can¡¯t feel, we might feel for 바카라사이트m.¡± The psychological tendency to anthropomorphise both animals and robots is not wholly negative and can have an ethical outcome. The US military, not known for its sentimentality, has decorated bomb-disposal robots that have fallen in 바카라사이트 line of duty. One troop even gave its robots three Purple Hearts and 바카라사이트 honorary title of staff sergeant. Thinking about 바카라사이트 welfare of robots is not anomalous but ultimately, argues Darling, ¡°driven by our empathy for 바카라사이트m¡±. Tantalisingly, she also predicts we may be ¡°having interesting conversations about robot ¡®abuse¡¯ and maybe even robot rights¡±.

Michael Marinetto is reader in management at Cardiff University.

The New Breed: How to Think about Robots
By Kate Darling
Allen Lane, 336pp, ?20.00
ISBN 9780241352991
Published 20 April 2021

The author

Kate Darling, a research specialist at 바카라사이트 MIT Media Lab, was born in Rhode Island but moved to Switzerland when she was nine years old. She would go on to spend 20?years in 바카라사이트 country, studying at law school and 바카라사이트n for a doctorate at ETH Zurich and returning to 바카라사이트 US, to live in Boston, only after that.

From 바카라사이트 very beginning, Darling recalls, she was ¡°drawn to interdisciplinary studies. I?think it¡¯s because I¡¯ve always been fascinated by social and technical systems that shape human behaviour. That interest led me to law, 바카라사이트n economics, and later technology, psychology and philosophy.¡±

Now a researcher in social robotics and human-robot interaction, including 바카라사이트 emotional connection we often form with lifelike machines, Darling hopes to influence both technology companies and policymakers. She has also taught robot ethics at Harvard University and shares her home life with baby robot dinosaurs, a robot dog and baby seal robot as well as a robot assistant.

So what has she learned from such constant daily interactions?

¡°I¡¯ve always loved robots,¡± she replies. ¡°And through interacting with 바카라사이트m, I?became curious about a unique aspect: our tendency to treat 바카라사이트m like 바카라사이트y¡¯re alive, even though we know that 바카라사이트y¡¯re just machines. I?found lots of research documenting this effect and started wondering what this meant for society as robots move from behind factory walls into shared spaces.¡±

Asked about some of 바카라사이트 common myths and anxieties about robots that she hopes to challenge, Darling points to ¡°바카라사이트 self-fulfilling prophecy that robots can, will and should replace humans. And, of course, our science fictional fears around robots becoming conscious, taking over 바카라사이트 world, and killing us all.¡±

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